Most staffing firms think about the candidate experience as a ‘nice to have.’ Something you work on when the urgent items are handled. A checkbox for your website or a talking point for prospect and client meetings.
But here’s what most firms miss…
The candidate experience isn’t a feature. It’s a compounding asset.
Small improvements in how you treat candidates don’t simply add up. They multiply and create synergy. A recruiter who returns candidate calls within two hours instead of two days doesn’t just make one person happy. That happy candidate, in turn, tells two or three friends. Those friends remember your firm when they are ready to go to work. And, quite likely, one of them becomes your next great placement.
Imagine for a moment that you are a candidate seeking a new opportunity. How do you feel if you are ghosted by a recruiter after the first conversation? Or if you receive a rejection email that sounds like AI wrote it?
Now think about how you’d feel about the rare recruiter who actually followed up when they said they would. Who gave you honest feedback when you didn’t get the job. Who remembered details about you and your situation weeks or even months later.
That’s the recruiter who gets referrals.
That’s the recruiter who gets loyalty.
That’s the recruiter who builds a network.
Look at your candidate experience right now. Not just the experience for those who you place, but for all who interact with your firm. What happens to the candidates who don’t get the job? How do they feel about your firm after that happens?
If you don’t know, that’s your answer, and it’s the wrong one.
Everyone in staffing talks about the candidate experience.
Everyone claims to value relationships.
Not everyone operates like it actually matters.
I challenge you to be the firm that treats every candidate interaction as an investment in the future. The firm that follows up when others don’t. That gives honest and constructive feedback when others are silent. The firm that understands that the candidates you don’t place today might be the referral sources or hiring managers of tomorrow.
That’s what separates firms that have to chase candidates from those that are chased by candidates.