#WeAreHiring MeetUp: What You Don’t Know About the Candidate Experience

I’m looking forward to being a panelist at next week’s #WeAreHiring MeetUp because our topic, “Can Technology Improve Candidate Experience?” embodies the very essence of what I focus on every day.

But what really excites me about this MeetUp is that we’re not just going to talk about technology, but discuss the very nature of the candidate experience itself. After all, how can you create elegant technology to improve something when you don’t even know what it is?

For example, ask a dozen people what “candidate experience” means and you’ll get 12 different answers. Who knows the real answer?

It’s pretty simple — the candidate.

Is that so hard to figure out? Not to me. What’s boggles my mind is that so many organizations seem so keenly focused on this concept, but nobody ever thinks to ask candidates what it means to them.

Think outside the buzzword box

All too often organizations begin initiatives, perhaps based on an executive mandate, “improve the candidate experience.” Seems logical, but that’s the problem because the phrase becomes a cold-sounding buzzword that should embrace what candidates feel.

I’ve done a lot of research into how candidates express these feelings about their journey in finding a job. As it turns out — buzzwords aside — what you might think is the candidate experience has absolutely nothing to do with what candidates feel. And what you’re not seeing is directly relevant.

What’s more, “experience” isn’t a thing, but an intricate nuanced process along an extended journey where the beginning and end can’t always be clearly defined.

So can technology improve the candidate experience? Sure it can. And you’ll learn a lot about new strategies and tactics at this MeetUp.

But first you have to understand the problem you’re solving.

If you’re solving the wrong problem, technology will be useless. If you’re solving the right problem, you’ll be well on your way to significant improvements.

There’s a lot at stake, so don’t waste more time and energy on issues that don’t matter. Just be sure to attend our MeetUp here at SmartRecruiters HQ: