Inaugural European Edition: State of Candidate Experience Report Provides Recommendations for Improvements
Phenom, the global leader in Talent Experience Management (TXM), released its first-ever State of Candidate Experience Report — European Edition. The comprehensive audit, which assessed the top 100 European companies on the Fortune Global 500 list in three key areas of the talent journey — attraction, engagement and conversion — revealed there is significant room to improve the experience with personalisation and automation.
Talent acquisition is now a business priority among the C-suite — especially across industries with high-volume hiring needs — such as healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, retail and transportation. But instead of using personalisation and automation technology to effectively and efficiently scale hiring, the majority of European 100 companies are falling short.
The 2022 audit of European 100 career sites reveals:
- Only 9% had an intuitive job search and application process
- Only 10% sent applicants a satisfaction survey
- Only 6% had a recruitment chatbot
- 96% did not present job recommendations based on browsing history
- 90% did not display recently viewed jobs
- 68% lacked a job cart or favorites function to save jobs
- 0% communicated application status beyond initial confirmation
How Companies Can Improve the Candidate Experience
Simplify search and apply.
Requiring three or more clicks to apply for a job is a major roadblock for candidates. The longer it takes for a candidate to find and apply to a relevant job, the greater the chance they will abandon the process and look elsewhere. One recommendation is for companies to equip their career sites with the ability to provide relevant suggested jobs based on a candidate’s keywords, skills, experience and location.
Create hyper-personalisation. Candidates are used to superior tailored experiences in their consumer lives. If finding a job that matches what they want is difficult, they are quick to move on. Dynamic personalisation is one way companies can automatically match a candidate’s preferences, experience, skills and location with best-fit job openings — and surface content for candidates as they move through their own unique end-to-end talent journey across multiple channels.
Automate communication. Job seekers want to know where they stand in the screening and interview scheduling process. Failure to communicate status details jeopardises employer brand and acceptance rates. Using conversational AI chatbots, SMS and email campaigns are a few ways companies can automate individualised communications to keep job seekers engaged while differentiating their brand.
“Hiring, developing and retaining talent isn’t just an HR priority — it is a business priority. Companies must differentiate themselves by the experiences they provide to their candidates and their employees to sustain,” said Mahe Bayireddi, CEO and co-founder of Phenom. “This benchmark report of the European 100 provides industry-specific insights and actionable recommendations for using automation and personalisation to earn and keep top talent.”
How Automation Helps Talent Experiences
Automation enables a quick, efficient hiring process that serves up best-fit jobs to candidates — and best-fit candidates to recruiters — while optimising omnichannel communications that nurture talent communities. Not only do job seekers appreciate a streamlined, personalised experience, but with efficiency at the core, recruiters and hiring managers benefit from decreased time to fill and better long-term fits.
Employees are no exception. The same hyper-personalised candidate experience should extend to internal talent, who may be looking to move within their current company. By making relevant open roles and development opportunities visible, actionable and attainable, companies stand a better chance at retaining them. AI-powered talent marketplaces automate the process for an employee experience that unifies all key stakeholders: internal candidates, recruiters and hiring managers.
With this report, companies can learn how to make changes — large or small — to enhance the candidate experience and provide a measurable, positive impact on their businesses.
Download the full 2022 State of the Candidate European Edition report and rankings here. Also recently published, the sixth annual report auditing the Fortune 500 is available for download here. Organisations can request their own complimentary career site audit here.
To request a demo of Phenom TXM visit phenom.com.
