At Indeed Interactive 2017, Indeed Senior Vice President for Marketing, Paul D’arcy, shared some valuable insight into how companies can optimize their hiring process to increase candidate trust and improve engagement. D’arcy stated that one of the major factors that undermine a potential candidate’s trust in a future employer is the fact that most hiring processes don’t show interest in potential candidates as a living, breathing person. The key takeaway from D’arcy’s talk was that employers can build trust with candidates through a hiring process that maximizes authentic human connection.

Develop a People Culture

One of the keys to creating a hiring process that includes authentic human interaction is building a company culture that values candidates as people. Often, without a strong, supportive company culture, the hiring process can feel dehumanizing for candidates. “Research shows that candidates will optimize for happiness,” D’Arcy said. “Eighty percent of people say they would turn down a big salary if it meant working with people or in an environment they didn’t like.”

Utilize Candidate Feedback and Data

Asking candidates who didn’t make the cut for feedback might seem awkward, but it’s often the only true way to measure how successful a hiring process is. If a candidate had a bad experience in the hiring process, they are likely to never recommend a friend to apply, or worse, post negative reviews in online forums that can hurt future chances of attracting top talent. According to D’arcy, “almost 90 percent of people who rated candidate experience poorly were never asked for their feedback.”

Treat Potential Candidates as a Sales Lead

A top-quality candidate can be many times more valuable to a company than a new sales lead, and the hiring process should reflect that. When companies treat potential candidates with the same level of urgency as they would a hot sales lead, it increases engagement from the first response email.

Read the rest of D’arcy’s commentary from Indeed Interactive in the full article here.

It’s Time to Put Candidates First

By “relentlessly optimizing” your hiring process through developing a people culture, leveraging feedback from candidates and treating potential new hires with urgency, HR teams can improve employee engagement and retention. With the job market favoring the candidate and an in-flux of new workplace values from the younger millennial generation, companies stand to benefit greatly from crafting a hiring process that prioritizes authentic human interaction. Want to discover other techniques for bolstering engagement initiatives?  Read this blog post that explores what it takes to drive true employee engagement.