Innovating the candidate experience

By Steph Dyke, Talent Marketing Manager

Finding a job is an experience most of us go through more than once in our lives, particularly amongst Millennials and Generation Z, who, according to a survey conducted by Deloitte, look to change jobs every two years on average – with only 28% looking to stay somewhere over five years.

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And because a large proportion of today’s workforce has grown up with the internet and technology at their fingertips - which is swiftly evolving at a rapid pace - providing a sleek and engaging recruitment experience has become ever more so important, in order to give jobseekers the very best feel of the company that they’ve applied to work for – all whilst keeping them engaged throughout the application journey. (Here at Guidant Global, we like to call this the Golden Thread!)

As we’re passionate about finding #ABetterWay within the recruitment world, one of the ways we’ve done this is through utilising technology and innovation to make sure we’re giving our applicants the very best understanding and experience of a job opportunity - and hopefully this could turn out to be their best career move yet!

Below are some of the innovative ways we’ve been capturing and progressing job applications recently – and why not take a look at our latest vacancies to test some of these processes out for yourself if you haven’t already?

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Chatbot applications

Have you met Robo yet? It’s live on our website at the moment, if you apply for a Production Operative role with JCB.

Applying for a role using Robo, you’re in control of progressing your job application process. Not only will we capture your initial application, we’ll also ask you all the legal (pre-screen) questions that we need to check. If you pass the legal part, you’ll get immediate access to book yourself on to a convenient assessment slot, using our self-booking calendar functionality. All you need to do then is turn up on the day with the required paperwork and ace your assessment – and we’ll tell you then and there if you have got the job. Straightforward and simple!

We’re working hard to counteract the usual frustrations of not hearing back from a recruiter, by putting you in the driving seat, literally (we’re often looking for delivery drivers).

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“Using a chatbot this year has really enhanced our ability to focus on the candidates, as we have more time to provide details on the assignment rather than data gathering. We have seen that those who attend a self-booked appointment have been far more likely to stay in their role for longer, which is great for the candidate, our client and of course Guidant too!”
– Nick Vincent, Client Services Manager at John Lewis & Partners

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‘’The introduction of the Chabot to our volume recruitment campaign has revolutionised the way we deliver and record our applicant data. It has delivered huge process improvements; cutting out time and saving costs whilst also enabling us to process more people into their roles. We can also record live statistics that we can use to develop our service even further. We would fully recommend it!”
– Rob Shaw, Operations Manager at Shop Direct

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Video assessments

How often do you Facetime or video call someone? Or what about recording short videos if you’ve got something to say on social or to a group chat? Video is great because it allows us to see expressions and reactions as well as simply hearing what someone is saying – and because of these benefits, we’ve started using video interviewing with some of our candidates too. Even better, it saves on the cost of commuting to a face-to-face interview!

One example of where we’ve seen success with video interviewing is for graduate roles with our global FMCG client. We use a video platform to assess graduates who have already successfully passed a culture and role fit assessment. They are asked questions and need to answer them via the video platform, then our assessors watch and mark the videos before inviting successful applicants in to our global FMCG client's office for the final stage of the process.

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“By using a video interviewing platform, candidates are able to prep and complete an interview at home. This removes the need to travel to various locations for face to face interviews until they know you have been selected and shortlisted for final stage. Candidates feel more relaxed and at ease by completing this stage of interview this way, as it removes the fear of being interviewed by a panel.”
– Jade Lawrence, Client Services Director for our global FMCG client

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Gamification assessments

Depending which role you apply for, you may receive a link to complete a theme park-related virtual game which is comprised of four short puzzles. This isn’t just us inviting you to take some time out of your day to play computer games, it’s our way of being able to give you the most engaging kind of assessment experience, whilst giving us the ability to analyse your suitability in a more in-depth way, rather than only referring to the details on your CV.

Gamification also allows us to examine different strengths like written skills, numerical skills, how you deal with unexpected scenarios, how you process information, decision making and your capability to cope under pressure.

“The game element meant that the tests were challenging but I didn’t feel as though I was in an exam environment. I believe that it allowed me to perform better than I otherwise would have in online testing.”
– Anonymous candidate, Innovation Catalyst position at Heathrow

Interestingly, we’ve found out from candidates who have been through this gamification process with us that 80% of them feel it improved their recruitment experience and 69% said they’d rather play a game assessment compared to a traditional psychometric test.

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Piecing the puzzle on employer branding
Curious to know​ how innovating the candidate experience fits in with the wider picture? Learn more through our blog on employer branding.

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