W H I T E P A P E R

How a Winning Candidate Experience Can Help Companies Win the Talent War

By Jeremy Reid Senior Principal Product Manager, Talent Acquisition Platform,SumTotal

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White Paper | How a Winning Candidate Experience Can Help Companies Win the Talent War

Executive SummaryFor fast-growing companies, setting up an efficient, effective recruitment process is more vital than ever. As their growth gathers

momentum, many companies in an array of industries need to scale up their workforces quickly. And that calls for high-volume, high-

speed hiring campaigns. A misstep or delay at any step in the recruitment process can cause a company to lose out on the talent it needs

to stay competitive. By contrast, the right recruitment process enables companies to attract the talent that’s best for them and swiftly

build their workforce as the need arises.

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White Paper | How a Winning Candidate Experience Can Help Companies Win the Talent War

Wanted: A Radically Efficient and Effective Recruitment Process Establishing the right recruitment process has become more difficult than ever. For one thing,

qualified candidates have become decidedly difficult to find. That’s because unemployment rates

have reached new lows and salaries are rising. Employees are willing and able to change jobs in

search of higher-paid positions. Meanwhile, competition for crucial technical skills, such as computer

programming and data analytics, has heated up.1

What’s more, the candidate landscape of today looks nothing like the landscape of yesterday. Job

seekers—especially from younger generations—have markedly different expectations of employers

and the recruitment process than candidates had in the past. For instance, millennials and members

of Generation Z—who grew up using technologies such as mobile, SMS and social media—expect

prospective employers to use those same technologies to engage with them throughout the talent

acquisition process. Indeed, results from one survey indicated that as many as 78% of job seekers in

the United States would use their mobile devices to apply for jobs if the process were simplified.2

In addition, many young people want to work at companies that offer plentiful opportunities to build

their skills—and they value such opportunities just as much as they value financial compensation,

according to one recent report.3 In another report focusing on millennials, 87% of survey

respondents from this age cohort said they view development as important in any job.4

Finally, younger job candidates also look to their social circles to evaluate companies. In one study,

about 75% of the millennials who participated said that they seek suggestions from family or friends

and get referrals from an organization’s current employees to form opinions of the employer’s brand

1 “The Red Hot Global Economy: How Should HR Adapt?” Josh Bersin, LinkedIn, March 1, 2018.2 “78% of Candidates Would Apply to Jobs from Mobile.” Indeed blog, September 18, 2014.3 “Workforce of the Future: The Competing Forces Shaping 2030.” PwC, 2017.4 “Millennials Want Jobs to Be Development Opportunities.” Amy Adkins and Brandon Rigoni, Gallup Business Journal, June 30, 2016.

Young people want to work at companies that offer training and growth opportunities—and value those as much as they value financial compensation.

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White Paper | How a Winning Candidate Experience Can Help Companies Win the Talent War

and assess what it may be like to work there.5 The upshot? A positive online reputation is essential for any

company looking to attract these candidates.

Many executives know that their organizations must get better at reaching and attracting needed talent,

whoever and wherever these candidates may be. In fact, in a recent survey of CEOs, a whopping 77% of

the respondents said they viewed the lack of availability of key skills as the biggest threat to their business,

and 74% of them reported looking for the best talent regardless of geography or demographics.6

So how can companies meet this imperative? We explore promising strategies below.

HR’s New Imperative: Put Candidates—Not Your Company—at the Center of the Recruitment ProcessOne way to meet the recruitment imperative is to put candidates at the center of the talent acquisition

process. This means ensuring that candidates’ experiences are as engaging, personalized, and meaningful

as possible at each of the many steps that make up the talent acquisition process. (See “Spotlight on the

Talent Acquisition Process.”)

Of course, different organizations define candidate experience differently. For some, it’s all about job

seekers’ impressions of a company’s brand and of their interactions with the organization. For others, the

candidate experience is powerfully influenced by an employer’s brand messaging; for instance, “It’s easy

to apply for jobs here.” For others, the candidate experience is closely tied to actual recruitment-process

efficiency and effectiveness, beyond just brand messaging. That is, job seekers can, in fact, easily apply

for jobs and navigate through the onboarding process after they’re hired, because there’s a manageable

number of steps involved and the company makes hiring decisions quickly.

5 “Millennial Employees: Flight Risk for Companies.” Brandon Rigoni and Bailey Nelson, Gallup Business Journal, August 25, 2016.6 “The Talent Challenge: Rebalancing Skills for the Digital Age: 21st CEO Survey.” PwC, 2018.

