HR beware! Upsetting your job applicants could cost more
then just your time. Sometimes we forget that those who are applying for jobs
in our company are sometimes our customers. According to the Candidate
Experience Results over 21% of candidates said they were or have been
customers to places they applied. As buying power increases in our growing
economy it’s becoming more likely that those who are applying for jobs are
customers. This number will surely double within the next decade.
Investing in
Candidate Relationships
One of the most essential components of any talent
acquisition strategy is to engage with talent and manage that relationship. The
goal is for organizations to treat candidates with the same attention they give
customers. Your candidates are extremely important in industries like
professional services, retail, technologies and hospitality, or generally
speaking in a area where demand exceeds supply. According to a recent report by
Aberdeen’s “Customer Experience Management: Using the
Power of Analytics to Optimize Customer Delight,” customer relationship management is a series of multi-channel
activities which address employer branding, analytics, and technology.
The only way for employer branding to survive the job search
process is to create a candidate-centric approach that prioritizes the
candidate experience with the same focus given to the customer relationship in
any business. The fact that customers are becoming your workforce should
highlight the importance of treating candidates with the same care as you would
when a customer walks into your store. The biggest problem with being able to
respond to every applicant is maintaining some type of repository that allows
you to do it quickly and efficiently. HR departments are understaffed as is and
any type of slip could cost the company thousands of dollars in not only bad
hiring, but in disgruntled customers who have applied.
Don’t upset your
applicants.
There has been a plethora of discussion on the transparency
of the Human Resource professional and the black hole of the candidate capture
process. Candidates will apply for the job and more often than not, don't even
get a simple turndown letter, or they can interview with no follow-up at all.
Left wondering if they have any type of chance to get the job for which they
applied, candidates are upset at the entire process. Although communication is
not required for every applicant, there are some instances where the status of
the job cycle should be communicated. The cost of no communication could be
lost product sales, lost referrals, and ultimately less money in the bank.
Job applicants know that the job market is competitive and
saturated. As a recruiter or HR professional, it’s important that you provide a
strong employment brand by treating job applicants with dignity and sympathy
during the job process. As someone in the profession you are quite aware that
you cannot offer the job to everyone that applies, not even all those qualified
candidates. Going the extra step to provide excellent customer service will
retain customers past the job search process. Even the dreaded form letter that
turns down a candidate goes a long way. No one likes being thrown into the
black hole of doom. Think when you as an HR professional you have applied for a
position. Think how upset you are when your kids apply and are left in the
dark!
Have you ever had a
horrible experience when applying for a job that you quit shopping at said
company? Let us know.
Jessica Miller-Merrell,
SPHR is a workplace and technology strategist specializing in social media.
She’s an author who writes at Blogging4Jobs. You can follow her on Twitter @blogging4jobs.
