How a Great Candidate Experience Turns Employees into Ambassadors
Is brand at the heart of your talent acquisition

In a world where one recruiter is responsible for multiple job listings and each job listing attracting on average 250 applicants, there’s no doubt that recruiters sometimes feel like they’re carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders. They simply don’t have the time to juggle all of the tasks on their plate, and this lack of time could be detrimental to the company’s candidate experience.
A study by Virgin Media found that a negative candidate experience cost their company $5MM a year in rejected candidates switching to competitors. This $5MM isn’t taking into account the number of friends and family members of the rejected candidates who also switched to competitors. A negative candidate experience can result in more than one negative Glassdoor review—there are business implications that come along with it. In this article, we’re going through how to flip your candidate experience around in order to turn candidates into ambassadors for your brand.
Top Pain Points for Candidates
Talentsquare looked into the top drivers for a bad candidate experience and found that:
· Almost 35% said lack of response was their number-one frustration
· Almost 25% said no clarity or transparency about the recruiting process
· 15% said the lack of mobile-friendly platform influenced their frustration
In all, a bad candidate experience boils down to communication and convenience—the latter being critical in today’s digital age.
Top Factors That Influenced Candidates into Becoming Brand Ambassadors
On the flip side, Talentsquare also looked into the driving factors that influenced candidates into becoming brand ambassadors:
· Over 40% stated constant feedback
· Over 25% attributed it to professional assessment
· Over 10% said they were provided career-related articles
Candidates are saying it loud and clear—communication is key during the candidate experience.
Flipping Candidate Experience on its Head
Now that we know the good, the bad, and the ugly about candidate experience, here are some solutions that will help you create a great one.
1. Review your candidate experience, from beginning to end. If it helps, draw out your candidate experience to visual each step in the process. Then set rules of candidate engagement so that everyone—from recruiters to hiring managers—are not only aligned with the end-to-end process, but also aware of each step. Also consider creating a repository that houses a set of interview questions that have been vetted by the team. This helps eliminate one variable from the recruiting process, and that’s called unconscious biases.
2. Communicate, and if you think you’re already communicating enough, consider over-communicating. As mentioned earlier, time is limited, so you may not be able to reach out to every single candidate at every single moment. However, think about where you can automate some communication such as leveraging a chatbot that is available 24/7 for candidates to reach out to. Or a chatbot that automatically checks in with candidates during set times (after a phone screen or one day before an on-site interview). Not only that, but also be upfront with candidates about the hiring process by giving them a timeline—do interviews at your company typically take 1 week or 1 month? By being candid and available for candidates, it’s showing that you value their time.
3. Two-way feedback. After the interview process, provide candidates feedback so they can develop professionally and take those learnings on to their next interviews. In return, ask for feedback on how the company can improve the candidate experience. This will show candidates that you’re not only invested in their future success, but that you value their opinion.
Hiring is no easy feat, and it consumes a lot of time and resources. However, that’s no excuse to skimp on your candidate experience. Creating an excellent candidate experience it not only a good look on your brand, but it will also help fill your pipeline with other qualified candidates and customers.
More Resources

Hire with Precision Using Candidate Voice

AI vs. Traditional Talent Sourcing: A Buyer’s Guide to Finding the Best Fit for Your Hiring Needs

5 Ways AI Enhances Diversity Hiring in the Recruitment Process
.png)
Humanly Placed in Will Reed's Top 100 Workplace Culture Ranking
.png)
Humanly Placed in Will Reed's Top 100 Workplace Culture Ranking

Humanly Named Top AI Recruiting Software By Select Software Reviews

Humanly Named Top AI Recruiting Software By Select Software Reviews

Humanly Named Geekwire 2022 Best UX Design Of The Year

Humanly Named Geekwire 2022 Best UX Design Of The Year

Humanly Named 2022 HR Tech Awardee For Talent Acquisition

Humanly Named 2022 HR Tech Awardee For Talent Acquisition

Humanly Wins Multiple Placements In G2 Winter 2024 Reports

Humanly Wins Multiple Placements In G2 Winter 2024 Reports
.png)
Mr Meaningful Work and Arkesh Mishra
.png)
Mr Meaningful Work and Tim Sackett
.png)
Mr Meaningful Work and Guests Kick Off What's Humanly Possible
.png)
Mr Meaningful Work and the Queen of Hearts

Efficient, Equitable & Empathetic Candidate Conversations with Katrina Collier and Prem Kumar

Efficient, Equitable & Empathetic Candidate Conversations with Katrina Collier and Prem Kumar

Chisel Presents: Learnings From Building AI Products

Chisel Presents: Learnings From Building AI Products

The Role of AI in Modern Recruiting [Podcast]

