Following the launch of Bright Network’s 2019 research – Insights From Tomorrow’s Workforce – I wanted to take a moment to focus on one aspect of the findings that particularly stood out to me. To read a summary of the research findings check out my recent article.
According to the research group, one of the most significant reasons students would give up on an application was because they lost confidence in their ability to get the role.
Our findings told us that, females were 37% more likely to give up on an application while 25% of BME students said that they would abandon an application.
This is a very different story from ‘realising the role isn’t right for me’, another option on the survey question. So, we can clearly see that this is about doubts creeping in.
For us employers, this presents an opportunity to prevent or reverse loss of confidence.
Through utilising our candidate experience technology to enable and empower candidates throughout the recruitment journey, we have seen countless examples of our clients providing insight and encouragement to candidates, helping them to be their best during the recruitment process and making a vital difference to their mindset and therefore, performance.
Whether it’s peer-to-peer connection and connecting candidates to a current grad in the role they’re applying to, running group Q & A sessions or sharing videos and other insights about the your company culture, live chat sessions have allowed our clients to identify any fears or concerns candidates may have during the recruitment process and address these in a chat.
Since candidates have the ability to view other participants’ questions in a group chat, they often find that others feel the same way and they have the same questions, helping to build a sense of community.
One client found that BAME and female candidates who attended a Meet & Engage Live Chat session ahead of their assessment centre were up to 20% more likely to pass or choose to stay in the process.
By introducing group chat sessions prior to the video interview stage, Diageo found that they were able to reverse the disproportionate number of females dropping out prior to this stage.
And lastly, one professional services firm found that prior to chat sessions only 7%of candidates felt ‘well prepared’ for their video interview. Post-chat that figure was 67%.The other candidates stated that they felt ‘prepared’.
So to sum up, we shouldn’t under-estimate the power of on-going support throughout the recruitment process.
Regardless of who you’re engaging with – under-represented groups or all candidates – it’s worth making your recruitment process just as rewarding as it is robust.
Whether a candidate joins your organisation or not, the fact that they felt empowered during their recruitment journey has to be a win-win right?
If you’d like to find out more about our candidate experience technology or want to discuss confidence-building strategies for your candidates, feel free to get in touch with me, nicola.sullivan@meetandengage.com.
