LONDON--(Marketwired - May 7, 2013) - The Candidate Experience Awards, a non-profit organisation focused on advancing the employment candidate experience, today announced the availability of its first U.K.-based survey research on employers' practises and job candidates' experiences as they relate to hiring and recruiting. The new report, "Candidate Experience 2012, United Kingdom," is based on the data collected during the employer application and candidate survey rounds of the first-ever U.K. Candidate Experience Awards (CandE Awards). In February, 10 companies were honoured as winners of the 2012 U.K. CandE Awards for setting and upholding a high standard for how they engage and treat job candidates.
Open to organisations that recruit in the British employment marketplace, the U.K. CandE Awards programme followed the success of its North American counterpart, which released its own research paper in February. The U.K. programme recognises that candidate experience varies between companies and aims to enable companies to benchmark and improve the experience, as well as highlight the practises that winning organisations are employing to treat job candidates with respect, and strengthen their employment and overall brands.
Using a survey-based evaluation process, the U.K. CandE Awards consists of three rounds of review designed to identify organisations that produce outstanding candidate experiences. While primarily an awards programme, the CandE Awards are also designed to provide confidential and specific feedback to help every participating organisation improve its candidate experience efforts.
Some key findings from the inaugural report include:
- The majority of candidates are "likely" or "very likely" to tell their inner circle of friends about their experiences finding, researching and interviewing for a job, whether positive (72.7 per cent) or negative (61.7 per cent).
- Nearly half (49.3 per cent) of the candidates surveyed claimed some positive relationship with the company prior to applying. With this insight, employers should realise that positive relationship is theirs to lose.
- Prospect and candidate engagement through social media connections (LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+ and Glassdoor) is significant and likely to grow. Candidates are also likely to share their positive (27.6 per cent) and negative (16.7 per cent) experiences with their networks during the recruiting process over these media.
- While more employers are providing notification on the status of their applications to candidates and are willing to provide feedback to dispositioned candidates when asked, few have made it a standard practice to do so. As per candidate responses, the majority received standard non-specific feedback, and more than one-third received no feedback at all.
- The majority of employers are missing a meaningful opportunity to better understand their processes and the impact that they have on candidate experience. Only 47.1 per cent reported that they asked candidates -- whether or not they were qualified for the position -- for feedback if they were not advanced to the Finalist evaluation phase of the recruiting process.
"This report is written for job seekers, employers and anyone in the industry who cares about the candidate experience. Our hope is that it sparks and elevates the candidate experience conversation, and inspires readers to create strategies that will continue to advance it in the future," remarked Jeremy Tipper, partner at Talent Collective and member of the Talent Board, founding organisation of The Candidate Experience Awards. "Considering global skills shortages and the impact that a candidate's experience has on a company's reputation, organisations need to protect their brands, workforce strategies and bottom line by ensuring a positive experience."
"The Candidate Experience 2012, United Kingdom" is available for complimentary download at http://ukcandes.org/2012-results-request/.
The report was written by contributing authors Gerry Crispin, Ed Newman, Elaine Orler, Bill Boorman, Leigh Carpenter, Jillyan French-Vitet and Joseph P. Murphy. It was made possible thanks to the following sponsors: Talent Collective, Monster, KellyOCG, ChangeBoard, Peer Group and HireRight.
The 2013 U.K. Candidate Experience Awards will open later this spring to all recruiting operations based in the U.K. Participation is confidential and free.
About the Candidate Experience Awards
The Candidate Experience Awards is a non-profit organisation focused on the elevation and promotion of a quality candidate experience. The organisation, awards programme and sponsors are dedicated to recognising the candidate experience offered by companies throughout the entire recruitment cycle and to forever changing the manner in which job candidates are treated. More information can be accessed at http://uk.thecandidateexperienceawards.org.