Understanding and Optimizing the Candidate Journey
Talent acquisition leaders consistently highlight the value of delivering a strong candidate experience, and a deep understanding of the candidate journey is essential to achieving that goal.
Today, prioritizing the candidate experience is more crucial than ever. Neglecting it can harm a company’s reputation—72% of candidates report sharing negative recruitment experiences online, and such feedback can quickly gain traction on social media.
In fact, most job seekers read at least six reviews before forming an opinion about a potential employer. Poor feedback deters talent, with 55% of candidates likely to avoid companies with negative reviews altogether. Clearly, a subpar candidate experience can have serious implications for talent attraction and brand perception.
To create a positive candidate experience, it’s important to map and understand the full journey a candidate takes—from first becoming aware of a job opportunity to onboarding as a new hire. This journey can be visualized as a funnel, like those used in marketing and sales, and includes seven key stages: awareness, consideration, interest, application, selection, hiring, and onboarding.
One of the most common challenges with the candidate journey is its length. On average, it takes companies about 42 days to fill an open role—an extended timeframe, especially considering top candidates are typically off the market within 10 days. A focused, detail-oriented approach to each stage of the journey can help organizations accelerate their hiring process and more effectively engage high-quality talent.
Let’s now explore each stage of the candidate journey, starting with the first:
1. Awareness
This is where the journey begins. Candidates discover your job opening through various channels—job boards like LinkedIn or Indeed, your company’s social media, content related to your business, visits to your careers page, or personal referrals. To efficiently attract qualified candidates—and save time for both recruiters and applicants—it’s crucial to clearly define your ideal candidate persona and implement a well-thought-out strategy for talent engagement.
2. Consideration and Interest
These two phases often overlap, as candidates move beyond the job description and begin to evaluate the organization more holistically. At this stage, they assess your company’s values, mission, work environment, and overall reputation.
A strong employer brand plays a key role during the consideration phase. The most successful employer brands are consistent across all channels—job postings, social media, employee referrals, and company websites. They transform the internal experiences of engaged employees into compelling external messages that resonate with potential hires.
With more than half of job seekers researching employers online—through websites and social media—a strong, consistent employer brand often serves as the first impression of your company.
3. Application
This is one of the most pivotal stages, yet it is frequently underestimated. Lengthy or cumbersome application processes can significantly hinder the candidate experience. According to CareerBuilder, 20% of applicants abandon applications that take longer than 20 minutes.
Best practices to optimize the application process include:
- Test your own process: Ensure someone on your team has experienced the application firsthand to identify potential barriers.
- Prioritize mobile compatibility: With 58% of job seekers using mobile devices for job hunting, applications must be responsive and easy to complete. Poor mobile design leads to fewer completed applications and longer submission times.
- Maintain timely and transparent communication: According to WorkplaceTrends, 80% of job seekers are discouraged from applying again if they don’t receive status updates. However, timely communication increases the likelihood they will reapply by 3.5 times.
4. Selection
In the selection phase, candidates often participate in interviews and begin forming a clearer picture of the organization. This is your opportunity to offer a transparent and accurate view of what working at your company entails.
Provide insight into team dynamics, workplace culture, challenges, and employee perks. Encourage candidates to ask questions and share any concerns they may have. Addressing these points early can significantly influence their decision-making and help avoid offer rejections.
5. Hiring
Extending a job offer is a critical point where both employer and candidate make a final decision. Every interaction up to this point impacts the outcome. Any lapse in communication, misrepresentation, or inefficiency earlier in the journey can lead to declined offers.
A streamlined application process, consistent recruiter engagement, and authentic representation of company culture all signal professionalism and positively influence a candidate’s decision to join your organization.
6. Onboarding
Often underestimated, the onboarding phase is vital for retention. Nearly 28% of new hires leave within the first 90 days, making it imperative to deliver a structured and engaging onboarding experience to safeguard your recruitment investment.
Effective onboarding practices include:
- Begin before day one: Share welcome emails, introductory guides, or personal notes from managers in advance of the start date.
- Encourage cross-functional engagement: Instead of traditional one-on-one onboarding, consider collaborative approaches that promote team integration.
- Schedule one-on-one time with managers: A LinkedIn study found 96% of professionals value direct interaction with their manager during onboarding.
- Set clear goals early: Define expectations and performance objectives to help new hires settle in and feel confident from the start.
- Reinforce company culture: Highlight your mission, values, and culture early and often. With 81% of failed hires attributed to poor cultural fit, it’s essential to align expectations from the beginning.
Conclusion
Identifying weak points in your candidate journey can be challenging. Gathering feedback at different stages of the process is essential for uncovering improvement areas and continuously enhancing the experience for future candidates.