RECRUITING

5 Quick, Simple Ways to Smooth Your Job Applicant Process and Lure Talent

Poor Candidate Experience Always Costs Companies

My job search created the basis for a candidate experience case study. (photo: Evgeniy Grozev via Pexels)

Right now, I’m on a quest for my dream job. And I’m applying to strategic communication leadership roles at global, market-leading professional service firms with cultures that embrace dynamic innovation. Meantime, my pursuit has already led to one unexpected discovery: a bevy of ideas where UX could smooth the process both for candidates and the companies seeking their talent.

See, through my job hunt, I inadvertently became a researcher and user-tester of corporate career sites, application forms and submission processes.

I am a natural way-finder of clear process pathways that lead to solutions. Sometimes these can seem small. But big impact comes, often, from combining smaller adjustments and improvements. This includes the ideas I gathered, after a score of submissions, to enhance candidate experience.

UX designers have been writing for awhile about sub-optimal recruitment forms and processes, generally. Other authors have dived into the subject with specificity, such as this piece by Steve Brennan about Twitter’s job application.