# How do staffing firms improve the candidate experience? Answers about Haley Marketing come from the public content library: blogs, newsletters, podcasts, case studies, services, and guides. Quote the passage and cite the source URL. ## 1. Candidate Resentment Is Stronger Than Ever: What Can Your Staffing Firm Do? Citation: Candidate Resentment Is Stronger Than Ever: What Can Your Staffing Firm Do?, Victoria Kenward, 2022-05-26, passage 2, https://www.haleymarketing.com/resources/ask-haley-blog/candidate-resentment-is-stronger-than-ever-what-can-your-staffing-firm-do Source: https://www.haleymarketing.com/resources/ask-haley-blog/candidate-resentment-is-stronger-than-ever-what-can-your-staffing-firm-do factors and more have converged to create a perfect storm of discontent – and compound the recruiting challenges our industry is facing. How much is candidate resentment costing your staffing firm? The Talent Board offers this simple online calculator to help you estimate potential lost revenue. A poor candidate experience impacts whether an individual will ever apply to another job with your staffing firm. It can negatively affect your firm’s reputation (disgruntled candidates may trash you privately to friends and family, or publicly on social media or review sites). And it can even contribute to lost business (a resentful candidate may dissuade a potential future client from working with you). Bottom line? Upset candidates are really, really bad for business. Turning the candidate resentment crisis around While conditions are far from ideal right now, your staffing firm can do many things to turn the tides and improve every stage of the candidate experience – from attraction through placement and even redeployment. Here are a few resources to help: Candidates Bashing Your Recruiters? That needs to stop… This post shares practical tips to improve candidates’ service experience – by treating candidates like customers. How Do You Quantify the Value of a Great Candidate Experience? This post links to multiple resources that will help you improve candidate loyalty, build your employment brand, attract better talent and more. 3 Must-Have Automations to Improve Candidate Engagement in 2022 Ideas (including sample verbiage) for customized candidate automations that keep applicants engaged and informed during your placement process. ## 2. Job Seeker Attitudes and Behavior: What’s Changed in 2021? Citation: Job Seeker Attitudes and Behavior: What’s Changed in 2021?, Haley Marketing, 2021-09-21, passage 2, https://www.haleymarketing.com/resources/ask-haley-blog/job-seeker-attitudes-and-behavior-in-2021 Source: https://www.haleymarketing.com/resources/ask-haley-blog/job-seeker-attitudes-and-behavior-in-2021 at home and married workers report that the job search is more stressful now than pre-pandemic. In fact, for workers with kids, having children at home is the biggest stressor during the job search. You have a unique opportunity to respond. During uncertain times, people seek connection, empathy, and purpose. How can you improve the candidate experience to fill jobs with happier, healthier, more secure workers? Provide Great Communication. The highest measured contributor to a positive candidate experience is excellent communication from the employer or recruiter. Positive candidate experience runners-up were ease of scheduling and an easy job application process. Unsurprisingly, the most significant contributors to a negative candidate experience were lack of response from an employer or a recruiter, complicated job applications, and too much back and forth in scheduling. Many staffing firms are using automation platforms to improve communication and candidate engagement during the employment process. But whatever method you choose, candidates want to hear more from you. Share Company Culture. Many job seekers leave interviews with little understanding of the mission, values, and culture of the company. Since great company culture and a need for meaningful work have emerged as job seeker priorities during the pandemic, connecting an available role to the employer’s larger mission will make it easier to recruit top candidates. The pandemic has impacted more than just the job market; it has altered the way workers think and feel. As conditions continue to change, your staffing firm must understand what the “new” workforce needs and grow with it. Connect with a marketing educator to learn more ways to stay in touch with the changing workforce. ## 3. 