Top-tier veterans and business leaders have left their posts in quest of something better in the so-called "Great Resignation." Organizations are scrambling to acquire this oversupply of new talent because there are so many valuable, high-quality prospects accessible in the current market.
What is the most important factor in securing top talent as an HR professional? It's frequently the candidate's experience. When it comes to picking a future employer, candidate experience has become a critical aspect for today's job searchers. People's experiences with screening, interviewing, and even onboarding are crucial in determining whether or not to accept a job offer.
However, providing an exceptional candidate experience is easier said than done. What is one tool that can be quite beneficial? AI that converses.
Why is it important for candidates to have good experience?
According to research, 95% of candidates believe there is a direct link between how companies treat them as candidates and how they would be treated as employees. According to a different study, a great candidate's experience is an influencing factor in the choice to accept a job offer for 80% of professionals now working for their company.
Companies that fail to provide their applicants with enjoyable experiences will lose top talent to competition. Unoptimized applicant experiences lead to poor employer branding as a result of the process. Consider the stats below:
- Due to a poor candidate experience, 50% of applicants will reject any job offer.
- 79% will give up on their application and look for work at other companies.
- 37% of people are likely to leave an unfavorable review.
- An unfavorable experience will be shared by 69% of candidates with their circle of relatives and friends.
What are the current obstacles in recruiting?
The so-called Great Resignation may be here to stay if companies don't start prioritizing applicant experience. However, providing an effective recruitment process for all candidates is difficult for a variety of reasons:
1. A large infusion of talent
While there are plenty of job applications, the number of people looking for similar jobs has climbed by 1300%. According to Statista, employment vacancies in the United States reached 10.93 million in the final days of 2021. According to experts, up to 730,000 new employment will be produced in the first half of 2022.
Traditional acquisition processes are causing recruitment teams' responsibilities to increase. With more candidates, there's more pressure to find and hire quality people quickly.
The recruiter's objectivity can be harmed by fatigue caused by hours of pre-screening, which can impact judgment and decision-making. Inconsistencies in screening due to huge numbers of candidates, unconscious prejudice, exhaustion, and human-related errors not only jeopardize the recruiting process' integrity, but also lead to a negative candidate experience.
2. Communication that is slow and unresponsive
Candidates want firms to be responsive and transparent about the progress of their applications 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Companies should contact job seekers promptly after their initial application (84%) and later in their recruitment journey (85%), according to job searchers.
Despite the fact that firms must maintain ongoing contact, a huge majority of candidates think that communication is still a challenge. According to Gallup, 77% of candidates never heard back from firms after submitting their initial application.
3. A difficult candidate journey
All of these factors contribute to candidates feeling nervous, undervalued, deceived, and frustrated, from confusing job descriptions to opaque hiring deadlines to difficult application processes.
When job ads lack pertinent information, an estimated 57% of job seekers are turned off. And 60% of candidates said they will abandon their application if the process takes too long or the processes become too complicated.
4. Strategies for improving your candidate experience
Conversational AI automates time-consuming, monotonous tasks that don't require human judgment from the outset, streamlining the entire recruitment process.
Conversational AI contributes to a better applicant experience
Conversational AI contributes considerably to a fantastic applicant experience, which helps form a more pleasant conclusion for both sides, in addition to speeding up the recruitment process for your HR team. How? Following the flow of the recruitment journey can be done in several ways:
Step 1: Automated pre-screening
According to Glassdoor, only one corporate job vacancy generates 250 applications on average. Manually processing each applicant means you'll be wasting time and money on something simple and repetitive.
Pre-screening with conversational AI agents aids recruitment teams in weeding out qualified candidates from those who don't meet job requirements. These AI agents can have human-like interactions with job candidates, giving them information about the job application while also reviewing their resumes and qualifications to see if they fulfill the requirements.
Dynamic AI agents can filter enquiries and direct prospects to a FAQ page or area where they can get instant responses or learn more about the position. This saves time for both parties and encourages candidates to continue on their trip.
What's the end result? High-quality job searchers move on to the next stage of the hiring process with little to no human intervention, allowing recruitment teams to focus on more difficult duties.
Step 2: Enable proactive tracking and communication
Conversational AI allows HR professionals to engage with and nurture prospects throughout the recruitment process via a range of communication channels. Organizations can track candidates and engage them via email, chat, or other preferred channels with this omni-channel approach, and vice versa.
Candidates may access important information such as FAQs, follow their application status, check interview schedules, and more through their devices at any time using AI-powered, omni-channel self-service capabilities.
All candidate communication can be tailored using data analytics to provide a better experience. As a result, the organization's relationship with candidates is strengthened while their HR and recruitment teams are relieved of a significant amount of labor.
Non-successful candidates' information is collected and stored in a database by the AI agent. If a position that requires their talents and expertise becomes available, the AI agent contacts that candidate immediately, thereby starting a new hiring process.
Step 3: Make the offer process go faster
All of the candidate's information is automatically ported to the offer letter via forms and interactions, removing the need to manually design a letter and copy and paste information. Companies might add important details like compensation, deployment date, perks, corporate policies, and job title, among other things, to enable candidates to make an informed decision about whether or not to accept the offer.
Candidates can receive and respond to employment offer letters more quickly when they are digitized. In terms of candidate satisfaction, accelerated job offers enable candidates to make quick judgments on whether or not to pursue their applications. Candidates demand speed, therefore the instantaneous aspect of electronic offer letters adds significant value to their experience.
Step 4: Increase the efficiency of your hiring process
Conversational AI can help your company evaluate, speed, and enhance their talent acquisition process by 32%. The information gathered by your AI tool allows you to precisely track and measure the outcomes and efficacy of any modifications you make along the route.
When done correctly, conversational AI may help remove roadblocks to effective recruiting and fully open the door to speedier, data-driven hiring decisions while also improving the candidate experience. You hire the best people for the job, establish a strong and favorable brand, and build a team of high-performing professionals who are engaged and empowered to provide value to your company's bottom line.
Step 5: Constantly provide good experience after hiring
During their time with your company, newly hired employees will require ongoing assistance. Better initial stage support with Conversational AI has an impact on your employees' perceptions of experience they can expect in the future while working for your company.
This gives employees a sense of fulfillment and influences their willingness to work for your company for a longer amount of time. This minimizes the likelihood of them considering resigning and lengthens their term with your company.
Conversational AI Provides a Superior Candidate Experience
In 2022, a great majority (80%) of 400 HR leaders anticipate conversational AI will play a bigger role in recruitment, especially in applicant screening, onboarding, and competency evaluation. They are correct.
Employers who provide applicants with clarity and inspire success are able to deliver a pleasant candidate experience. Companies should integrate conversational AI into their hiring strategy to optimize their processes and allow prospects to choose and grow with them, as traditional recruitment has proven unproductive.
Learn more about how Conversational AI can directly impact your business by downloading this free white paper.
