What's your worst job-hunting experience? How does your company compare, or have you checked? According to a recent Gallup survey, 70% of job seekers have a frustrating experience while applying for a job. And half of those people said their treatment made them reconsider whether they wanted to be employed with that company. Making sure your employees are as highly satisfied as your customers is critical to business success. Employee satisfaction begins with the hiring process.
 
Providing a positive recruiting experience enhances your reputation in the marketplace, even when the candidate doesn't get the job. When you show candidates the same respect and consideration you show customers, you are making a strategic decision that can favorably impact the long-term financial health of your company in a number of ways: 

• Candidates may be current or future customers who can have an impact on future sales. 
• Top talent will choose you rather than the competition, in both boom and bust markets.
• You'll enhance both your company and product brands.
• You'll enhance performance by reducing job vacancy times and hiring costs.  

Everyone involved in the hiring process should recognize the value of doing it right and, more important, the costs of doing it wrong. What is the right way to treat candidates? From a candidate's perspective, looking for a job can be stressful. If you're unemployed you feel vulnerable and pressured. And if you're employed, fitting a job search into an already full-time schedule can be overwhelming. As the hiring company, you can reduce candidate stress by treating them as attentively as you would a customer who is sitting on the fence about whether to buy your product or service.Here are some suggestions, many of them seemingly inconsequential, but important to enhancing your candidate's experience:

• Treat candidates with respect and dignity. Make sure your technology is user friendly, especially if that's a candidate's first stage in the hiring process.
• Explain, in detail, about your hiring process, what your candidates can expect of you and what you expect from them.
• Keep them informed at every step of the process.
• Respect their time and time constraints related to their current job.
• Candidates are investing a significant amount of time in the application process; don't ask for information you don't really need.
• Make sure interviewers are knowledgeable about the company and the job and take time to review the candidate's background before the interview.
• Offer the opportunity to ask questions; answer questions right away and honestly.
• Provide an opportunity to speak with future coworkers.
• Make a realistic offer in line with the candidate's expectations and provide time for the candidate to consider the offer.
• Be flexible on start dates to accommodate the candidate's existing commitments, like planned vacations, health issues or commitments to current employers.
• When informing a candidate that you've chosen someone else, give them a courtesy call to thank them for their time and effort and, if possible, the opportunity to learn why they weren't selected.
• Ask for feedback about your interview process and their overall experience with your company - allowing the candidate to vent and your company to improve.  

Companies that offer the highest salaries don't always win the top performers. What's equally if not more important to candidates is the experience they have with your company, from the way they were greeted by your receptionist through the final call telling them they've been accepted or rejected. In other words, treat them like you would a valued customer.

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