5 Tips to Create a Positive Candidate Journey for Remote Applicants

In today’s post-pandemic market, more employers are looking to remote workers to plug the skills gaps in their organizations. As such, many organizations are looking to adapt their hiring process in order to provide a positive candidate Journey throughout all stages of their recruitment lifecycle.

Why is the candidate journey so important for employers in 2022?

• Candidates are more likely to accept a job offer if they had a positive experience during the hiring process.
• A positive candidate journey can change a candidate’s mind about a role or company they once doubted.
• Many candidates believe the quality of a prospective employer’s hiring process indicates how well they treat their employees.
• If a candidate undergoes an unsatisfactory recruitment process, they’re likely to share their experiences with others via word-of-mouth or through online reviews.

So how do you design a strong candidate journey for remote candidates?

Tip #1: Be a proactive communicator

The digital nature of the remote hiring process means that you’ll have minimal human interaction with your candidate. As such, you need to put communication at the very heart of your remote hiring processes.

To ensure that the candidate has all the information they need, be proactive about providing timely updates and feedback after each stage of the process. Make sure that all communications are prompt, transparent, clear and consistent. This will help avoid any ambiguity by ensuring that the candidate knows exactly where they stand at each step of the journey.

Tip #2: Set clear expectations

Setting clear expectations from the outset of the hiring process goes a long way to ensuring candidate satisfaction. Show respect for the candidate’s time by providing timelines of how long each step of the hiring process will take.

You should also help candidates prepare by describing each stage of the remote interview along with what tools you’ll be using. In doing this, you eliminate confusion and give candidates the support they need to succeed.

Tip #3: Ensure A Seamless Technological Experience

Tech is integral to remote hiring processes so it’s vital to make sure that the technology you use adds value to the candidate journey. Continually work to improve the technical aspects of your remote hiring processes by testing frequently and actively seeking user feedback.

Here are some extra tips to keep in mind when designing the technical side of your remote hiring process:

• Minimize the number of steps required
• Make sure all tools work across a range of devices
• Ensure all steps are clearly explained and are easy to navigate
• Use automation tools to ensure speed and consistency
• Eliminate unnecessary duplications where possible

Tip #4: Inject warmth into the process

While digital communication tools add tremendous value to remote hiring processes in terms of effectiveness and convenience, there’s no denying they lack a certain human warmth. With this in mind, it’s important that hiring managers make a deliberate effort to inject warmth into the process. Not only will this help put candidates at ease, it will also go a long way towards humanizing your employer brand.

Here are some tips to get you started:

• Keep the tone of your written communications friendly, conversational and informal
• Personalize communications where possible
• Regularly check in with candidates to make sure that everything is ok
• At the start of interviews, break the ice with some water-cooler chat
• During interviews, carry yourself in an upbeat and friendly way
• In video interviews, use positive body language (e.g. smiling, hand gestures etc.) to put the candidate at ease

Tip #5: Be reachable

When it comes to remote hiring processes, it’s important to remember that communication is a two-way street. Offer several means of contact to make it easy for candidates to get in touch if they have any questions or issues that need to be addressed. By making yourself available to candidates, you’re demonstrating a level of accountability that will help you to stand out from competing employers.