Finding a great job can be challenging—but finding the perfect technicians isn’t a piece of cake, either.
Your hiring team and potential candidates need to navigate different stages of the recruitment process together. The question is, how should your candidate journey look to ensure you’re attracting top trade talent?
Even if you’re struggling to fill your talent pipeline with qualified candidates, there’s a simple way to provide a standout candidate experience and hire the right person for the position. It all boils down to your candidate journey, from your first touchpoint with potential candidates all the way to their first day on the job.
In today’s candidate-centric market, a seamless candidate journey is the tool you need to acquire top talent. So, what are you waiting for? Here’s everything you need to kick your candidate journey into high gear.
The Pre-Application Phase
If you think the candidate journey starts with the application stage, it’s time to take a step back. Before potential candidates decide to submit an application, you need to engage them with recruitment marketing to show them why you’re worth working for. That means capturing the attention of potential candidates, helping them learn more about your company, and showing them what value you have to offer as an employer.
During this phase, every touchpoint influences whether potential candidates will convert into actual candidates. In other words, you can’t afford to turn qualified prospects away with a poor candidate experience.
1. Awareness
Brand awareness starts with the first candidate journey touchpoints. These touchpoints make prospects aware of who you are, what your company does, and what it’s like to work there. In this stage, candidates are just starting to learn about your organization—whether they just found an open tech position on a job board or they noticed your job advertisement on Facebook.
When you’re building awareness, there are tons of touchpoints you can use to capture your ideal candidate’s attention. Find out what social media channels your top picks use, post on automotive job boards, and run job ads to spread the word about your company.
2. Consideration
Most organizations tend to ignore the consideration stage, but it’s a critical point in the candidate journey. After candidates have experienced a few of your touchpoints, they’ll start considering if they’re interested in working for your company.
During this stage, you need to show candidates why you’re better than the competition. That means sparking their interest with job descriptions, highlighting your culture, and answering their questions with relevant content. Every single one of your touchpoints has the potential to turn potential candidates into active job seekers. You need to make a positive impression and build a strong employer brand to make that happen.
And remember: The candidate journey isn’t always a linear process, especially for passive candidates. Your prospects might move back into the awareness phase before they decide to take the next step.
3. Interest
Congratulations! You’ve captured your top pick’s attention and they’re genuinely interested in working for your company. But before they apply, they’re going to take a deep dive into your company to learn everything there is to know about working for you.
During this stage, your potential candidates are going beyond your job listings and Glassdoor reviews to learn more about your culture, mission statement, and value proposition. They’re checking out testimonials from employees, becoming familiar with your mission, and reading about your values.
What does that mean for your recruitment strategy? To build trust with prospects, you need to stay consistent across every channel. From social media to your careers website, it’s time to partner with marketing to create a uniform image of your brand. This way, you’ll take one step closer to converting interested candidates into motivated employees.
The Application Phase
As soon as candidates hit the Apply Now button, they enter the application phase. From this point on, you’re in the driver’s seat. You’ll have more control over how candidates perceive you and what their experience looks like. This phase encompasses everything that happens from the application form to the moment you hire or reject them.
4. Application
As you’ve probably guessed, the application stage starts when applicants start filling out your job application. To minimize application dropout, you need to put yourself in the position of your applicants and test drive your own application.
If you can’t apply on mobile, need to answer too many questions, or can only upload necessary documents in a specific format, you’ll need to make some adjustments to your application. Even small details can create a bad candidate experience—and that might be the push that sends your ideal candidates straight to the competition.
Once the applications start rolling in, you should process them as quickly as possible. The way you communicate with applicants can make or break their perception of your company. You need to keep candidates in the loop, let them know what to expect, and send notice if you decide to reject them.
What’s the best way to speed up the application process? Tap into recruitment automation tools to sort through applications and screen candidates. From there, you can let your candidates self-schedule interviews based on a hiring manager’s availability. This way, you don’t have to risk losing your top picks to back-and-forth emailing or phone tag.
To find the best fit for your team, communicate what it’s like to work for your company. That includes your company culture and team spirit, the challenges of the position, and growth opportunities. Make sure to leave room for candidate questions so you can address their concerns.
5. Selection
After you’ve wrapped up interviews, it’s time to start the selection process. Here, you’ll evaluate applicants based on their interviews to find the best fit for your company.
For candidates, selection typically involves a lot of waiting. Although most organizations don’t communicate much during this stage, you can still generate touchpoints to engage candidates and improve their experience. For example, you could send an email to thank candidates for their time and let them know what to expect.
Don’t forget: Your candidates have some control during the selection process, too. Chances are, they’ve applied with a few other companies, and you’re not the only one racing to fill open positions. During this phase, transparency is key to keeping top talent interested in your organization.
6. Hiring
The last step of the application process is when candidates get hired or rejected after the interview process. If you decide to move forward, let the applicant know as soon as possible with an email or phone call. After they accept your offer, let them know you’re looking forward to working with them and keep them updated with any next steps.
If you reject candidates after the interview, be sure to tell them instead of going MIA. To create a positive candidate experience, send them personalized feedback to let them know why they didn’t make it.
It might seem like a simple gesture, but 94 percent of candidates want interview feedback—and job seekers are four times more likely to consider a company in the future when they receive feedback. If you want to fill your talent pipeline with qualified candidates, interview feedback is a no-brainer.
The Post-Application Phase
News flash: The candidate journey doesn’t end with hiring. Most recruiters get so caught up in the hiring process that they forget about the onboarding process. But if you want to create a winning candidate from start to finish, you need to give new hires the tools they need to succeed.
Onboarding
Over one-quarter of new employees quit their position within 90 days due to poor onboarding. As a recruiter, you should already be thinking about onboarding before you extend the job offer. You don’t want to lose new techs after a few weeks—especially after all the time, effort, and resources you just spent on recruitment.
Think of onboarding as the starting point for employee success. Schedule one-on-one meetings with hiring managers, send contact information to the new hire, and encourage them to fill out any necessary paperwork before their first day on the job. Most importantly, make sure your new hire feels confident and welcome on their first day.
When you invest in the long-term success of new hires, you’ll transform their employment experience from day one—and that can make the difference between retaining loyal employees and restarting the hiring process.
Drive Hiring Success With Recruitment Marketing
Let’s face it: The hiring game has changed. The days of simple interviews and job offers are long gone. To win the race for talent, you need to optimize the candidate journey from the first touchpoint all the way to the finish line.
Ready to streamline your hiring process? Download our self-audit checklist and schedule a discovery call with our team to fuel your organization with skilled talent.
