A new study from Phenom has revealed that while many Fortune 500 employers are making strides in attracting, engaging and converting candidates in today’s brutal talent market, there is still significant room to improve the candidate experience with personalization and automation especially driven by AI.
Thanks to the pandemic, talent acquisition is now a business priority among the C-suite — especially across industries with high-volume hiring needs — such as healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, retail and transportation. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, job openings and resignations simultaneously reached highs at the end of March. But instead of using AI to effectively and efficiently scale hiring, the majority of Fortune 500 companies are falling short. In fact, Phenom says 91% scored poorly in this key area.
Candidate Experience Breaking Points
Here’s what happened when researchers visited the Fortune 500 career sites;
- Only 10% had an intuitive job search and application process
- Only 1% communicated application status beyond initial confirmation
- 89% did not display recently viewed jobs
- 88% did not present job recommendations based on browsing history
- 87% did not use a recruitment chatbot
- 73% lacked a job cart or favorites function to save jobs
- 88% did not send applicants a satisfaction survey
How Employers Can Improve the Candidate Experience
Simplify search and apply. Requiring three or more clicks to apply for a job is a major roadblock for candidates. The longer it takes for a candidate to find and apply to a relevant job, the greater the chance they will abandon the process and look elsewhere. One recommendation is for companies to equip their career sites with the ability to provide relevant suggested jobs based on a candidate’s keywords, skills, experience and location.
Create hyper-personalization. Candidates are used to superior tailored experiences in their consumer lives. If finding a job that matches what they want is difficult, they are quick to move on. Dynamic AI personalization is one way companies can automatically match a candidate’s preferences, experience, skills and location with best-fit job openings — and surface content for candidates as they move through their own unique end-to-end talent journey across multiple channels.
Automate communication. Job seekers want to know where they stand in the screening and interview scheduling process. Failure to communicate status details jeopardizes employer brand and acceptance rates. Using conversational AI chatbots, text and email campaigns are a few ways companies can automate individualized communications to keep job seekers engaged while differentiating their brand.
“Hiring, developing and retaining talent isn’t just an HR priority — it is a business priority. Companies must differentiate themselves by the experiences they provide to their candidates and their employees to sustain,” said Mahe Bayireddi, CEO and co-founder of Phenom. “This benchmark report provides industry-specific insights and actionable recommendations for using automation and personalization to earn and keep top talent.”
How AI & Automation Helps All Talent Experiences
At a time when there’s never been more pressure for recruiters to fill open roles, AI and automation enables a quick, efficient hiring process that serves up best-fit jobs to candidates — and best-fit candidates to recruiters — while optimizing omnichannel communication that nurture talent communities. Not only do job seekers appreciate a streamlined, personalized experience, but with efficiency at the core, recruiters and hiring managers benefit from decreased time to fill and better long-term fits.
Employees are no exception. The same hyper-personalized candidate experience should extend to internal talent, who may be looking to move within their current company. By making relevant open roles and development opportunities visible, actionable and attainable, companies stand a better chance at retaining them. AI-powered talent marketplaces automate the process for an employee experience that unifies all key stakeholders: internal candidates, recruiters and hiring managers.
Data like this is key to improving your hiring processes and attracting more talent. I hope that you take these findings and use them to improve your own candidate experience management. Otherwise the talent you seek will go elsewhere.
