Improving Candidate Experience In High Volume Hiring

7 Essential Steps For Success

By Brett Farmiloe, Terkel.io

To help you enhance the candidate experience during high-volume hiring, we gathered insights from HR professionals and business leaders. From utilizing holistic ATS software to actively networking and nurturing relationships, here are the top seven strategies shared by these experts on optimizing the candidate experience and its impact on hiring outcomes and employer brand.

● Utilize Holistic ATS Software

● Lead with Pay Transparency

● Leverage Automated Resume Screening

● Create Candidate Status Page

● Reach Out to Passive Candidates

● Implement Game-Based Aptitude Tests

● Actively Network and Nurture Relationships

Utilize Holistic ATS Software

As we expand our workforce to support our long-term growth plans, we focused on reinventing our hiring approach with the use of a holistic applicant tracking system (ATS) software to streamline our applicant sourcing, assessment, and screening.

By utilizing an all-inclusive applicant tracking software, our hiring managers could easily manage job postings, interview schedules, application status, and offer letters in one platform - cutting our average hiring process by half. While candidates are always kept up-to-date on the progress of their applications.

We were able to create a solid talent pipeline of potential candidates for future hiring. For example, we could instantly identify past candidates who were turned down in the past but are more suited for new roles and call them back to apply for these jobs.

As a result, we were able to ensure a smooth HR workflow, encourage better communication with candidates, and create a strong workforce amidst the post-pandemic situation.

Lead with Pay Transparency

For our team, optimizing candidate experience means leading with transparency in our recruiting. Pay transparency is key to this, and for any state in which we are recruiting (not just those that require it by law), we will provide an approved, defined compensation range and bonus structure at the beginning of our dialogue to ensure it meets the candidate’s expectations.

In high-volume recruiting, we need to be mindful of both the candidate’s and the hiring manager’s time. As such, we create a simple application process (no uploading of your resume only to have to manually enter the same information) and outline with the candidate the interview stages and which parties will be involved, while holding ourselves accountable to a service level to provide the candidate with status updates.

These efforts have improved the efficiency of our interviews dramatically, reduced candidate falloff, and improved our time-to-fill, while increasing our talent pipeline and candidate referrals.

Leverage Automated Resume Screening

As someone responsible for hiring in our organization, I can share that we optimize candidate experience during high-volume hiring by leveraging automated resume screening such as CVViZ.

In one particular recruitment drive where we had a high volume of applicants, we realized its importance as it allowed us to expedite the screening process and ensure that each candidate received timely feedback. With CVViZ, we could efficiently assess each candidate’s qualifications and relevance to the position, providing an unbiased shortlist of candidates.

This strategy drastically reduced our time-to-hire and enhanced the candidates’ overall experience, reflecting positively on our employer brand. It demonstrated our commitment to efficiency and consideration for candidates’ time, thereby enhancing our reputation as an employer of choice.

Create a Candidate Status Page

As an HR startup founder who is also the primary hiring manager, I needed a way to let the candidates know exactly where they are in the hiring cycle without making the experience clunky for both parties.

That is why we created the candidate status page—a page that is unique for each candidate that they can access anytime they want and check exactly where they are and what the next step of the hiring process is. This saved me a lot of time as I don’t have to provide status updates anymore, and the candidates can rest assured that they will be notified about the next stage, no matter what it is.

Reach Out to Passive Candidates

Proactively reaching out to passive candidates via text is a great way to improve the candidate experience. Candidates are more receptive when you reach out to them first, instead of making them smash the apply button hundreds of times on a job board.

My average candidate reply rate to book an interview was three hours. I texted candidates instead of emailing this time, with all replying within nine minutes. Fast forward four days later and five of the seven candidates interviewed were hired. This quick turnaround cut recruiting admin time by 50%, reduced time to hire by 30%, and helped strengthen the candidate experience and employer brand.

Actively Network and Nurture Relationships

When hiring for niche profiles where the talent pool is limited and the best performers are often not actively seeking job opportunities, we took a unique approach. We mapped out the entire talent universe within our target range and identified the top talent we wanted to attract.

We began by reaching out to these individuals on professional platforms like LinkedIn, establishing connections, and engaging in conversations to showcase the exciting developments within our company. We provided updates on our organization’s vision, invited them to consultation calls with our team members, and even arranged in-person meetings when possible.

By actively networking and nurturing relationships with these passive candidates, we were able to generate interest and convert their curiosity into a genuine desire to join our organization.

Implement Game-Based Aptitude Tests

For high-volume graduate-level recruitment, we have historically relied on traditional aptitude tests when shortlisting candidates. However, we have recently switched to game-based aptitude tests instead.

Overall, the candidate experience has improved significantly, and we are seeing far fewer dropouts. Candidates also appear to be completing the assessments more quickly, often on the same day they receive them, rather than several days later.

When speaking with candidates, they express positive feedback about the experience, finding the games both unique and enjoyable. From an employer branding perspective, candidates suggest that the games give our company a more innovative feel, which they find particularly attractive.

I strongly recommend swapping traditional aptitude assessments for game-based tools whenever possible, especially for emerging talent recruitment, as these populations are likely to enjoy game-based assessments the most.

Brett Farmiloe is the Founder and CEO – and currently CHRO - of Terkel. io. Brett is a strategic human resource management (SHRM) Influencer and has also been a keynote speaker at several state SHRM conferences around the topic of employee engagement.

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