In a recent survey of CEOs, 77% of respondents said they viewed the lack of available key skills as the biggest threat to the business.

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White Paper | How a Winning Candidate Experience Can Help Companies Win the Talent War

Putting the candidate at the center of the talent acquisition process contrasts sharply with the

more traditional approach to recruitment. In the traditional approach, a company focuses on what

it needs; for instance, “We have to fill X number of positions for each of these roles by a certain

date.” The company then publishes job postings and waits for applications to roll in. But given the

trends reshaping the candidate landscape, that approach won’t help organizations surmount the

recruitment challenges facing them today. Instead, an employer must determine how it will enhance

the candidate experience before it even recognizes it has open positions that need filling. Hiring

managers and HR practitioners must generate answers to questions such as the following:

• How will we make the recruitment process as fast and effective as possible?

• How will we engage candidates at the right time (before a need becomes critical) and in the right way to ensure that each candidate is a proper fit for the role and for the organization?

• How will we engage candidates where they are; for example, on their mobile device?

But even as companies craft strategies for putting candidates at the center, they must also automate

as much of the recruitment process as possible, such as sending a personalized email clarifying next

steps after receiving an application from a job seeker. Automation helps employers gain efficiencies

essential for rapidly scaling up their workforce and attracting the best talent before rivals can. As a

result, companies can swiftly fill open positions, match candidates to the right positions and schedule

large numbers of job interviews.

Innovations such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning can be particularly useful for

candidate screening and interviewing. For example, AI can help organizations identify candidates

with the right skills and experience, saving time and money.7 And use of machine learning and

analytics during screening and interviewing can help companies better assess candidates’ skills,

predict the amount of time needed to train a new hire and pinpoint the right training activities to

close skill gaps.

7 “Artificial Intelligence And Recruiting: A Candidate's Perspective.” Cara Heilmann, Forbes, June 22, 2018.

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White Paper | How a Winning Candidate Experience Can Help Companies Win the Talent War

At SumTotal, we believe that employers must excel on two fronts to provide the highest-quality

candidate experience while also capturing the benefits afforded by automation:

• Preparation—to infuse unprecedented efficiency and effectiveness into their recruitment process

• Transparency—throughout the recruitment process, so job seekers always know where they stand

Below, we take a closer look at each of these.

Spotlight on the Talent Acquisition Process

Recruiting Hiring New-Hire Engagement

• Company branding

• Sourcing

• Social recruiting

• Defining groups of potential candidates based on stated hiring criteria

• Engaging with candidates in ways that communicate the desired employer brand

• Receiving applications

• Qualifying candidates

• Interviewing applicants

• Intelligent matching

• Hiring

• Pre-boarding (whereby new hires engage in learning before Day 1 on the job)

• Onboarding

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White Paper | How a Winning Candidate Experience Can Help Companies Win the Talent War

Preparation: Setting the Stage for an Efficient, Effective Recruitment ProcessWhen a company prepares carefully for high-volume recruitment campaigns, it instills confidence in

job candidates that the employer is organized and credible. It also tells job seekers that the company

understands who they are, what they have to offer, and what they want from a job and an employer.

Preparation thus boosts the quality of the candidate experience, including personalizing it. And

it helps companies infuse efficiency into the recruitment process while avoiding all-too-common

mistakes. (See “Common Mistakes That Turn Candidates Off—and Erode Your Employer Brand.”)

Careful preparation delivers additional benefits as well for employers. For instance, it makes the

recruiting process flow more smoothly, quickly, and effectively in terms of finding the best matches

for open positions. It enables faster decision-making about whether to hire particular candidates.

And it promotes more productive communication within hiring teams. To illustrate, interviewers

can easily get feedback on a candidate from fellow members of the interview team, compare their

impressions of the candidate, and enter the information into the recruitment system.

In addition, preparation lays a foundation for a positive experience for new hires beyond Day 1 on

the job. As a case in point, the more a company knows about the candidates it’s considering, the

more it can determine how best to welcome each new employee to the organization, help them

learn the culture and connect them with colleagues and mentors. As a result, the company delivers

on the promises it made during the hiring process. All of this improves new-hire retention and

boosts employees’ productivity once they’re on the job, including helping them focus on their new

responsibilities long past their first 90 days.

