SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - Mar 14, 2012) - The Talent Board, a non-profit organization dedicated to the elevation of the candidate experience, today announced the release of its recent research titled "Candidate Experience 2011," a white paper based on data collected during the organization's inaugural Candidate Experience (CandE) Awards 2011. Based on 57 participating organizations across a wide range of industries and results from 11,662 candidate surveys, the white paper invokes questions about the quality of the candidate experience and aims to inspire organizations to create the strategies that will continue to advance the candidate experience in the future.
During the 2011 Candidate Experience Awards (CandE Awards), 57 North American organizations participated in the process, and 24 extended survey invitations to their candidates. The Talent Board collected more than 11,000 candidate survey responses. Despite the different industries represented, the size of each employer and the number of new employees each company hired in 2011, the results of the survey were mostly consistent for all participants, indicating that both the candidates and these organizations care a great deal about the candidate experience.
Some key findings of the research include:
- An employer's web-based career site is the most consistently used communication channel used by candidates.
- Direct calls from recruiters and career fair events are still key recruiting strategies, preferred by candidates, emphasizing the importance of phone and face-to-face communication.
- Companies can greatly improve the candidate experience by aligning communication expectations, such as informing candidates about next steps, expected time to complete the application and any required next steps for the position.
- Participating employers are experiencing great success with advanced candidate experience practices, such as maintaining talent communities, communicating process commitments to candidates, providing candidates with direct access to recruiters, and dedicating resources to guiding candidates through the evaluation process.
- Employers have much to gain by surveying candidates at every stage of the hiring process.
"This eye-opening survey conducted for the CandE awards delivers unprecedented insight into the current state of the candidate experience," said Elaine Orler, co-founder of The Talent Board, and president and founder of Talent Function Group. "The overwhelming survey participation by candidates -- including those who have been hired or rejected -- revealed what employers are doing well and which areas leave room for improvement."
She continued, "The Talent Board was delighted to recognize those organizations that are inspiring others by elevating and advancing the candidate experience."
The first ever CandE Awards (pronounced Candies) program was established to evaluate the way in which employers engage with candidates during the employment application process. Through three rounds of evaluation, The Talent Board collected data on how each participating company produces its candidate experience while enabling them to confidentially benchmark their hiring practices.
In the first round, employers were required to provide information about the processes, procedures and priorities used to develop each phase of the candidate experience, including Talent Attraction, Expression of Interest, Candidate Disposition, Candidate Evaluation and Selected Candidate. The second round gave companies the opportunity to survey their 2011 employment candidates, including their rejected candidates, to gain a broad perspective of their candidate experience. In the third round of the survey process, The Talent Board identified organizations that practice exceptional and exemplary recruiting and hiring methods, and these companies were then interviewed by an independent panel of industry judges to solidify their area of distinction.
The "Candidate Experience 2011" white paper is co-authored by Orler, Ed Newman, chief analyst for Inside TMT, Gerry Crispin, principal and co-founder of CareerXroads, Katherine Jones, director and principal analyst of HCM Technology at Bersin & Associates, and Mark McMillian, founding member and 2011 Executive Director of The Talent Board.
The 2012 Candidate Experience Awards will open on May 1, 2012. The CandE awards are open to all North American and British recruiting operations, and participation is confidential and free. The winners of the CandE Awards 2012 will be announced at Human Resource Executive's 15th Annual HR Technology Conference & Exposition held October 8 - 10, 2012 in Chicago, Ill.
"The Candidate Experience 2011" is available for download at: http://www.thecandes.org.
About The Talent Board
The Talent Board is a non-profit organization focused on the elevation and promotion of a quality candidate experience. The organization, awards program and its sponsors are dedicated to recognizing the candidate experience offered by companies throughout the entire recruitment cycle and to forever changing the manner in which job candidates are treated. More information can be accessed at http://www.thecandidateexperienceawards.org