Hiring is cooling, yes, and if employers don’t overreact and completely gut their recruiting function, there are activities to invest in and benefits to be had. This includes focusing on internal mobility, redeployment, upskilling, and ensuring every candidate, external and especially internal, has consistent and timely communications—quality communications from the recruiting team, whether that’s at the point of application, early screening and final interviewing stage, or offer and onboarding.
Recently, I talked about this topic with one of the companies participating in our 2024 CandE Benchmark Research Program. I was reviewing their candidate experience data, and their ratings are very high, which is excellent. While their hiring and candidate volumes are currently lower than normal, they’ve invested more in timely candidate communications across the candidate journey. Every year, our research data shows that communication and feedback loops are positive perennial differentiators for a better candidate experience, regardless of what the world looks like and the current economic climate.
The benefits are clear – lower candidate resentment (the percentage of candidates who said they had a poor candidate experience and will never engage the business or brand again) and a higher willingness to refer others (a plus for all B2C and B2B employers).
The reality for most candidates is different, though. Take, for example, what happens after candidates apply. One of the biggest complaints candidates have is that they either never hear back after applying or it’s weeks or months later (see table below).
Based on our 2024 CandE Benchmark Research, 19% of hourly candidates are still waiting to hear about the next steps 1-2+ months after applying. What’s clear is that their “extreme” willingness to refer others is 41% lower than that of all hourly candidates. Their resentment rate is 64% higher than that of all hourly candidates. Both of these could have big negative impacts on those businesses and brands.
It’s a similar story for professional candidates – 41% still await the next steps 1-2+ months after applying. This is double for hourly candidates because the screening process can and does take longer for professional positions. Their “extreme” willingness to refer others is 43% lower than all professional candidates. Their resentment rate is 28% higher than that of all professional candidates. Again, significant potential negative impacts on those businesses and brands.
Hourly and Professional Candidates Waiting 1-2+ on Next Steps After Applying
But if the candidates only wait one week for the next steps after applying, even if that means the end of the road, then it’s a much different sentiment picture (see table below). 42% of hourly candidates are waiting to hear about next steps only one week after applying. The timeliness here impacts their “extreme” willingness to refer others and is 19% higher than all hourly candidates. Their resentment rate is 91% lower than all hourly candidates. These could lead to potential positive impacts on those businesses and brands.
It’s a similar story for professional candidates – 30% are still waiting to hear about next steps only one week after applying. Their “extreme” willingness to refer others is 52% higher than all professional candidates. Their resentment rate is 94% lower than all professional candidates, almost non-existent. This year, only about 25% of all professional candidates said they were screened further after they applied, so we know the majority are dispositioned at some point (or never hear back).
Hourly and Professional Candidates Only Waiting 1 Week on Next Steps After Applying.
Year after year, when employers invest more time in timely candidate communications and across the candidate journey, it will pay dividends in the form of a positive experience and perception of fairness. During the first eight years of our benchmark research program, we were in a growth economic and hiring market post the Great Recession. But since the pandemic, recruiting and hiring have been up and down all around and continue to confound economics across industries. However, after 13 years of benchmarking candidate experience, we’ll always advocate doubling down on candidate communications whether hiring a lot or not.
