Lastly, the following are the top 10 key takeaways from Talent Board's 2018 North American Candidate Experience Research Report:

Improve Candidate Engagement Pre-Application: We saw a 69 percent increase in utilizing chat bots on career sites in 2018. More employers realize that a competitive differentiator is communicating earlier with candidates, even before they apply. Chatbots are being used to answer general employment questions and this frees up the recruiting teams to have more hands-on time with potential candidates already in play.
Referrals Are Critical: It goes without saying that employers depend on referrals for quality candidates. And while 30 percent of candidates in 2018 still cited employee referrals as a valuable channel, down 17 percent from 2017, 42.7 percent of referred candidates were much more likely to increase their relationship with a potential employer (apply again, refer others, make purchases if and when applicable), more so than if they conducted their own search or if they received unsolicited outreach from a recruiter.
A Fair and Simple Application Process: Perceived fairness continues to be a differentiator in candidate experience, and there's a no better crossroads of this than at the application process. This is as far as the majority of applicants make it today in the recruiting process, and there was a 128 percent difference between those who felt they were being treated the most fairly, 4.4 out of 5 star rating, and those who rated application fairness the lowest, just about 1 out of 5 stars. And 42.5 percent of the candidates who rated the application process 5 stars said the application took less than 15 minutes, a trend we continue to see with many companies.
Job Simulations and Culture Fit: Assessments help employers make better hiring decisions, and according to our data, many types of assessments were going strong in 2018. Two types that stand out and saw a significant increase in utilization were 1) job simulations that help to assess how candidates may perform on the job increased by 16 percent, and 2) culture fit assessments that identify how well potential new hires will assimilate into the organization increased by 17 percent.
Immediate Feedback Pays Off: Candidates who were interviewed and then given job-related feedback by end of that same day said they were 52 percent more likely to increase their relationship with the employer (apply again, refer others, make purchases if and when applicable). Whereas, if feedback was not given, they're more than twice as likely to sever the relationship (8 percent vs. 2.6 percent). This was greater than even those who were given just recruiting process feedback at the end of the day (next steps), which still included 41 percent of candidates more likely to increase their relationship.
Let the Candidates Shine: The only way to truly know if candidates are qualified is by giving them a fair opportunity to present their skills, knowledge and experience during the screening and interview process. Of candidates who gave a 5-star rating for the screening and interview process, 73.8 percent were extremely satisfied with their ability to do just that, while 53 percent of the candidates who rated the experience 1-star told us they were extremely dissatisfied with the screening and interview process.
Pick Up the Phone: The types of rejection communication candidates receive when they were no longer being considered after the screening and interview process can make a big difference in whether or not they apply again or refer others. According to our data, these included automated email replies (58 percent), personal emails from recruiters and hiring managers (22 percent), and personal phone calls from recruiters and hiring managers (only 10 percent). The positive candidate ratings jump upwards of 32 percent when they receive a phone versus the automated email rejection, a big difference that can go a long way.
The Onboarding Win: Although one of the least frequent new hire offerings according to our research, when employers offer their new hires multiple options to communicate goals, meet key team members, answer questions, all prior to their start date, new hires are 72 percent more likely to increase their relationship with the employer (apply again, refer others, make purchases if and when applicable). This is also critical to ensuring retention and building the bridge from candidate to employer experience.
Recruiting Structure Can Make a Difference: An employer's organizational recruiting structure usually encompasses one of the following: centralized (dedicated recruiters, recruiting org structure and budget, decentralized (division/line of business dedicated recruiters, org structure and budget), and outsourced (RPO, HRO and third party vendors). We found that those who outsource recruiting had candidates say they were 22 percent more â€œextremely likelyâ€ to refer others based on their experience than decentralized recruiting organizations, and 16 percent more â€œextremely likelyâ€ to refer others based on their experience than centralized recruiting organizations.
The Business Impact of Candidate ExperienceÂ The past few years Talent Board has been focused on the business impact of candidate experience from pre-application to onboarding. And for good reason. Candidates who believe they have had a "negative" overall experience tell us every year they will take their alliance, product purchases, and business relationship somewhere else. This means a potential loss of revenue for consumer-based businesses, referral networks for all companies, and whether or not future-fit and silver-medalist candidates apply again. The good news is that the willingness of candidates to increase their relationship with an employer trends upwardsÂ globally over the past three years. In fact, global job candidates gave employers a great candidate experience rating that was 17.4 percent higher than in 2017. Plus, the willingness of candidates to sever their relationship with an employer only trends upwards in North America, with it flattening in EMEA and declining slightly in APAC over the past three years.

Kevin Grossman, president of Talent Board, will be presenting a workshop on the candidate experience at the upcoming Recruiting Trends & Talent Tech LIVE! conference. If you're interested in receiving the full CandE report, please click here:Â bit.ly/2018TBCandEResearch

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Here's the Latest North American Candidate Experience Report

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