“This candidate isn’t getting selected, so our company’s relationship with them doesn’t matter, right?” Not quite. 

Oftentimes, companies forget about the importance of their candidates’ experiences – not just those who make it to the final round, but also those who get rejected. 

There’s usually the automated rejection email, the extremely late email, and sometimes, no email to notify where a candidate stands in the application process. 

Luckily, Chameleon Technologies is here to discuss why the candidate experience matters and how to improve in such aspects. 

From a holistic standpoint, a happy candidate leads to a great reputation for your firm. This could be as simple as someone saying, “Firm X was very intentional with how well they treat their candidates” to getting more applicants from referrals. 

To break it down even further, let’s take a look at the candidate experience for those who aren’t selected for the job and for those who are.  

Whether or not a candidate makes it all the way through, you don’t want to make them feel discouraged. Your firm could be hiring for an internship or entry-level job, meaning that many applicants will be younger students. How you interact with them throughout the application process could set them up for how well they succeed and view future opportunities. 

For example, a candidate might have spent hours researching your firm and practicing interview questions. They might have thought they had a great shot after completing three steps of the interview process. They might have gotten really excited with the idea of working with your company.

How do you let them go? 

An automated rejection email is not the best way to approach such rejections. You want your candidate to think that they still got a great learning experience out of hours of interviewing and preparing for your firm. One easy step is to personalize rejections with a compliment sandwich: let them know one thing they did that was great, one thing to work on for next time, and end on a positive note. 

As for candidates who do get an offer, you want your firm to be on the top of their minds when deciding on whether or not they should take the job. If you want candidate X, chances are, your competitors do too. Outshine them by exuding a positive company culture, learning environment, and various kinds of company benefits. 

As you can see, there are benefits to making sure this experience is memorable for candidates  who are rejected, those who receive an offer, and also for your firm’s reputation. 

Start maximizing a great candidate experience today!