Are the people who apply for your vacancies happy to accept whatever you say to them and however you treat them, on the basis that you are the employer and therefore “know best”?

Not in the slightest – 21st century candidates have high standards, and should they be unhappy with yours, many of them will be sure to complain, including on fast-moving ‘word of mouth’ social media platforms – which could cause significant damage to your firm’s reputation.

That is all the more reason for you to ensure the following are present in your candidate experience when undertaking online recruitment in Dublin.

Download our latest case study to find out how Webrecruit Ireland can help you improve your candidate experience.

1. Communication

Applicants expect lots and lots of this – well, as much as is logical in the hiring process.

They certainly don’t expect you to give them an update every day, even if there is no further news on their application. But they do at least appreciate being told where they stand, as well as answers to any other questions that they may have.

2. A clear hiring process

How many more steps are there to the recruitment process? When are interviews scheduled and when is the final hiring decision set to be made?

Knowing all of this will put applicants’ minds at rest, so that they can plan ahead and know whether to follow up with you or simply await the next stage.

3. Application confirmation

Automated email confirmations of a candidate having applied for a job with an employer have become so ubiquitous that if the candidate doesn’t receive one from you, they might presume that their application didn’t go through or you have excluded them from consideration already.

That’s why you really should ensure that you have an automated system in place for confirming applications, perhaps setting out the subsequent steps for further candidate peace of mind.

4. A short application form

The leading employers in Dublin and other parts of Ireland are continually streamlining their application forms, so that they gain the information they really need from their candidates while not deterring them with an overly long-winded process.

Application forms really are an area where the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Sweetie) principle applies.

5. An easy-to-understand job description

But even before the application form, there’s an obvious opportunity to lure or turn off a potential applicant in the form of the job description.

If you don’t understand your own job description when reading it ‘cold’, you can be sure that your candidates, with their much lower familiarity with your company’s inner workings, definitely won’t.

A little can go a very long way when building the most effective candidate experience, so you should make sure you never underestimate the importance of the above elements.