When students and recent graduates judge companies' recruitment processes, they are not kind. A paradox given the amount of money spent on employer branding. Processes are too long and unclear, and they need to change.
As the baby-boom generation retires, the demographic dynamics of the job market make recruiting the younger generation a key concern for companies.
However, despite investing considerable resources - both human and financial - in their recruitment communications to attract young graduates, companies are still often struggling to recruit. To understand this phenomenon, have companies really considered the quality of the experience they offer to candidates, particularly the youngest who are so dearly sought after?
Disappointing job offers
From the moment the job offer is written to the moment the employment contract is signed, the candidate experience is as full of disappointments for young people as it is of missed opportunities for companies, which seem to be neglecting this essential aspect of the employer brand.
Generation Z expects faster recruitment processes, truly personalised contacts and greater salary transparency, according to the latest study conducted by the EDHEC NewGen Talent Centre and Job teaser's Gen Z lab among 5,866 students and young professionals and 561 HR managers on the theme of the ‘candidate experience’.
80% of companies consider the job market to be favourable to young graduates. For their part, young people see themselves in their next job and feel well prepared for it. More than 7 out of 10 young people say they know their professional strengths and weaknesses, the sector in which they would like to work and the tasks they would like to perform. However, they still lack knowledge about their career prospects once in a job, and information about salaries.
Reviewing recruiters' priorities
Although this is the first real contact between a young person and a future employer, ‘improving the candidate experience’ only comes fifth in the list of challenges facing recruiters, according to this latest study.
Only a quarter of recruiters still adapt their adverts to make them attractive to junior profiles... However, to capture the attention of young candidates as soon as the advert is published, it is essential to master their codes and adapt the approach to the specific characteristics of those entering the job market. They prefer a short description in concise sentences, a focus on the meaning of their mission and the company's values, transparency in the job description and language that suits them.
So, among the elements of job offers that most encourage candidates to apply, recruiters should more systematically reintroduce remuneration, the company's missions and values and details of the recruitment procedure and its duration...
The 22-day rule
Among the factors that lead to applications being abandoned, young people point to excessively long decision-making processes with too many recruitment stages. In particular, they mention an excessive demand for assignments and role-playing, which they sometimes see as a form of mistrust, or even consulting on the cheap. In this respect, small organisations, particularly tech start-ups, do not seem to be any more exemplary than large companies.
What's more, these processes sometimes appear to be at odds with the company's stated values. Candidates are potential employees: a lack of trust, consideration and transparency during the recruitment process does not augur well for them, and often proves to be a disincentive.
Young people estimate that the maximum length of a recruitment process is 22 days. However, 1/3 of companies admit that they easily exceed this time limit, and this figure is undoubtedly underestimated.
Young people regret the lack of visibility on remuneration, an issue which they feel should be addressed transparently from the outset of the process.
They also stress the importance of the human relationship. For example, having no contact with their future managers and colleagues, or a lack of closeness with the recruiter, can cause them to abandon a procedure.
We don't "ghost"
Another huge surprise in this study is that 86% of candidates say they have already been ignored or ‘ghosted’ by a recruiter... and 42% of recruiters admit to this.
After going to so much trouble to find candidates, companies sometimes neglect them to the point of forgetting about them during the process. Whatever the reason, and even for lack of time, this is a totally counter-productive practice for a new generation looking for transparency. And these young people, adepts of company evaluation platforms, will not forget how they were considered... If they are candidates today, they will be consumers or prescribers throughout their lives.
Finally, the last stage in the candidate experience, integration into the company could also be improved, particularly in terms of the social dimension. The presentation of career prospects within the company and specific training for taking up the post, essential elements for rapid inclusion and projection within the company, are very much in demand among young people.
What if AI saved the candidate experience?
Recruiters often cite a lack of time and human resources as the reason why their candidate experience is neglected. But many leading recruiters have already recognised the immense potential of AI in this area. Today, more than ever, the use of data in processes is central, whether to source the right candidates, monitor the interview process or improve the ROI of offers. Data analysis in recruitment is considered important by 73% of companies, and AI, which is already used by 36% of recruiters, enjoys a very positive image.
AI is already being used in a wide variety of ways: responding to emails, screening CVs, preparing for interviews, contacting candidates, writing case studies and role-playing exercises, etc. The use of AI to write job offers is particularly effective, and therefore has great potential for development.
In conclusion, the application experience is a key element with a real influence on a company's brand image: 77% of young people who have had a bad application experience say that their perception of the company has deteriorated.
These shortcomings in the candidate experience in the eyes of young people are therefore opportunities for improvement, to convert the significant investments made in the employer brand.
This article by Geneviève Houriet Segard, Doctor of Economic Demography, Deputy Director and Research Engineer at the EDHEC NewGen Talent Centre, EDHEC Business School and Manuelle Malot, Director of Careers and NewGen Talent Centre, EDHEC Business School, has been republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.
