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What Is Candidate Experience?

Candidate Experience refers to every interaction a potential hire has with your organisation – from the moment they come across your job advert or company website, to the day they walk in the door (or log on remotely) to start their role.

It encompasses:

• The clarity and tone of your job description
• Communication from recruiters and hiring managers
• Timeliness and quality of interview processes
• Feedback loops (or lack thereof)
• Offer and contract turnaround times
• Onboarding support from acceptance to start date
  

It’s not just about making people feel good – it’s about operational efficiency and competitive advantage. The best talent has options. If their experience with your company is disjointed, slow, or frustrating, they’ll likely take their skills elsewhere.

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Why Candidate Experience Matters More Than Ever

I recently ran a poll asking candidates how they would respond to a poor hiring experience. Over 90% said they would withdraw from the process entirely. Think about that. If your candidate experience is sub-par, you’re effectively filtering out top talent before you even reach the interview stage.

Here’s how candidate experience directly impacts hiring performance:

1. Time to Hire

Delays in communication, interview scheduling, or offer issuance can add days (or even weeks) to your hiring timeline. This doesn’t just frustrate candidates – it slows down your business. Candidates drop out, hiring managers get disengaged, and roles remain unfilled.

2. Offer Acceptance Rates

If your hiring process feels disorganised or unprofessional, candidates will rightly question what working for your company is like. A slick process signals that you value their time – and makes it much more likely they’ll say “yes” when the offer comes.

3. Employer Brand

Even candidates who don’t get the job are still potential brand ambassadors. If they’ve had a good experience, they’ll speak positively about your company. If not, it only takes a single Glassdoor review or LinkedIn comment to damage your reputation.

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Where Companies Get It Wrong

Many organisations underestimate just how easily they can alienate candidates. Let’s take a look at some of the most common missteps:

• Vague or confusing job descriptions
  Candidates can’t self-assess fit if the role isn’t clearly explained.
  
• Slow feedback loops
  Leaving candidates in the dark for a week or more? Expect them to ghost you in return.
  
• Overcomplicated interview processes
  Five interview rounds for a mid-level role? That’s a hard pass for many candidates.
  

Delayed contract issuance
Once someone accepts, the clock starts ticking. If you don’t get the paperwork out fast, someone else will.

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What Good Looks Like: The Currencycloud Approach

One of the best examples I’ve seen in action was during my time at Currencycloud. We recognised early on that delivering a consistent, professional candidate experience was key to hitting our hiring goals.

Here’s what we did:

🔹 We created candidate packs

Every candidate who reached interview stage received a clear, well-designed document. It included the job description, company background, and – crucially – the service level agreements (SLAs) we committed to as a recruitment team.

This wasn’t just internal guidance. We shared it with candidates so they knew exactly when to expect feedback, when interviews would be scheduled, and how long decisions would take.

🔹 We aligned recruiters and hiring managers

Before any role went live, recruiters and hiring managers met to align on expectations. We discussed not just the role requirements, but how we would work together to deliver on those SLAs.

🔹 We moved fast on offers

We used automation to reduce contract turnaround time from days to literal seconds. But even without automation, one working day should be the standard for sending out an offer letter or contract.

Creating a great candidate experience isn’t about rushing people through – it’s about building trust through clear, consistent communication and showing respect for their time and effort.

🔹 We improved pre-boarding

Once someone accepted an offer, we didn’t leave them waiting. We scheduled touchpoints (again implementing automation tools) between acceptance and start date to keep them engaged and informed. That helped reduce dropouts and built stronger relationships before day one.

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Three Ways to Improve Your Candidate Experience Today

You don’t need a full transformation to make meaningful improvements. Here are three simple but high-impact steps any company can implement:

✅ 1. Set Expectations – and Stick to Them

Let candidates know when they’ll hear from you. Then deliver. If you say “we’ll get back to you in two days” and it takes ten, you’ve already lost trust. Create simple SLAs and communicate them clearly.

✅ 2. Speed Up Your Offer Process

Once you’ve decided to hire someone, there’s no reason to delay. Contracts should go out within one working day, maximum. Delays signal disorganisation and give your competitors a chance to swoop in.

✅ 3. Make Feedback the Norm, Not the Exception

Even if someone isn’t successful, a short, constructive message goes a long way. It shows respect and keeps the door open for future roles. Automated tools can help streamline this if volume is high.

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Three Ways to Improve Your Candidate Experience Today

You don’t need a full transformation to make meaningful improvements. Here are three simple but high-impact steps any company can implement:

✅ 1. Set Expectations – and Stick to Them

Let candidates know when they’ll hear from you. Then deliver. If you say “we’ll get back to you in two days” and it takes ten, you’ve already lost trust. Create simple SLAs and communicate them clearly.

✅ 2. Speed Up Your Offer Process

Once you’ve decided to hire someone, there’s no reason to delay. Contracts should go out within one working day, maximum. Delays signal disorganisation and give your competitors a chance to swoop in.

✅ 3. Make Feedback the Norm, Not the Exception

Even if someone isn’t successful, a short, constructive message goes a long way. It shows respect and keeps the door open for future roles. Automated tools can help streamline this if volume is high.

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Final Thoughts: Candidate Experience Is a Hiring Strategy

If you’re struggling with time to hire, losing candidates late in the process, or seeing offers declined, look closely at your candidate experience. You might be unintentionally pushing away the very people you’re trying to attract.

The good news? It doesn’t take massive investment to get this right. Just a commitment to clarity, communication, and respect for the people you’re trying to hire.

At RecruitMend, we help organisations redesign their hiring processes to be faster, more inclusive, and more candidate-centric. Because we believe that great candidate experience isn’t just about being nice – it’s about hiring smarter.

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Let’s talk about how we can reduce your time to hire and increase your offer acceptance rates – while delivering a candidate experience that sets you apart.