What is a candidate experience?

Every interaction you have with candidates shapes their impression of your company — from the initial application process to interviews, onboarding, and beyond. Candidate experience is how job seekers feel about your company based on your hiring process (e.g., application, screening, interviewing). A positive candidate experience often consists of a quick and easy job application process, transparent and frequent communication and respect for candidates’ time and effort.

It can be measured by candidate feedback, your job application acceptance rate, and ratings and reviews on websites like Indeed Company Pages or our sister company Glassdoor. An Indeed survey found that 90% of people said they read reviews about prospective employers at some point during the hiring process,^[2] so providing a great candidate experience matters.

Impact of a good candidate experience

When you have a positive candidate experience, job seekers are engaged and excited about your role and company. Here are some of the benefits of providing a great candidate experience:

Avoid negative word of mouth: According to an Indeed survey, 34% of people said if they had a negative interview experience with a company, they’d either post a negative review on a job site like Glassdoor or Indeed Company Pages or on their personal social media profile. 49% said they’d tell their personal network about the experience (e.g., friends, family, colleagues).^[3]

Build a strong talent pipeline: Over half (54%) of job seekers said they’d be unlikely to apply for another relevant job at a company if they had applied previously and never heard back about their application.^[4] Providing a great candidate experience — even for candidates who don’t make the cut — can keep your recruitment pipeline filled with talent for future roles.

Improve job offer acceptance rate: A positive candidate experience can give candidates more confidence to accept your job offer. A poor candidate experience can drive candidates away and could make them hesitant to accept an offer — even if they’re otherwise interested in the role.

Keep customers: Not only can a negative candidate experience affect your recruiting efforts but it can also hurt your overall brand. An Indeed survey found that 21% of people who have had a negative interview experience with a company would take their alliances, product purchases and relationships to a competitor business.^[5]

How to improve your candidate experience with Indeed

Here are some quick tips for improving your candidate experience with Indeed tools and features:

1. Start with a great job posting

A great candidate experience starts with your job post. Indeed data shows that job seekers are looking for certain details — like salary, shift information and benefits — when deciding whether or not to apply to jobs. When you post a job on Indeed, we’ll guide you through the process step by step so you don’t forget any of the important details.

You can also use our job description examples and ready-made templates tailored for hundreds of roles to help create your next great job posting.

2. Make your job application process user-friendly

Did you know that half of all job seekers give up if the job application process takes longer than 10 minutes? With Indeed, you can streamline your job application process, lowering application drop-off rate and improving your candidate experience. When you post your job on Indeed, not only can candidates apply for your jobs without ever leaving the platform, but it also creates a fully mobile-optimized process. This is especially important since 72% of applications submitted on Indeed are done so on mobile devices.

3. Keep candidates in the loop

Once applications start rolling in, another key to a great candidate experience is prompt and frequent communication. Candidates want to be kept informed on the status of their application — whether it’s good news or bad. In fact, 77% of job seekers in an Indeed survey said their perception of a company would be negatively affected if they didn’t hear back after applying.^[6]

Indeed’s Employer Dashboard makes it easy to let candidates know their status and manage job applications. As applicants show up on your candidate dashboard, you can assign them a Status (Active, Awaiting review, Reviewed, Contacted, etc.) to track where they are in the hiring process.

Avoid “ghosting” candidates. Indeed’s messaging placeholders and templates make it quick and easy to correspond with candidates in a personalized way. Send interview invites to your top choices promptly and consider sending rejection emails as soon as you know someone isn’t right for your role. When you’re responsive to candidates on Indeed, you can earn a Responsive Employer Badge, which is an icon highlighting you as an employer that is highly responsive to candidate applications. This can help you stand out to job seekers when they’re searching for jobs on Indeed.

You can also choose to send an automated email letting candidates know they’re no longer being considered through Indeed Employer Assist. This feature automatically sends a rejection email within a certain number of days after a candidate applies. Or you can write your own rejection email using these tips and templates.

4. Create an engaging interview process

Since interviews can often be a time-consuming and intimidating process for candidates, creating a positive interview experience can go a long way towards getting candidates excited about the role and company. Here are some tips for creating a great interview experience for candidates:

Hold virtual interviews: For the first interview or screening call, consider holding a virtual interview instead of an in-person interview. According to an Indeed survey, 35% of job seekers say they prefer virtual interviews via phone and/or video over in-person interviews.^[7] With Indeed Interview, you can conduct live virtual interviews right on Indeed. There’s no software or apps to download. Virtual interviews can have a positive impact on candidate experience for a few reasons, including:

• It can save candidates time by not requiring them to travel to a physical location
• Candidates can participate in the interview from anywhere convenient to them
• It may feel less formal and intimidating which can put candidates at ease
• There’s no need to worry about finding transportation to an onsite interview
• Candidates may feel less anxiety about arriving late to the interview
• It can be easier to keep job seeking status private from candidates’ current employer or colleagues

Let candidates know what to expect in advance: From how long you expect the interview to take to how many people they’ll be meeting with, candidates want to know details about the interview process upfront. According to an Indeed survey, of candidates who received detailed information prior to their interview (e.g., interview agenda, interviewer names and background information), 72% said it had a positive impact on their interview experience overall.^[8]

Structure your interview process: Make sure each interview question has a specific purpose and ask each candidate the same set of questions to ensure the process is fair, equitable and consistent. Consider creating an interview scoring sheet to grade candidates based on their responses. With Indeed Interview, you can also take notes on how a candidate is performing right inside the virtual interview platform.

Offer to provide interview feedback: If a candidate isn’t right for your role, consider telling them where they excelled and how they can improve. This will help them gain value from the experience, instead of potentially viewing it as a waste of time. 86% of job seekers said they would be interested in receiving constructive feedback about how they performed in their job interview, but only 57% reported ever receiving this kind of feedback.^[9]

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