Candidate experience is closely akin to customer service. If you have a great experience, they will go back and use the recruiter again. If you have an appalling experience, then they won’t. And, recruiters would be wise to remember this when conducting themselves.
Last year, Recruitment Grapevine reported on a recruiter who was dubbed the “rudest boss in Britain” after insulting some of his clients behind their backs. Thirty-four-year-old Andrew White, a Recruitment Manager at Cordant People in Preston, came under fire after he was outed by his colleagues for writing distasteful remarks on an instant messenger mocking his candidates. “Love to know what calories she gets through. Bet her guts are rotten. Two packs of Wotsits before 9am today” and “WTF is that? A boy girl man. I think it’s a man”, were just some of the vile comments that White typed to his stunned colleagues. And this sparked outrage among his counterparts who saved his messages and later shared them publicly.
While this will likely deter many of his existing clients from using him in future – as many current clients are likely to question whether they are at the core of his hateful dictums – it is also likely to impact the brand of his employer, largely because the candidates weren't given a caring, top-notch experience.
With that in mind, how can recruiters create the best candidate experience? The experts weigh in below…