How people get hired for jobs can affect the bottom line

By Haiyan Zhang, Ph.D., lead researcher in IBM’s Smarter Workforce Institute

Hiring employees is not only about the right search, assessment, and interview to secure a perfect hire. In fact, how people feel about their hiring experiences could affect how attractive a company is to potential recruits, its brand reputation, and even its sales.

A new IBM Smarter Workforce Institute study, "The Far-reaching Impact of Candidate Experience," of more than 7,000 recent job applicants from thousands of different organizations in many industries worldwide, found that hiring experiences have a more far-reaching impact than you might imagine.

Here are the key findings:

Candidates' experiences begin before application. About half (48%) of recent job candidates had some kind of relationship with the hiring organization before they applied. More than one-third (37%) had friends and family working there and nearly one-third (30%) liked the brand or reputation before applying.

Better candidate experiences are linked to higher acceptance rates. Our study found that candidates who are satisfied with their experience are 38% more likely to accept a job offer. Since hiring is a time-consuming and expensive process, investing in improving candidates' experiences could save time and money and help boost offer acceptance rates.

News about good and bad candidate experiences spreads. Most candidates (more than 60%) talk about their experiences with friends and family. Because of an extensive use of mobile and social media, feedback — good and bad — spreads faster than ever. This affects not only the reputation of the hiring organization but also its ability to attract other candidates in the future.

Candidates' experiences could even affect sales. Candidates who had a positive candidate experience are twice as likely to want to become a customer of the hiring organization compared with those who had a poor candidate experience (53% versus 25%). This means that, ultimately, candidates' experiences could even impact a company’s sales results.

How can hiring organizations improve their candidates’ experiences? Here are our recommendations to hiring organizations:

Enhance employer branding. Our research shows that candidates who like the brand or reputation of the hiring organization are more likely to apply and, even if they do not receive a job offer that time, they are more likely to apply again in the future. For that reason, organizations should start with a good employer branding strategy that relates specifically to the hiring process.

Improve communication. Candidates want to be kept well informed during the recruiting process. To improve the candidate experience, hiring organizations may want to consider using multiple channels, including mobile and other recruiting technologies, to connect with candidates and keep them updated throughout the recruiting process.

Treat candidates like customers. Whether candidates receive a job offer or not, our research shows that they talk to others about their experiences. What they say may affect the reputation of the hiring organization and candidates’ experiences could even influence the likelihood of them becoming a customer. Therefore, hiring organizations would be advised to treat all candidates well, regardless of whether a job offer is made.

Make the right hiring decisions. As all good recruiters know, treating candidates well is only part of the hiring story. Organizations need to make the right hiring decisions quickly. Cognitive computing is transforming processes in this area with recruiting tools that incorporate validated selection tools. This approach allows recruiters to assess greater numbers of applicants faster and more objectively than before. By augmenting traditional human decision-making in recruitment, cognitive technology is improving the quality of new hires for organizations and providing a better job fit for new employees.

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A version of this story appeared on the IBM Smarter Workforce blog.