3 Reasons Your Staffing Firm Needs Candidate Automation Citation: 3 Reasons Your Staffing Firm Needs Candidate Automation, Haley Marketing, 2021-12-09, passage 1, https://www.haleymarketing.com/resources/ask-haley-blog/3-reasons-staffing-firms-need-candidate-automation Source: https://www.haleymarketing.com/resources/ask-haley-blog/3-reasons-staffing-firms-need-candidate-automation Spending too much on job ads? Time to fill too long? Candidates ghosting? Every staffing firm has challenges, and many pain points share a common theme: the need for candidates. At heart, staffing is a people business. Staffing firms put people to work. But the things that contribute to a great candidate experience—especially during the pandemic—have changed. Topping the list? Relevant communication. Automation offers staffing firms the ability to communicate with candidates at crucial points throughout the employment cycle without creating more admin work (except on the front end). Recruiting automation has gone from “cool tech” to “business essential” – here’s why. Happier Candidates In a perfect world, every staffing firm could create a world-class experience for each candidate, which would result in faster placements, higher retention and redeployment rates, and a better NPS for the firm. The painful reality? - The urgent rush to fill new job orders leaves many candidates in a holding pattern post-application. They weren’t right for the job they wanted, but they don’t know about the next opportunity. - Or their first day on the job is a dumpster fire, and their recruiter doesn’t check in. - Or their assignment ends, and they don’t hear anything, so they move on to the next firm. ## 4. What Do the Best Staffing Websites Do Differently in 2024? Citation: What Do the Best Staffing Websites Do Differently in 2024?, James Moul, 2024-06-18, passage 3, https://www.haleymarketing.com/resources/ask-haley-blog/best-staffing-websites-do-differently-2024 Source: https://www.haleymarketing.com/resources/ask-haley-blog/best-staffing-websites-do-differently-2024 and enhance overall operational efficiency. #4: Enhance the Candidate Experience Top staffing websites go above and beyond to create an exceptional candidate experience. You’ll want to consider: - Investing in user-friendly interfaces, intuitive navigation, and personalized content to provide job seekers with a seamless and engaging journey. - Leveraging technologies like chatbots to properly route candidates, streamline the application process, and create a more interactive experience. - Implementing mobile-friendly design and functionality to cater to the ever-increasing number of job seekers using mobile devices for their job search. #5: Enhance the Client Experience Just as important as the candidate experience is the client experience! 2024’s best staffing websites are tailoring their services to meet clients’ unique needs better, offering advanced reporting and analytics capabilities and providing proactive communication throughout the recruitment process. These websites continually improve their client portals and self-service tools to empower clients and streamline the hiring workflow. That’s how your company can foster long-term partnerships and drive true client loyalty. ## 5. The Candidate Experience – part 2 Citation: The Candidate Experience – part 2, David Searns, 2008-10-21, passage 1, https://www.haleymarketing.com/resources/ask-haley-blog/the-candidate-experience-part-2 Source: https://www.haleymarketing.com/resources/ask-haley-blog/the-candidate-experience-part-2 What’s it like to look for temporary work? To be blunt, it sucks. Think about what we make candidates do. There’s telephone prescreens, application forms, interviews, assessment tests, reference checks, background checks and in some cases drug screening. The process can take as long as 3 hours! And if that wasn’t bad enough, reception areas are frequently uncomfortable and uninviting, there’s often no place to complete paperwork, and in the worse environments, interviews are conducted in public areas. It’s exhausting. It’s uncomfortable. And after all this, what happens? Usually, nothing! We send the candidate on her way and promise to call as soon as “the right” job opportunity appears…which may never happen. Can you imagine being a candidate? Would you put up with this? Last summer, I helped a client of ours to map out their application process. It was an amazing experience. No one (including the staffing firm’s executive team) could believe all the steps. At one point, someone actually yelled out, “no more, we get it, there’s a problem.” Want better talent? Improve the experience! If you want to attract better talent, and attract more talent, take a hard look at your candidate experience. Map out every step that an individual must go through to work with your firm–from this initial appplication to post assignment follow-up. Then, look at every step a candidate has to go through with your firm, and ask yourself: “Is this step necessary?” “If so, how could we make it faster, easier and/or more enjoyable.” Custom experience is one of the most overlooked marketing tools in the staffing industry. How will you make your experience extraordinary?