Have you ever had a job interview where the interviewer mispronounced your name? Or not even ended up not applying to a role because the company’s application process would take too long?
If your answer to either of these questions is “yes,” you’re not alone. In a 2022 Greenhouse survey of jobseekers, 43 percent of respondents said their name had been mispronounced in interviews, while 70 percent said they’ve given up on applications that take more than 15 minutes to complete.
Statistics like these highlight how impactful initial impressions are and why providing the best candidate experience throughout every step of the interview process is key to securing top talent. In a time when — according to the same survey — 84 percent of respondents are open to looking for a new job in the next six months, HR leaders must finetune their hiring processes before it’s too late.
And many are. For example, at FireHydrant, getting feedback from candidates plays a significant role in creating a positive candidate experience.
“We reviewed our candidate survey responses and asked hiring managers for their feedback,” Chika Kasahara, a recruiting ops specialist, explained. “With this information, we created mandatory inclusive hiring training for all our interviewers and included additional training for hiring managers.”
Built In NYC spoke to Kasahara and HR leaders from Melio and Lev to learn what ingredients go into creating a great candidate experience, how they’ve evolved, and what they focus on communicating to candidates about their companies.
Thousands of engineers use FireHydrant’s comprehensive reliability platform to integrate tools and resolve incidents in Slack.
What is the most important thing you want candidates to learn about your company, and how do you communicate it during the hiring process?
Trust is one of our most important values at FireHydrant. One example of how we demonstrate trust with our candidates is by being transparent about compensation in our job descriptions. We set our salaries at the 75th percentile of pay for the San Francisco market based on compensation data from hundreds of companies at our stage. Everyone in a given role is paid the same salary without adjusting for locality. We also have a no-negotiation policy, so our candidates can trust that they will receive fair pay based on their skills rather than their ability to negotiate. We do our best to provide transparency early and often in our discussions with candidates to avoid any surprises at the time of the offer.
In your opinion, what are three ingredients that create a great candidate experience?
Communication, empathy and a structured interview plan are critical to a great candidate experience. We communicate with our candidates effectively so they know what to expect. We value our candidates’ time and energy by responding promptly and checking in even if we don't have a decision yet. Our candidates can expect to hear back from us at every stage, no matter the outcome.
Second, being empathetic is essential because interviewing for a job is tough. We remain flexible and understanding when candidates need to reschedule because we know unexpected circumstances are a part of life.
Last but not least — inclusive hiring practices. We ensure we have a set interview plan so all candidates undergo the same interview process. We want our candidates to walk away knowing they had a fair chance.
Our candidate experience satisfaction rate has improved significantly over the past few quarters. One of FireHydrant’s core values is ‘continuous improvement.’”
How has your candidate experience changed over time, and why did you enact those changes?
Our candidate experience satisfaction rate has improved significantly over the past few quarters. One of FireHydrant's core values is “continuous improvement.” We demonstrate that value with our recruitment process by incorporating feedback from candidates and hiring teams to make iterative improvements in real time. We reviewed our candidate survey responses and asked hiring managers for their feedback. With this information, we created mandatory inclusive hiring training for all our interviewers and included additional training for hiring managers. Our interviewers have all taken the time to complete this training so they can be prepared to effectively navigate through common biases that come up in interviews and debriefs to create the best candidate experience.
Fintech company Melio created a B2B payments platform that helps users save time and money by simplifying bookkeeping and seamlessly paying vendors.
What is the most important thing you want candidates to learn about your company, and how do you communicate it during the hiring process?
The most important thing for candidates to learn about Melio during the hiring process is how much we value our employees, how important our culture is to us, and how critical it is to set each employee up for success once they join the team. This authentically comes through during the whole interview process, as each employee on the talent acquisition team is so passionate about Melio‘s culture. It is who we are to the core, and so the authentic passion behind our people helps set the tone for what the company is truly like each and every day.
In your opinion, what are three ingredients that create a great candidate experience?
The three ingredients that create a great candidate experience are:
- Being genuine and authentic during the entire interview process.
- Truly listening and being present with candidates.
- Effectively communicating, no matter what!
All of those ingredients seem to be “no-brainers” when it comes to interviewing, but they are imperative to creating a welcoming and positive candidate experience.
We focus on our communication and make sure that every candidate walks away from their interview feeling excited about the prospect of joining Melio.”
How has your candidate experience changed over time, and why did you enact those changes?
We started out as a really small team, and throughout the growth of the company, we have added new tools and resources to make sure that we are consistently improving our processes. We focus on our communication and make sure that every candidate walks away from their interview feeling excited about the prospect of joining Melio. This then leads to our employee experience, where I really aim to make every employee continue to feel excited about Melio, our culture, our values and our mission!
Fintech company Lev helps real estate professionals secure the best financing for their properties. Over 5,000 lenders use the platform to track deals and process transactions.
What is the most important thing you want candidates to learn about your company, and how do you communicate it during the hiring process?
We are industry disruptors in commercial real estate financing. To be able to reach the heights we hope to in this space, we are scouting for talent with an ownership mindset, eager to make an impact.
There is a great opportunity at Lev to be a founding member of your function. Team members have a seat at the table to spearhead, change or support a new course of action here at Lev.
We are a feedback-oriented culture and welcome all opportunities to grow and learn.
We are passionate and intentional about the culture that we are building.
In your opinion, what are three ingredients that create a great candidate experience?
Communication, transparency and partnership.
At Lev, we are building solutions that have never been built before. A bold vision brings along the need to attract talent who wants to shape the future.”
How has your candidate experience changed over time, and why did you enact those changes?
At Lev, we are building solutions that have never been built before. A bold vision brings along the need to attract talent who wants to shape the future. In this journey, we have constantly strived to improve candidate experience, including offering interview preparation for our shortlisted candidates, focusing on an efficient and effective hiring process and, most importantly, building a talent community.
