4 Must-Use Methods to Measure the Candidate Experience

Measuring your candidate’s experience is a daunting challenge that organizations everywhere struggle with. Only 50% of companies measure the impact a bad candidate experience has on their business, and most organizations struggle with understanding who would be responsible for keeping track of this metric. And that’s not to mention that there’s still the question of how to accomplish this goal.

Why is Measuring Candidate Experiences so Challenging?

One of the challenges of measuring the candidate experience is that there’s multiple resources and methods for measurement. Below are four common ways your organization can collect feedback on the experiences your candidates are having during your hiring process, as well as how they benefit your company. Using a combination of these methods can paint a robust image of where your hiring process’s strengths and weaknesses lie, and contribute to improving your business goals.

4 Methods to Measuring the Candidate Experience

1. Ask the candidates: The most straightforward and obvious way to start collecting data for this metric is to simply ask the candidates that go through the process what they thought - whether or not they were successful. Create a short survey for them to fill out, or ask them in a follow up call what their experiences were like. This will give you first-hand knowledge, straight from the sources, with the ability to compare their performance to their experiences (assuming you’re not surveying them anonymously).
2. Leverage review boards: Candidates can use digital tools to post experiences from their hiring processes, from job board websites to social networking tools such as LinkedIn. Here, candidates will focus on ranking the experience positively or negatively, what they did during the hiring process, some of the questions they were asked, if they were offered the position, and more. This gives you a great idea of how the outside world will see their experiences, but be wary - just like with any other reviews on the internet, it sometimes doesn’t take much to have someone write a scathing review. Be sure to take a critical eye with this data source.
3. Search social media: With so much interaction and feedback going on in social media, it’s no surprise that you can find some candidates talking about their experiences with certain companies. Monitor appropriate social media channels for potential feedback, and remember to always conduct your brand accordingly on social media. Much like with the previous resource, some will be more critical than others simply for the sake of being critical.
   
4. Use data analytics: This is probably the most crucial but challenging method of them all. Take advantage of the data you collect from the hiring process to find areas of success, and areas you could improve on. Hiring assessments are especially crucial in this effort since they enable your organization to naturally collect information from candidates in real time, and use that information to improve the hiring process. Additionally, your analytic efforts can be strengthened by using a blend of the other three methods above. Data is everywhere, subjectively and objectively, and you can use all these strategies to get as much information as possible. 

By keeping track of the experiences your candidates go through during their pre-hire processes you'll not only be able to create a more positive experience for candidates, you'll be able to attract and hire more talent. 

If you'd like to learn more, contact us today, or download our e-book below, "5 Talent Acquisition Commandments for Every Productive Mass Hiring Team."