Common Mistakes That Turn Candidates Off—and Erode Your Employer Brand

In one study, as many as 72% of the candidates surveyed said

they use their social media channels and personal networks to

share unpleasant or frustrating experiences with prospective

employers and the recruitment process. That’s a lot of negative

word of mouth—which, as everyone knows, spreads much

faster and more widely than positive word of mouth does. To

safeguard their employer brand, companies must avoid these

common mistakes:

• Misspelling candidates’ names in emails and other communications.

• Sending “canned,” form-letter responses to job applications or queries from candidates seeking to know where they stand in the hiring process.

• Making the interview process unpleasant; for example, too long or complex, or involving too many interviewers.

• Requiring candidates to complete overly long or complex job application forms.

• Failing to follow up with candidates after interviews.

• Taking too long to inform job seekers of the status of their candidacy.

8 “Millennial Employees: Flight Risk for Companies.” Brandon Rigoni and Bailey Nelson, Gallup Business Journal, August 25, 2016.

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White Paper | How a Winning Candidate Experience Can Help Companies Win the Talent War

But to garner all these benefits, companies must start the preparation effort before it launches a

recruiting wave. Several best practices can help:

1. Use a single source of information to help recruiters accelerate the process. Companies

need to combine historical hiring data, post-hire employee effectiveness data, internal skill and

competency data and external market data. By sharing all such data on its recruitment system,

an employer can build requisitions that will later become job descriptions. Thanks to this upfront

work, the resulting job descriptions accurately describe what the company is looking for in

candidates and help candidates easily find open positions on employers’ career sites that make

the best matches for their skills and interests.

2. Get smart about candidates’ unique characteristics. Companies must deepen their

understanding of job seekers’ needs, goals, preferences and expectations regarding a range

of issues. These include compensation, the kind of organization job seekers want to work for

(including employers’ values and organizational culture), development and career opportunities

that interest candidates most and ways in which they approach the job-search process. Armed

with this understanding, a hiring organization can more easily tailor every communication with

job seekers to those characteristics. Such communications include not only job postings and other

content on a company’s career website, but also job interviews and follow-up conversations held

later in the recruitment process.

3. Communicate a consistent employer brand at every candidate touchpoint. Savvy companies

make certain that their website content, social media content, and recruitment marketing

materials communicate a clear, consistent, and compelling employer brand, and that candidates

can easily find information of interest to them. The best messaging speaks to the company’s

organizational culture, perceptions and reviews of the enterprise as an employer, developmental

opportunities and career paths available to employees and products or services offered by

the business.

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White Paper | How a Winning Candidate Experience Can Help Companies Win the Talent War

4. Take advantage of technology to set up an efficient, scalable interview process. With most

recruitment platforms, companies have to re-create interview questions from scratch for each

candidate. With the right platform, they only have to set up an interview team once for a recruiting

drive for a particular role, including designating backup interviewers and assigning questions and

assessments to each interviewer to be covered during meetings with candidates. Indeed, different

subsets of questions could be assigned to different interviewers tasked with focusing on specific

themes with the candidates.

An efficient, scalable interview process delivers valuable advantages. It enables companies to

move more candidates swiftly through the interview process, easily consolidate interview results

in one place, and add interviewers as needed. It also helps ensure fairness, compliance, and

consistency across interviews.

5. Craft recruitment strategies tailored to candidates’ unique characteristics. For example,

companies can offer a non-intrusive, progressive web app to give candidates the right information

(such as push notifications) at the right time and access to that information through the right

device. Through such means, an employer makes itself available to job seekers at precisely the

time and place they need it to be available. And candidates don’t have to click through a multitude

of sites or webpages to find the information they require. Savvy use of social media such as

LinkedIn and Facebook can further help companies find job seekers—and help candidates find

prospective employers. Examples include using an employee referral program to direct the most

relevant job types to employees based on their skills and functional areas, with easy-to-post

referral links.

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White Paper | How a Winning Candidate Experience Can Help Companies Win the Talent War

Transparency: Making It Easy for Candidates to Know Where They StandTransparency in the recruitment process is providing candidates with information

to help them make the best possible decisions. This includes updates on their

status in the hiring process, easy access to all aspects of the process (including

interview information, upcoming tasks and documents that need completion), and

tools for quickly communicating with the hiring team. When companies establish

such transparency, they gain a number of important benefits. For starters, they

attract higher-quality candidates and hold their interest. They also decrease drop-

off rates and accelerate time to hire.

