Human Resources conducts many surveys each year that may include compensation, benefits, interest in activities, wellness, employee engagement, etc.  These surveys give employers insight into the employee experience and provide an opportunity to improve and become more competitive. 

The one survey that might be missing is the candidate survey.  Do you survey your candidates on the interview process – whether they were declined or hired?  Wouldn’t a candidate survey give employers a stronger view on their recruiting and onboarding process? 

Research shows that only 26% of employers are frequently gathering feedback about their recruiting process.  Could this worker shortage be partially self-inflicted by bad hiring practices? 

Leadership IQ, conducted their own study and found the following:  

• 39% of employees think they would definitely make it through the hiring process if they applied for their current job.
• 10% of leaders believe that their company’s hiring processes never turn away the applications of potentially successful job candidates. 
• More than 1/3 of people worry that their company is too strict with the hiring criteria.
• 49% of employees believe they would definitely meet the experience requirements listed in their company’s job openings.
• Only 55% of employees believe they would definitely meet the skills required requirements listed in their company’s job openings.

Continuous improvement is a huge part of being a successful business, and your recruiting process should be always be evolving and improving based on the economy and market.

Do you ever wonder why some applicants don’t finish the online application?  Why an applicant declined and interview, or a job offer?  Why your new employee accepted the job offer?  How was the candidate feeling throughout the hiring process?

If employers conduct candidate surveys, they can provide these answers and statistics to highlight these areas.  This could reveal some problems that have easy solutions, and some that are more serious and preventing the employer from hiring that highly qualified candidate.

Mark Murphy at Leadership IQ provided an example: “Imagine you asked every candidate who started, but didn’t finish, their application, “What was the most frustrating part of the application process?” You might discover that they hated having to upload their resume and then also write out their job history in another part of the form. Perhaps they couldn’t find any information about the company’s culture or values on the career site. Or maybe there wasn’t any detail about how to follow up once they submitted their application.”

Other questions to include on your survey could be:

• What was the most frustrating part of the hiring process?
• What’s something you felt was missing from our offer?
• Were you provided details on next steps during the process?
• Did you receive answers to your questions?

Employers could learn what benefits their competitors are offering.  Maybe another company did a better job of explaining the career path or offered a hybrid work schedule.  The key to these surveys is to follow through, learn from them, and make the necessary changes.

Murphy stated: “You can stand out just by being one of the few organizations that care enough to ask the hard questions.”

Sources:  ERE, LeadershipIQ