60% of Job Seekers Have Had a Poor Candidate Experience & 72% Talk About It

Job seekers are having a hard time. 72% of job seekers report having shared a bad experience online on an employer review site, such as Glassdoor, on a social networking site, or directly with a colleague or friend. Furthermore, while only 61% of employers say they notify declined candidates about their decision, 65% of job seekers say they never or rarely receive notice from employers.

As a result of a poor candidate experience, employers are missing out on an important talent pool. 80% of job seekers say they would be discouraged to consider other relevant job openings at a company that failed to notify them of their application status. Yet, they would be 3.5 times more likely to re-apply to a company if they were notified. Fewer than half of employers re-engage declined candidates yet nearly all (99%) believe re-engaging will help them build their talent community and protect their employer brand.

Additional highlights from the report include:

Employers underestimate the amount of time it takes candidates to submit one job application. While the typical job seeker spends about 3 to 4 hours preparing and submitting one job application, the typical employer spends less than 15 minutes reviewing that application. About 70% of employers believe job seekers spend only 1 hour or less in researching, preparing for, and submitting their job application. On the other hand, nearly 60% of job seekers already spend at least 1 hour on researching the opportunity and preparing their resume before even starting the online application process.

Job seekers don’t believe their resumes are being reviewed. Nearly 40% of employers rely on technology that pre-screens or pre-selects candidates based on the data they’ve submitted (i.e uploaded resume, cover letter, etc.). 62% of employers admit that it’s likely that this tool may have overlooked a qualified candidate. When they don’t hear back from employers, 85% of job seekers doubt that a human being has even reviewed their application.

“Companies need to start humanizing their candidate experience because job seekers can easily share their negative experiences online and decide never to apply to that company again. Treat your candidates like you would your employees or customers because they have the power to refer strong candidates even if they don’t get hired.”

Originally published at www.newmediaandmarketing.com on June 16, 2016.