Over half (54%) of UK job candidates get frustrated by interview scheduling delays and 73% have left a process because of it, according to new data from business management company, Cronofy.
The quality of a company’s recruitment process was also found to directly affect the perception of the business as well as possible future engagement.
A significant amount (84%) of UK job applicants said they judge a company based on its recruitment process.
Maddy Cross, partner at recruitment firm Erevena, told HR magazine making a good impression during the recruitment process is important, as the best candidates will likely have multiple options from various employers.
She said: “If your recruitment process is opaque or the candidate is left without guidance on next steps for a few days, the chance that they’ll be snapped up somewhere else is very high.”
Cross also said early stage and small businesses that don’t yet have an HR or people operations team, can’t risk underestimating the importance of a recruitment process.
She said: “Hiring managers can be more focussed on getting the right cultural fit than getting the right skills, so they can often substitute skills questions for more conversational questions.
“And whilst it’s absolutely critical to make sure that cultural fit of candidates is very good, it shouldn’t be at the expense of hiring people with the right skills.”
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The research also found 43% of job applicants don’t want the recruitment process to be completely automated and want a human touch.
David Smith, author and business consultant and former HR director at ASDA, said businesses who only use technology to recruit, lose the human aspect applicants want.
He said: “When the interview is first offered, the human aspect is not needed, an automated email is sufficient.
“I don't think people expect a company to have a phone call with them to book an appointment, it can be a waste of time.”
However, Smith said automated recruitment processes need a human interaction when it comes to the interview itself.
"The interview should be friendly, that way the applicant gets a feel for what working for the company would be like,” he said.
Cronofy surveyed 2000 UK people who had been through a recruitment process in the prior 12 months in March 2021.
