The Candidate Experience |
Sarah had spent the last five days applying for roles that she was excited for. It had been 50 applications, 20 hours, 15 redirected company websites where she had to create a profile just to apply, 10 carefully curated resumes, 3 times she had already received a generic “thank you for applying, we decided not to move forward with your application at this time” email and more energy drinks than she cared to admit. She was exhausted. Little did she know that within the next month she would be up to 300 applications across different platforms while only receiving 5-10% return emails letting her know she wasn’t selected to move forward while the others just ghosted her entirely or would get back to her within 3-6 months letting her know she wasn’t selected. And by that point, with the inflated cost of living, she would be desperate and applying for anything that could help her keep a roof over her family’s little head and food in their adorable little hands.
Why is this a trend we are seeing? And how is this impacting the candidate and the company?
The Company’s Hiring Experience |
Blake was being pressured by her bosses to fill 3 roles this month. Teams were complaining about being understaffed, overworked, underpaid, overlooked, and underappreciated. The executive team weren’t too concerned as they were usually out of touch with the demanding needs in the front lines. The managers, however, grew increasingly more worried about the rise in sick days, mistakes, and conflict within the teams. Morale was low.
Blake did four 10-minute virtual screener interviews per hour. She was stressed and overwhelmed. She hadn’t found the right candidate for any role and had over four hundred applicants for each role across LinkedIn, Indeed, and their company website. Some candidates didn’t even have the experience required for the role, she spent hours screening resumes. AI and ATS were a hit or miss some days. Maybe she needed to revamp her whole system, questions included. There was no way she would be able to get back to all of these candidates even the ones she had already interviewed. There just weren’t enough hours in the day.
Does any of this sound familiar? With the current demands in the market we are seeing a pattern.
Candidate experience has taken a despairing dive across multiple industries. Desperation is soaring. Teams are overworked and underesourced. Internal and external recruiters have to manage competing priorities and unfortunately, in their haste, some seem to make a costly tactical error: forgetting candidates are real people with real needs and real feelings.
Failing to calculate how user friendly hiring processes are doesn’t only uneccessarily inconvenience candidates and eat up their time, it communicates a lack of regard for their well-being. Applications aren’t a simple emotionless push of the submit button, they are weighted with hopes, dreams, and pressure from different life circumstances.
So what does the application and hiring process reveal about the company you want to work for?
It reveals faulty systems, management priorities, and most importantly, whether they have given thought to your well-being. If they haven’t given thought to it now when you’re in the courting stage, how much thought do you think they’re going to give to it when you’re married and have kids together? When you’re hired, been there for a few years, and are managing multiple projects? Sometimes the crushing reality is that you can give years of investment to a company and they can still downsize you because that’s whats best for their ROI.
Companies who value employee well-being do it with integrity and consistency from start to finish: recruitment, interviews, negotiations, on-boarding, working, terminations, and off-boarding. Values are the way a company consistently operates. It shows up in the way we train each other, hold each other accountable, and plan to meet the needs of our clients and workforce. It shows up in the way you feel when you apply for a job (but not just a job, the possibility of an exciting future). Is there a customized thank you message? How about when you didn’t get the job? How do they treat you during the interview? During negotiations? First day? Fifth day? The hundredth and twenty sixth day? Your last day?
These are some of the little details companies can refine to better set themselves up for long-term recruitment, engagement, and retention. I believe we can set ourselves up for sustainable employee wellness, engagement, and retention right from the beginning. Every touch points with candidates and clients are either reinforcing loyalty to our company or developing fans for the competition.
What are some other considerations to improve hiring processes in 2026?