Keeping Candidates Updated Throughout the Hiring Process

Candidates have questions. One of their questions is often “When will there be a decision?”

It’s true that despite the urgency behind hiring, companies can take a while to make their way through the process. Meanwhile, candidates sit at the other end of the proverbial phone waiting for an indication of their status, and when they’re especially interested in the position there’s a heightened sense of how much time has elapsed.

In this highly competitive labor market, companies are trying to be more efficient with their hiring without shortchanging key parts of the process like inclusive interviews with a hiring committee, cognitive and behavioral assessments for cultural fit, and sufficient time for the candidate to ask their own questions and get a feel for the role, team and company.

There’s a lot that goes into hiring and hiring managers always have competing demands on their time. The art of mastering candidate experience is to keep candidates updated even if the reality is that a decision is still weeks away. First and foremost, hiring requires respecting the candidate’s time and effort and it gives them a glimpse into how managers may prioritize other personnel matters.

One of the benefits of using a recruiter is to have them be the conduit to the candidates at various stages in the pipeline. A recruiter can provide appropriate insight and transparency into the timeline and keep candidates engaged with regular updates. 

Good communication with job seekers is essential when you’re looking to hire, regardless of how competitive the market is. How companies value the candidate experience makes a strong impression. Make sure it’s a positive one.