Candidate experience:

Everything recruiters need to know

In this guide, we’ll ‌look at what the candidate experience is, why it is so important, and how recruiters can use new technology to complement a hiring process.

 

Introduction

Being a recruiter has never been more difficult as the labor market has gone through a massive shift and job-seekers are in focus. Alongside demands on the role at hand, candidates now also want a unique experience that is both diverse and inclusive. So we developed Tengai's two-way interactive dialogue to be both fair and exciting to ensure every applicant has a better candidate experience. Tengai's advanced conversational AI, you are providing candidates with a unique interview experience, giving them a sense of human connection despite being a virtual interaction

 

What is the candidate experience? 

The candidate experience is more than just a certain part of the recruiting process. It's the overall experience that candidates have with your company, from initial outreach to the final hiring decision. In today's labor market, it is not enough to have an efficient candidate experience as applicants are expecting information and feedback throughout the process. This puts a lot of pressure on recruiters to create an engaging and transparent candidate experience.

A negative candidate experience can be detrimental to your employer brand. In fact, your candidate's experience is one of the most important key performance indicators (KPIs): the Candidate Net Promoter Score (NPS). NPS is a measure of how likely candidates are to recommend your company to others based on their perceptions about how well you treat them during the hiring process. 

 

Why is the candidate's experience important? 

Candidate experience is important in the hiring process because it directly impacts the success of your recruitment efforts. A positive candidate experience can help to attract top talent, build your employer brand, and improve your overall retention rates. 

By focusing on creating a positive candidate experience, you can differentiate your company from competitors and build a reputation as an employer of choice. This can help to attract top talent, improve the quality of your candidate pool, and ultimately lead to better hires.

When candidates feel valued and engaged throughout your recruitment process they’re more likely to accept your job offer and even stay with your company for longer. This can ultimately lead to improved business outcomes and a stronger, more successful organization.

How Tengai helps you create a great candidate experience

How does automation affect the candidate experience?

Every step of the hiring process can affect the candidate's experience in a positive or negative way. By automating certain parts of the process, candidates may experience that they're being treated like numbers on a spreadsheet rather than human beings with their own stories to tell. 

However, when automation is implemented in a conscious and ethical way, candidates may actually experience an enhanced hiring experience. Especially when automated recruitment methods are used to create faster and more engaging hiring processes.

Benefits of automated recruitment 

There are many benefits for recruiters who use HR-tech tools to automate. Here are four ways automation can enhance the hiring process:  

Increased efficiency 

By using a recruitment automation system, recruiters can increase productivity and save time by reducing the number of resources required to complete each task. According to a LinkedIn survey from 2021, 67% of hiring managers are utilizing AI for saving time. 

 
Improved quality of hire 

AI and automation can help companies automatically filter out unqualified applicants and improve their ability to identify top candidates. This will improve the quality of hire, as the candidates with the "right" competencies can be identified early in the hiring process. 

Mitigates bias 

AI can create great candidate experiences with brisk responses and guided instructions throughout the application process. Using AI to screen candidates early on in the recruitment funnel, can help push bias further down the recruitment funnel and thus contribute to a more unbiased and fair experience. 

Private and secure  

Today, AI is being used by the public sector in many countries. For example in Sweden, where the Gävle Municipality is using more AI technology to ensure security and privacy. They argue that having analog processes makes it challenging to keep track of candidate data and follow GDPR regulations. 

 

Enhance the candidate experience  with conversational AI

Conversational AI is a relatively new field but it is rapidly improving and expanding. The interactive, "human-like" AI is a type of artificial intelligence that enables consumers to interact with computer applications the way they would with other humans. Conversational AI refers to the artificial intelligence that powers chatbots and voice assistants. 

In contrast to the restricted capabilities that a person may encounter when interacting with a typical chatbot, a conversational AI chatbot can answer frequently asked queries, troubleshoot problems, and even initiate small talk. While a static chatbot is generally available on a business website and restricted to textual conversations, conversational AI interactions are intended to be accessed and carried out via a variety of channels, including audio, video, and text. There are many benefits of using conversational AI in recruitment and it is already proving to be a cost-efficient solution for many business processes.

 

How Tengai enhances the candidate experience

A top frustration during the recruitment process for candidates is having to fill in long application forms and then being ghosted by the recruiter. So we developed Tengai to streamline the screening process and send personalized feedback to every applicant. The 20-minute long, digital interview can be done from anywhere, at any time, and is an opportunity for candidates to add information to their application and show more of their personality.

During all interviews, our AI avatar asks questions in the same way and in the same order. Through that, we ensure a fair interview experience for all candidates. It also creates higher reliability and consistency. Throughout the AI interview, Tengai gives “human” feedback. That includes nodding, smiling, leaning of the head, or saying “mhm”. These cues encourage the candidate to give elaborate answers. If the answer is too vague, Tengai might ask the candidate to give more concrete examples.

Tengai’s “human” qualities create an AI interview where job seekers feel safe, comfortable, and have a cutting-edge candidate experience. Creating an experience where candidates feel respected will not only strengthen your relationship with current applicants but will also increase the number of future applicants as a result.

80%

of candidates think Tengai can reduce the risk of discrimination

90%

of candidates think Tengai's interview enhances the hiring process

Unbiased and fair

Even though Tengai delivers a human-like experience, we have made sure that the framework is completely free from unconscious bias. So candidates can feel comfortable being honest and focus on their potential and competencies. Being unbiased means not caring about age, looks, gender, race, or judging a person based on their tone of voice or dialect. To ensure bias-free results, our AI is developed without any facial recognition software and does not use any previous candidate data.

Try a demo of the Tengai interview!

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How personalized feedback creates a better experience for candidates

Having a hiring process that genuinely takes care of each candidate is a very time-consuming task. Especially in today’s market, where job-seekers demand a lot of things from the hiring process and one thing in particular: personalized feedback. So why should you do it? By giving candidates feedback from their interviews, you will help create more synergy and respect throughout the hiring process. Through transparency and open dialogue, you can enrich the candidate experience monumentally.

 

Conclusion: Conversational AI will help you create a better candidate experience

If you're looking to enhance your candidate experience, then conversational AI is the way to go. Tengai can help you provide exceptional conversational AI that engages job seekers throughout the process and delivers structured interview data to recruiters. Create a better candidate experience with our interactive avatar.