Focus on the Candidate Experience

A quick note from the Talent Unconference -- more coming later.

The focus of my group was "Meaningful Connections". We spent a lot of time talking about employment branding and the lack of response from recruiters to candidates.

The question I used to frame my feedback was one I thought of on the plane ride to San Fran -- Why is a job application the only application you'll ever fill out where there is no expectation of a response, either positive or negative?

Think about it. With most job applications, the best you can hope for is an automated acknowledgment that the resume was received. We hear constantly from job seekers that they appreciate being told "no, you aren't a fit". That's amazing. Would you ever fill out an application for a loan and expect to hear nothing? How about a college application?

This recent article on ERE by Lisa Calicchio, director of professional recruiting for Johnson & Johnson, really nails the importance of a feedback loop from job seeker to recruiter and recruiter to job seeker. I'm not sure the link will work, but anyway, here's the nut:

For companies the size of Johnson & Johnson, the potential impact of this network is staggering. Over one million candidates per year apply to our positions. We fill about 12,000 positions globally per year, which means that only 1% of candidates who apply are hired and 99% are not.

Do the math: Johnson & Johnson has a potential network of nearly two million candidates who know about us simply through word-of-mouth advertising.

If these individuals have a negative perception of our company because of what they may have heard from others who have been through our recruiting process, the ramifications are astronomical. These individuals are not only potential candidates themselves but perhaps consumers of our products. Think about the impact this could have on our sales, let alone our hiring!