With students’ strong perception of saturation in the job market (49%, Handshake Network Trends), the candidate experience before, during and after job application is vital to your success.
Why should you care about the candidate experience? Besides the obvious – wanting to attract, engage and ultimately hire top talent – your interactions with these students is your brand. If they have a negative experience, not only will they not forget about it, but they will likely tell their peers about it too. Suddenly, your organisation is known for poor communication, drawn-out interview processes, or even ghosting candidates. And this really matters to them: 52% of students expect to hear whether their application has been successful within a week of submission, 55% expect to be informed that they are shortlisted or invited to interview within that same time frame.
Treat candidates like customers
Build brand loyalty by providing a positive candidate experience, even if their application isn’t successful.
Students return to university from winter break with a limited amount of time to figure out their post-grad plans or line up a summer internship. For them, the pressure is on, and this shows in the way they behave. 63% expect to apply for up to 10 jobs before they secure an offer. And this statistic jumps drastically for different demographics. Black and Asian students are twice as likely to apply for more than 31 jobs than white students. Your organisation is competing with at least 9 other companies for the same talent - how are you cutting through the noise and attracting diverse, qualified talent to your business?
In addition, consider that many candidates may have little to no lived experience in the workforce. Non-working students (48%) are more likely to rank the importance of constructive feedback higher than working students (38%), and females are also more likely to rank it higher than males (46% vs 37% respectively). There is huge opportunity to support them through the recruitment process and create a lasting impact, not only by providing feedback after applications and interviews, but by connecting with students before they submit an application or even before they attend a career fair. Identifying potential candidates early on in their university career, encouraging them to engage with your brand and offering unique support and insight into your organisation can give them brand recognition, confidence and help to prepare them for your recruitment process.
We already know that brand loyalty has many benefits, including reducing renege and decline rates and even increasing your retention rates further down the line. But it’s important to remember that even if they don’t work for you now, they might want to work with you in the future.
Communicate clearly and consistently
Gen Z students are clear on their expectations from the recruitment process, and communication comes out on top.
According to our research, students rank the top three areas employers should focus on as: providing constructive feedback after interviews and assessments (41%); sharing a clear overview of the recruitment process (steps and timelines) (38%); and showing flexibility throughout the process (interview scheduling, virtual vs. in person) (32%).
Keep candidates updated so they know you haven’t forgotten about them, be as informative as you can be about the process and aim to be flexible where possible.
Once they have accepted a job offer, students’ expectations continue. 43% of students would like to see an overview of projects/teams they’ll be joining when they accept a job offer, 41% would like introductory meetings with key team members and 33% would like training materials or access to online platforms. Consider how these students may be entering the workforce for the first time with your organisation. They likely require more direct guidance and, encouragingly, are keen to engage with you ahead of their start date in order to prepare and get off the ground running. With work-readiness top of mind for many graduate employers, this is your chance to prepare them.
Identify and nurture top talent early
Early ID programmes give you the opportunity to build relationships with future candidates, develop their confidence and get them ‘work-ready’.
Despite a saturated job market, 48% of students already know which company they want to work for and 57% feel confident that they will secure a graduate role. By identifying talent early and building a positive relationship with students, you’re putting your organisation front of mind for candidates when it matters most.
One Handshake employer references an experience at a career fair:
“I ran several campaigns on Handshake across partner universities where I proactively messaged students to let them know our organisation would be on campus, on the day they came up to our booth and asked for me by name - the early connection I had made with them really resonated.”
But confidence levels are mixed. Nearly half of students have a preference for virtual events with employers (with only 22% preferring in-person), and 52% of them cite anxiety about socialising and public speaking as the main reason for their preference. With many Gen Z students having experienced disrupted education during the pandemic, in-person interactions are likely to have been limited at times and this may have impacted their confidence. In addition, 61% of students with anxiety about socialising and public speaking are female, and 58% of them have a disability. By accounting for how different demographics might approach various elements of your recruitment process, you can improve the inclusivity and accessibility of your candidate experience.
Graduates are also not always work-ready, which has a knock on effect on your employee retention rates. With some students coming into the workforce having not had a job before, the nurture campaigns and always-on branding you deliver throughout the year, and especially in the summer, are not just ‘nice-to-haves’ but essential parts of your candidate experience.
So, are you doing enough to provide a positive candidate experience? Handshake’s best performing employer partners are setting themselves apart from the competition by implementing early ID programmes to identify, attract and nurture top talent before they’ve even begun to consider what their graduate role might look like. According to our Handshake Network survey, over 50% of students research and apply for roles during Summer and Autumn. Not only will this help you to build your pipeline ahead of the busy recruiting seasons, it will also help instill confidence in your potential candidates. Even if the result of a candidate’s application is a rejection, the way you represent your brand and the way they feel about it are critical to your success.
There are many ways you can implement an early ID programme and create an always-on strategy that consistently drives quality candidates to your organisation. In Premium, send campaigns and messages, run events from CV workshops to 1:1s with hiring managers and create opportunities to connect both virtually and face to face at career fairs. Optimise your strategy by getting to know our platform or requesting a demo with a member of our team now.
For more insights into our latest research, take a look at our Handshake Network Trends report.