The Role of AI in Modern Recruiting [Podcast]
.jpg)
AI in Hiring: From Microsoft to Humanly's Recruitment Solutions | Episode 14
.jpg)
AI in Hiring: From Microsoft to Humanly's Recruitment Solutions | Episode 14

How Can Technology Optimize the Hiring Proceess? With Prem Kumar

How Can Technology Optimize the Hiring Proceess? With Prem Kumar

Prem Kumar, CEO of Humanly.io: $5.5 Million Raised to Build the Conversational Hiring Category

Prem Kumar, CEO of Humanly.io: $5.5 Million Raised to Build the Conversational Hiring Category
.jpg)
Transforming the Recruitment Process with Humanly's Prem Kumar
.jpg)
Transforming the Recruitment Process with Humanly's Prem Kumar

Firing Squad: Humanly's Prem Kumar

Firing Squad: Humanly's Prem Kumar

HR Tech Insights Featuring Markellos Diorinos, Prem Kumar And Rob Catalano

HR Tech Insights Featuring Markellos Diorinos, Prem Kumar And Rob Catalano

Deck Review: Humanly

Deck Review: Humanly

A Chat with Prem Kumar, CEO of the HR Tech Company Humanly.io

A Chat with Prem Kumar, CEO of the HR Tech Company Humanly.io

The New Age of Hiring: AI Is Changing the Game for Job Seekers

The New Age of Hiring: AI Is Changing the Game for Job Seekers

SAP.iO Foundry San Francisco Future of Work Cohort

SAP.iO Foundry San Francisco Future of Work Cohort

All the companies from Y Combinator’s W20 Demo Day, Part I: B2B Companies

All the companies from Y Combinator’s W20 Demo Day, Part I: B2B Companies

Product Manager To CEO | Using AI To Increase Equity When Hiring

Product Manager To CEO | Using AI To Increase Equity When Hiring

Recruiting automation startup Humanly lands $12M as it doubles down on AI

Recruiting automation startup Humanly lands $12M as it doubles down on AI

GeekWire Awards: How this startup CEO adapted to the pandemic, economic downturn and his own fatigue

GeekWire Awards: How this startup CEO adapted to the pandemic, economic downturn and his own fatigue

From Artificial Intelligence to Human Intelligence

From Artificial Intelligence to Human Intelligence

Humanly Shines Across the Board in G2’s Winter 2025 Reports!

Humanly Shines Across the Board in G2’s Winter 2025 Reports!

Humanly Acquires Teamable, Introducing an AI-First End-to-End Recruiting Powerhouse

Humanly Acquires Teamable, Introducing an AI-First End-to-End Recruiting Powerhouse

Conversational AI And Talent OS: Beamery and Humanly Partnership Tackles Top Reason Applicants Leave Job Funnel

Conversational AI And Talent OS: Beamery and Humanly Partnership Tackles Top Reason Applicants Leave Job Funnel

Arik Armstead of The San Francisco 49ers and Richaun Holmes of The Sacramento Kings team up with Humanly.io to help increase diversity in the workplace

Arik Armstead of The San Francisco 49ers and Richaun Holmes of The Sacramento Kings team up with Humanly.io to help increase diversity in the workplace

Empowering the Future of Hiring: Humanly Raises $12M Series A to Fuel Innovation and Growth

Empowering the Future of Hiring: Humanly Raises $12M Series A to Fuel Innovation and Growth

Ask the Question: What’s Beyond What You Already Think and Know About Hiring?

Ask the Question: What’s Beyond What You Already Think and Know About Hiring?

Humanly Partners With SHRM, Joins Workplace Tech Accelerator Program

Humanly Partners With SHRM, Joins Workplace Tech Accelerator Program

Building An Ethical AI Framework For Recruitment With Talent Collective

Building An Ethical AI Framework For Recruitment With Talent Collective
.png)
Humanly AI Product Showcase at SourceCon 2024
.png)
Humanly AI Product Showcase at SourceCon 2024

What's AI Sourcing?

What's AI Sourcing?

What's AI Referrals?

What's AI Referrals?

Transforming Hiring with AI

Transforming Hiring with AI

Ethical AI Governance and Best Practices for AI-Powered Recruiting

Ethical AI Governance and Best Practices for AI-Powered Recruiting

SHRM - Ethical HR to Talent Trends, AI in HR

SHRM - Ethical HR to Talent Trends, AI in HR

Empowering Skills-First Hiring using AI

Empowering Skills-First Hiring using AI

Ensuring Responsible AI: Humanly's Governance and Safety Measures
.png)
Building Trust with Ethical AI in Recruitment: Humanly's Approach
.png)