We recently released our first annual Candidate Experience Snapshot, in which we set out to understand the current state of play regarding how candidates feel about assessment centres and the steps employers can take to future-proof their assessment centres.
This year, the key takeaway was that anxiety and the desire for resources is high, and that overall experience is scoring somewhere in the middle on a scale of 1-10.
Now, that may seem a bit gloomy, but the report also revealed that many concerns from respondents are easily addressable.
With that in mind, we’ve put together 5 reasonable actions you can take as an employer to address the report’s findings – without having to uproot and rethink your entire strategy.
1. At the earliest possible opportunity, let candidates know whether the assessment centre will be online or in-person
Better yet: tell them on the application form! The report indicated several times how candidates want to know exactly where they stand and what they should expect throughout your recruitment process, particularly when it comes to assessment centres. Every day or week that passes without them knowing crucial logistical information – like whether they’re going to have to travel somewhere, or whether they’ll have to download a piece of software beforehand – creates an information void in which speculation (and anxiety!) can fester.
2. Once they know how or where their assessment centre will take place, let them know what preparations they can do beforehand.
Similar to the above, this addresses those crucial early nerves and prevents logistics and preparation from playing a part in exacerbating those emotions. The report showed us that candidates have a great sense of hope (68%) when invited to an assessment centre, but much less confidence (31%). Helping candidates to bridge this gap by enabling them to feel more prepared will go a long way to improving their overall experience. Send them some example questions, inform them of their schedule/timetable or give them a video run-through of any software they’ll be using.
3. If you’re able, share with candidates the scale of the assessment centre
The report showed us that a lot of uncertainty around assessment centres stems from not understanding the scale of the operation and how much “competition” they would be up against. 58% of respondents in the snapshot report said they want to know how many other candidates will be taking part in the assessment centre. You could go one further and inform candidates how many will be taking part, and how many you would be looking to hire. This honest and upfront approach will assure candidates and let them know where they stand, but also give them a sense of how fierce the competition will be.
4. Host your values and/or competencies somewhere easily accessible for candidates to read and understand them before the event
Candidates want to know about you just as much as you want to get to know them. 76% said they wanted to understand the competencies they will be assessed against in a recruitment event, and 67% said they wanted to know more about the company and the role before attending an assessment centre. Clearly outlining as part of your pre-event comms what you value as a company and what you will be on the lookout for from candidates will ensure everyone has the chance to showcase what they can offer your organisation. All of this will go a long way to bridging that gap between hope and confidence while reducing anxiety.
5. Finally – ensure candidates have a chance to “meet” someone they’ll see at the event.
Building familiarity between you and your candidates and personifying your business is a great way to quickly and simply alleviate assessment centre anxiety. This can easily be an a-synchronous “meet” in the form of a recorded video from a hiring manager or lead assessor welcoming them to the process, or it could be as simple as ensuring all of your comms are sent from a person and not a nameless email address such as “hello@companyname.com”.
We hope you are able to take value from this and from the Candidate Experience Snapshot. If you have any feedback on the report that you’d like us to incorporate in next year’s survey, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. You can reach out to your Customer Success Manager if you’re a partner of ours, or simply email info@topscoretech.com.