How to create a more personalized candidate journey

August 12, 2021

 

iCIMS Staff

4 min read

When I was in college, there was one company that I wanted to intern at more than anything – but it didn’t happen.  

After graduation, I figured, now is the time. I will surely join them for my first full-time role. It didn’t happen. I found an amazing first job, though, and a second and a third. My career grew. I learned more, took on new roles, and each time I was ready for the next phase, I applied again to my dream company.  

Imagine my excitement when I finally started the interview process for a role at that first dream company. I’ll spare you the details, but the process was less than ideal. I was chasing this company for years, and once I was finally in the running for a role, I ended up feeling so disappointed. And I wasn’t alone, as 60% of job seekers will have a bad candidate experience and 72% of those will share their experience with friends and colleagues.   

But it doesn’t have to be that way. So how can you create a better candidate experience and avoid candidates feeling like they’re stuck in a black hole? 

1. Make it easy to join your talent community. The one thing this dream company did not have at the time was the ability for me to sign up to receive updates on new positions, company news, and hiring events. I would apply and get the automated email acknowledging receipt of my application, and several weeks later would receive an equally cold ‘’thanks but no thanks.” I had to keep checking the career site myself for relevant new positions. Your career site should highlight your company, list open jobs, and make it easy for candidates to stay in touch. Newly enhanced sign-up forms on iCIMS Career Sites allow candidates to join your talent community in a few easy steps with resume parsing. You can then easily sort candidates into talent pipelines based on their experience and skills to stay in touch with relevant roles and updates. An easy opt-in experience keeps candidates connected to you and the roles most relevant to them. 
2. Gain deeper insights into candidates. Each time I applied for a job at my dream company, I started over with a new recruiter. It was as though my previous applications didn’t matter, or even when I interviewed for the second role, they seemed to have no record of the previous outcome. The iCIMS Dynamic Candidate Profile can help give you a complete picture of your candidate, including the status of their applications across your business. Now you can also view how a candidate engaged with your email campaigns from your iCIMS CRM. For example, you can easily check if your candidate received your “Summer Hiring Campaign” and whether they opened and clicked on the content to learn more. It provides a single view of candidate engagement all in one place.   
3. Easily sort through your talent network. You’ve built your talent network; now what? AI-enabled talent matching helps you quickly identify great-fit candidates by surfacing similar profiles.   The iCIMS Talent Cloud also gives insight into why those profiles were recommended by highlighting how closely the skills and experience overlap.  This can help reduce the time you spend sourcing and engage with the right people. Plus, this skills-based approach could help you reduce hiring bias. 

If my dream company had taken the steps above, my resume would look different, however I am grateful for how it gave me the perspective and empathy for why we need to create better experiences for every candidate. 

And it’s attainable when you tap into recruiting software that is purpose-built to enable recruiters to stay connected to candidates at every step. Learn more about the latest iCIMS Talent Cloud innovations. Download the iCIMS 2021 Summer Release Highlights.