What are applicants noticing about your hiring process? Are you recycling old job descriptions without important updates, requiring redundant steps, or waiting weeks to respond? Or do candidates feel valued and respected, with clear communication along the way? Consider how job seekers across many industries experience the hiring process, and how you can make choices to help your company stand out.
Job Seeker Hiring Process Complaints
A SHRM survey of over 240,000 job candidates is very revealing. Job seekers experience frustration with aspects of the hiring process at every stage, making the experience so negative that they might opt out mid-application and may even harbor resentment towards your company now and in the future.
From the survey, the top reasons candidates felt let down by the hiring process are:
- Feeling like the candidate’s time is disrespected
- Poor communication
- Never receiving feedback
- Ghosting
- Slow response times
- Salary not meeting expectations
- Unclear job descriptions
- Clunky application process, including repetitive information gathering
If each candidate who encounters an open position at your company is as valuable as a client or customer, how can you make positive changes to your process? Here are some suggestions to address the most common complaints.
Red Flags in Job Descriptions
For many candidates, the job description is the first interaction they may have with your business. It can be a way for them to better understand what you do and how their skills and talents could fit within the organization. But many job descriptions share similar bad habits, partly because many have become the norm.
Clichéd phrases
Words like “go-getter” “superstar” “self-starter” are so familiar that they seem to have meaning. But what do they mean for your company specifically? Every time you’re tempted to use a common phrase, consider what you are actually looking for. In your company, does a self-starter work remotely in their home without daily in-person interactions? Then make sure you describe that. Is a go-getter required to make a certain number of sales per month? Describe the job accurately so the candidates understand their potential role from the beginning
Vague language
Like clichés, vague phrases that don’t make job responsibilities clear can both invite a barrage of applicants who aren’t actually qualified and discourage those who are qualified but don’t see themselves in the description. This can overload the hiring staff and cause you to miss out on the right candidate who moves on to the next thing.
Missing salary information
In some states, pay transparency in job descriptions is a legal requirement, but even if you don’t do business in one of them, job seekers need to know the job’s potential salary, even if it’s expressed in a range. It’s one of the first things they look for, because the salary can determine if they’re even willing to submit an application. If they proceed with the process, it can be disappointing to find that the talents and skills they offer feel undervalued by your company. It’s best to be clear from the beginning.
Not Respecting Candidates’ Time
A few bad habits can make a candidate feel that their time is not valued by your company.
Poor communication
For many job-seekers, waiting is the most agonizing part of the process. Though everyone knows that sifting through applications takes time, not knowing anything about their prospects can make a candidate feel like they aren’t even worth a simple email. You can set yourself apart from other companies by acknowledging receipt of an application or resume and by informing someone if they’re not up for consideration within two weeks of their first contact.
Timely contact
This timeframe is also a good rule of thumb for arranging the first interview. Emails for candidates you’re considering should contain potential timelines for the process so they can decide if that works for their professional goals. An applicant tracking system like ApplicantStack helps you organize communication to meet timely contacting goals. Each candidate can choose their preferred means of contact and you have an at-a-glance reminder of who has been contacted and when. You can personalize your communication to represent the voice of your company and keep each candidate apprised of their status. No more ghosting, no more forgotten candidates, no more months without contact.
Clunky application process
A quick browse through job seeker forums will reveal that candidates resent having to deliver all their information twice, once via resume and/or cover letter, and once via an application. And if your application is outdated, running on old software, gathering sensitive personal data too early, or asking for excessively long answers to questions better suited for an interview, it’s time to give it an overhaul. Consider having current employees fill out the application to help you discover where you can cut and streamline.
ApplicantStack can help you populate the form so you can acquire only what’s needed for the first round of selection, and organize it clearly on the back end for easy sorting. At the beginning, provide applicants with the number of questions they will answer and an estimated time to fill out.
Job seekers typically engage with multiple companies in their search for a new job. Help your company stand out from the others by offering a more streamlined experience, with clear job responsibilities and better communication. You’re likely to attract top talent who will start out feeling positive about business.
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