In a recent Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) report, they found that companies are making basic mistakes in the way they engage with job applicants and as a result, risk losing out on attracting their targeted talent.
The candidate strikes back explores the changing relationship between jobseekers and hirers. It argues that businesses need to do more to compete for candidates, and that people looking for new jobs have more power due to a high number of vacancies.
The research found:
- 34 per cent of workers say that providing feedback to unsuccessful candidates is the single most important improvement that employers could make
- 51 per cent of workers who had a bad experience discussed it with friends and family
- 93 per cent of workers who described their last candidate experience as ‘bad’ were not asked for feedback from the employer.
The report makes recommendations to employers and recruiters seeking to improve the way they engage candidates and therefore secure a competitive advantage:
- provide clear and specific feedback to successful and unsuccessful candidates;
- invite feedback on the recruitment process;
- improve job-related content that’s available to candidates;
- reduce the time between interview and decision;
- and ensure that line managers make contact with successful candidates before the start date.
The candidate strikes back was launched at the Talent, Recruitment and Employment Conference 2015 in London. This research has been produced by the REC in support of its Good Recruitment Campaign.
