While the pandemic has placed even greater emphasis than before on the talent shortage and retention rates, staffing agencies and employers know these challenges were there before and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. The critical need to attract talent and keep candidates more engaged throughout recruiting has made the candidate journey an industry-wide focus.

A recent research report by Aptitude Research provided some great insights on the entangled candidate-recruiter experience and the need for technology solutions that empower both. The report makes it clear that candidates and recruiters are both hungry for mobile apps that support talent enablement and ultimately provide employers with qualified hires faster.

Give Candidates What They Want

A successful candidate journey starts with a job search and progresses through researching companies, applying, screening, interviewing, receiving an offer, and getting hired. And it continues with new opportunities and redeployment. Every stage is a point of possible frustration and disengagement for candidates.

• 58% don’t receive a response after applying.
• 75% are unsatisfied with the interview process.
• 78% don’t receive status updates at all.
• 50% say the reason they withdrew from the recruiting process was because their time was disrespected.

Traditionally every stage of the journey has involved recruiter interaction. But the modern candidate doesn’t think of engagement that way anymore. They want to do all these things themselves and in one place. They are used to tasks in their lives being consumerized through mobile apps and now expect it. There’s plenty of motivation to give it to them.

• 52% of candidates share their negative experiences, but 77% share their positive ones.
• 75% say there is a great chance they’ll come back and apply to new positions if they have a good candidate experience.
• Organizations that improve their candidate experience see a 60% increase in their NPS score, a 58% increase in retention, and a 72% increase in brand recognition.

It’s obvious the industry demands a better candidate experience at this point: 74% state it as a top priority right now. But finding the right solution clearly isn’t easy either. 68% say they haven’t made any strides in improving the candidate experience in the last two years.

How can you have confidence something will address the challenges of the candidate journey in meaningful ways and give you the ROI you’re looking for? That’s why it’s important to look at it through the eyes of recruiters as well.

Invest in Technology that Help Recruiters

It’s not uncommon for companies to use 10 or more recruitment solutions at once. And 50% of companies don’t even measure their ROI. But when you look at what tools like WorkN and Avionté 24/7 can do for recruiters on top of the experience they provide candidates, the ROI picture becomes clear on its own.

The top challenges today, according to recruiters themselves:

• Finding and attracting quality hires
• Adapting to change during the pandemic
• Recruiting remotely
• Measuring quality of hire
• Competing for talent across industries

65% of a recruiter’s time is spent sourcing candidates and scheduling calls. And they’ve seen a 30% increase in workload since 2020. That doesn’t leave a lot of time for much else. As it turns out though, recruiters are looking for the same solution candidates are.

The top recruiter recommendations to improve the candidate experience:

• Better tools to automate processes
• More time to engage candidates
• Simple technology
• Less time doing admin work
• Data to drive decisions

This is exactly what a tool like WorkN is built for. With less time spent on the tasks that candidates want to be automated and consumerized anyway, recruiters can focus on building relationships and networks. When they do that employers get qualified, more engaged candidates that they’re more likely to retain. Those kinds of candidates are much more likely to re-engage an agency and be redeployed. Investing in the right technology drives talent enablement and perpetuates the entire staffing industry.