Tools and technologies such as instant job matching and ranking can help

employers establish transparency in key parts of the talent acquisition process. For

example, candidates can register their profile on a company’s career site and can

easily see open positions that make the best matches for them. The most relevant

jobs for them are thus delivered to them, versus their having to sift through

postings and hunt down promising matches.

Candidates also have clear visibility into where they are in the process. Through

a timeline in their profile, they can easily see which interviews they have coming

up in their calendar and which forms they need to fill out (such as nondisclosure

agreements, I-9s and general applications). They can readily gain access to those

forms, and can see which interviews are coming up next, including with whom they

will be meeting, why and where. In addition, internal candidates can see which

training activities and other developmental experiences they’ll need to advance

along the career path that interests them, and the jobs associated with those paths.

SumTotal offers a customizable career landing page, with a variety of options for candidates to start looking for job opportunities at your company.

From the career landing page, candidates can see all jobs, or search by keyword and location. Job descriptions show complete details and include embedded videos, job sharing links and tools, as well as location and mapping information.

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White Paper | How a Winning Candidate Experience Can Help Companies Win the Talent War

Next Steps for EmployersIn today’s fast-changing talent landscape, organizations can no longer afford to rely on traditional

approaches to recruitment. Rather than putting themselves at the center of that process, they need

to put the candidate there. By tailoring the candidate experience to job seekers’ requirements,

preferences, and job-search behaviors, employers can sweeten the odds of attracting and winning

the talent they need to stay competitive. Careful preparation for recruitment campaigns, along with

transparency throughout the recruitment process, can help.

Learn MoreCompanies need a streamlined solution for managing the hiring lifecycle. SumTotal’s Talent

Acquisition solution does just that by organizing the process from talent needs assessment, to

requisition creation and sourcing, to candidate selection and onboarding. The solution is easy-to-use

for candidates, employees and managers, and streamlines the administrative process for recruiters

and HR.

The redesigned SumTotal Recruiting solution includes smartphone-optimized career sites with apply

capability, candidate-matching, automated and intelligent interview tools with an end-to-end, easy-

to-use user experience from applicants to recruiters.

To learn more about how to infuse new technology and effectiveness into your recruitment process,

please visit here.

REQUEST A DEMO

Questions for your next meeting

1. How compelling is your career website

to job seekers? How could you make it

more compelling?

2. How well does your career website support

mobile job search and employment-opportunity

evaluation? What’s one step you could take to

improve this functionality?

3. How effectively are you managing your social

channels with your employment brand in mind?

4. How easily can candidates apply for jobs at your

company on a mobile device?

5. How easily can hiring managers schedule

interviews with candidates?

6. How promptly are candidates notified about

their status in the job-application process?

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White Paper | How a Winning Candidate Experience Can Help Companies Win the Talent War

Meet The AuthorJeremy Reid is a Senior Principal Product Manager for SumTotal’s Talent Acquisition platform. Jeremy

is a staffing industry veteran with 20 years of experience in a variety of in-house and agency staffing

functions. Previously, he worked directly for staffing technology companies, such as Jobvite and

Simply Hired, supporting a variety of hiring and product related functions. More recently, Jeremy

worked for a Silicon Valley incubator helping to innovate in the staffing automation space. Jeremy

brings this wealth of knowledge and hands-on industry experience to help SumTotal build a

leading-edge talent management solution. Jeremy Reid

Senior Principal Product Manager, Talent Acquisition Platform

SumTotal

linkedin.com/in/jeremyreid/

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About SumTotal

SumTotal Systems is the most comprehensive and flexible HCM solution. Built on decades of providing solutions to the

most complex and regulated industries including airlines, financial services and pharmaceuticals. SumTotal incorporates

four key components – Talent Acquisition, Learning, Talent Management and Workforce Management. SumTotal

continuously invests in platform innovation to address the challenges of attracting, retaining, developing and engaging

today’s multi-generational workforce. SumTotal is the first LMS to fully enable content aggregation across xAPI, CMI5,

third party and custom content as well as unified access to the largest corporate learning library from Skillsoft. SumTotal

integrates Skillsoft’s market-leading, immersive, multi-modal content, enabling organizations to develop talent through a

knowledge-centric employee lifecycle. www.sumtotalsystems.com

U.S. and Canada: +1 866 933 1416 | U.K. and Europe: +44 (0) 1276 401950 | Asia Pacific: +91 (0) 40 6695 0000

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