The Candidate Journey - from applicant to employee

Published in 2007, “Recruitment 2020” was the result of nine months of research that focused on developing possible futures - or scenarios - for recruitment, and to identify their implications for the industry and for public policy more broadly.

The paper in its entirety is widely available online and is an interesting read for those with direct recruitment responsibilities and even more so for those who run businesses of any substantial size.

Amongst the many findings, they identified the need to bring the recruitment process “into brand” and use the engagement of candidates as a window through which outsiders can see how you operate and make a decision on whether or not they wish to join such a team.

(From Recruitment 2020, pg 77)
Align the recruitment experience with client ethos

At a time when job seekers are showing an increasing interest not just in levels of pay but also in a much wider set of factors - including how it feels to work somewhere - the experience of being recruited matters.
Organisations with a relaxed, business-like or playful ethos (and brand) need to ensure that the process of recruitment itself reflects that ethos. When candidates go through recruitment processes they are also gathering information and making judgments about their potential employers - meaning that the process must reflect the organisation itself. This requires differentiated processes designed not just to identify the right competencies but also to create the right impression.

We do have clients in China that have already identified this and are working towards improving their performance in the “candidate journey,” not just to “prove” that they do what they say they do…value open communication, respect individuals, act with integrity etc, but also to begin the cultural induction of the candidate by exposing them to the organisational culture from the very first engagement. The result is a new employee who has a cultural awareness and affinity with the organisation on his very first day at work. On-boarding process, assimilation and retention can all be improved as a result and best of all, you will have created a brand advocate who will no doubt go tell his friends what a great place to work he has found.