The Great Resignation: why Candidate Experience matters more than ever

In case you haven’t noticed, we’ve entered the post-pandemic resignation boom, or, as Professor Anthony Klotz called it, "The Great Resignation". Recruiters and Talent Acquisition professionals can expect a surge in job openings. You’ll be your company’s managers’ best friend. Are you ready for these exciting and busy times? Besides making sure you don’t run out of coffee or tea - whatever makes you run faster! - now's the time to assess your Candidate Experience approach.

Which industries are affected the most by the Great Resignation?

Traditionally, resignation rates spike from July to September. This year's spike will be a boom with Covid-19 serving as the big amplifier. According to Visier, we should expect the lion's share of resignations to happen in Healthcare and Tech. If these are the sectors for which you recruit, brace yourself. Actually, all sectors will be affected simultaneously so every recruiter and Talent Acquisition professional will need some extra help. 

Candidate Experience in a post-pandemic era

Let’s start with measuring, scaling, and improving your company’s Candidate Experience. Candidate Experience has been a fixture on many 2021 recruitment trends lists. The receding pandemic has turned positive Candidate Experience into an urgent necessity for many companies. The employer-driven market is simply no more. Applicants have the upper hand, we’re in a candidate-driven job market where companies compete ferociously for talent. Salary and benefits matter, yes, but so does an excellent Candidate Journey. May the best Candidate Experience company win!

How do you improve Candidate Experience in a post-pandemic situation?

Start with a great foundation by choosing a matching Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to measure and orchestrate your candidates' journeys. Automating them will make your candidates’ journeys more efficient, predictable, and enjoyable. Put a cherry on top with an integrated Candidate Experience solution and start collecting feedback. At Starred we believe in the importance of a full Candidate Experience view. Simply start by tracking your candidates’ journeys with your ATS. But... It also makes sense that you understand how candidates have experienced their journey with you. The most straightforward way to do that is to ask them. 

A full view on Candidate Experience 

Your ATS lays down the yellow brick road for a smooth Candidate Journey and it will also offer useful metrics to optimize your candidates’ paths. However, this may be an incomplete view. What if your candidates hit bumps in the road? How would they be able to let you know what made them withdraw from the recruitment process? Why did they reject your offer? Or why did they leave a devastating Glassdoor review? You know there were bumps but you’d like to know how you can remove them for your next candidate. You want to have a full Candidate Experience view by adding candidate feedback data to your existing data. Preferably fully integrated into your ATS to trigger (automated) responses when needed, to mitigate undesirable experiences and outcomes. 

Why excellent Candidate Experience makes a difference

Every Talent Acquisition professional and recruiter wants the biggest pool of top talent to choose from. In this big resignation year, you want to be ready for the fierce competition ahead.

Improving Candidate Experience will give an upgrade to the reputation of your company.  Besides, you don’t want to discourage candidates from applying in the first place by having poor reviews out there. So you need ambassadors among the candidates who withdrew or whom you rejected as much as those who have accepted your job offer. Effective Candidate Experience solutions will help you spread the word and become an attractive employer. As a result, you’ll increase your inbound talent pool. 

How does a full view of Candidate Experience help you during the Great Resignation?

Now that so many talents are resigning in this post-pandemic world, the recruitment game will be exciting and daunting. On the one hand, there will be more available candidates you can persuade to apply for job postings. On the other hand, you’ll have to recruit for more job openings. It will be a challenge to keep up and ensure a great Candidate Experience with these developments. By asking candidates for input and feedback consistently, you’ll go beyond the ‘so, this happened, now what?’ situation. Rather, these additional insights offer you a full view and enable you to optimize and improve Candidate Experience according to actual experience data. In turn, you’ll grow into an attractive employer and increase your pool of high-quality candidates. Once the word is out, expect the rule of attraction to take off. After all, all the cool kids stick together and want to work at cool companies.