There are many different ways for you to amplify your employer brand to make a great first impression on potential hires. You could have a slick website and an impressive career centre, for example. But what about the candidate’s experience? If you’ve ever had to wade through an over-long and impersonal application process or been on the receiving end of an underwhelming interview after reading all the rave company reviews and grand promises, then you know that these kinds of problems can be detrimental to the employer brand. But first,

What is an employer brand?

Employer brand is the perception of your company in the minds of job seekers. It’s how you want to be perceived by candidates, and a clear employer brand can help you attract great talent.

What is candidate experience?

Candidate experience is the process a candidate goes through when applying for a job. It includes the entire process from the first time they see your job posting to the time they are offered a job. This can be broken into three main components:

• Application – The application is where candidates register to work with you (whether it’s a formal application or just an email address).
• Interview – The interview is where candidates get to talk with you and share their qualifications, skills and experiences with you in person or over video chat.
• Onboarding – Onboarding is where candidates learn more about your company culture, policies and procedures before starting full-time work with you.

Why do they matter to your company?

Candidate experience is an important part of recruiting and retaining the best employees. When you recruit the best talent, you create a stronger team that can build better products. And when your candidates have a positive experience with your organization, they’ll be more likely to recommend your company to their friends and colleagues.

But candidate experience isn’t just about attracting new hires – it’s also about maintaining existing ones. Every interaction with a candidate not joining your team should leave them feeling good about their experience and eager to return again in the future. That means that if they encounter any issues while interviewing or applying, they’ll remember those experiences long after it’s over.

Employer branding is important because it increases your ability to attract top talent while reducing the cost of turnover. Employers with strong reputations can attract top candidates by highlighting the company’s strengths and its culture. This means that employers get to spend less time recruiting and training. Also, employees feel inclined to stay at a place where they enjoy being, which reduces cost of hire, turnover and increases productivity.

In addition, you can use employer branding to create better employee engagement for your current employees. A strong employer brand will make employees feel proud of their organization and committed to the company’s goals – both things that lead to higher engagement and productivity levels among employees.

What is Corporate Catfishing?

Corporate catfishing happens when an employer leads a candidate to believe something about the company that isn’t true, often in order to get the candidate to apply for a job, agree to an interview or take up a job offer.

The term comes from the practice of ‘catfishing’, which is when someone creates a fake persona on a dating site in order to trick another person into falling for them.

This can happen if the company’s website gives false information, if their social media profiles are misleading, their employees’ company reviews are fake or even if they give you a false interview time. This all has the effect of making the candidate feel like they’ve been lied to, and that can make them feel deceived and hurt.

According to a recent survey of 1500 participants by Greenhouse, close to half of them (45%) said they have rejected positions after being catfished during the employer interview process.

A positive candidate experience can significantly strengthen your ability to attract top talent.

You might be wondering, “why should I care that much about candidate experience?” After all, it’s not like candidates are your customers. But the reality is that an employer brand is a powerful tool for attracting talent. And while you may not be selling anything to candidates in the traditional sense, they will still evaluate whether or not they want to work with you based on how well your company treats them.

One of the best ways to build a positive employer brand is by creating excellent candidate experiences. When you hire great people who have positive experiences at your organization – and those people then continue working with you and referring people from their connections where you can find some absolute hidden gems of talent – it makes it easier for future candidates to choose your company over others that may appear more attractive on paper but don’t deliver on their promises around candidate experience (or even worse, deliver negative ones). Plus, it has been found by the Talent Board that a whopping 81% of candidates will share a positive experience with others.

The candidate experience has become a key driver of employer brand and corporate reputation in today’s job market

Candidates are more informed about their options than ever before, and they have the power to share their experiences with others. According to research, 79% of job seekers use social media when researching companies – and 46% say they’d be inclined to share negative information about a company on Facebook or Twitter if they had an unpleasant interaction with an employee or executive. The ability for employees to easily switch jobs has also increased competition among companies for top talent. To attract top performers today requires more than just offering competitive salaries; companies must also prioritize other factors such as work-life balance and flexibility when designing their employer brand strategy.

Candidate experience and employer brand go hand in hand

If you want to build a brand that attracts top talent, then it’s important to have a good candidate experience. That means hiring managers need to be trained in how they can deliver an effective interview and make sure candidates get the answers they need. If your company catfishes, then your employer brand will suffer as word gets out about poor experiences.

Happy employees who feel engaged and valued is one of the most important factors in attracting new talent. Candidates are left with a sloppy, disjointed and impersonal hiring experience that reflects poorly on the company as a whole.

The solution? Employers must take ownership over their candidate experience and implement programs designed to help them attract top talent through every stage of their hiring process. If employers feel that that will take up too much time, cost and resources, then they should invest in a recruitment automation system a.k.a. an ATS that will do the work for them by engaging with candidates and guide them through the hiring process.

A positive candidate experience can significantly strengthen your ability to attract top talent. You get a second chance at creating a positive candidate experience through onboarding. Candidates share their experiences; make sure they’re sharing good ones!

Writer’s Bio : Varshini R

Driven by curiosity, Varshini R is passionate about creating diverse content for various industries. She specializes in writing about technology, arts, healthcare, business, finance, fashion, and education. She’s an avid reader and can be found lurking in strange corners of the internet keeping up with global pop culture.