Attracting and retaining top talent hinges on creating a positive candidate experience.
This article delves into the importance of crafting an exceptional candidate journey,
its obstacles, and language assessment’s role in tackling these challenges.

creating-positive-candidate-experience-two-smiling-recruiters-interviewing-a-smiling-candidate

“Candidate experience” is no longer just a trendy term. It is now a vital focal point in talent acquisition. 

Job seekers today are now more influential in shaping the hiring process. They are akin to customers who need active engagement and persuasion. From applying, interviewing, and hiring, to onboarding, candidates need a reason to stay. 

One study showed that 83% of candidates say that a negative experience causes them to change their minds about a job opening they once liked. 

This means that creating a stellar candidate journey, aligned with your employer brand, is crucial. Your company needs it to attract, keep, and nurture talent for long-term success.

This article explores the significance of creating a remarkable candidate experience. It examines the challenges involved, and discusses how language assessment can help overcome them.

Building Employer Brands, Building Connections

Establishing a well-defined employer brand is crucial to building a positive candidate journey. Recent studies on candidate experience revealed that 82% of job seekers consider an employer’s reputation before submitting their application. 

creating-positive-candidate-experience-smiling-group-employees

By being known for your positive work culture, growth opportunities, and employee-centric policies, you attract high-quality candidates. You create more connections with a wider pool of talented individuals eager to contribute to your company’s success. 

Investing in a strong brand lets you grow talent, streamlines your recruitment efforts, and reduces your cost-per-hire by 50%.

Navigating a Changing Job Market

The World Economic Forum’s 2023 Future of Jobs Report predicts seismic changes in the labor market in the next 5 years. The landscape is evolving, with opportunities emerging and declining at the same time. These changes are caused by the rapid growth of technology, digitalization, sustainability, education, agriculture, and digital commerce sectors. 

The challenge lies in finding the most qualified candidates, equipped with the required technical skills, to fill diverse positions. Additionally, skills like critical thinking, analysis, creativity, curiosity, and lifelong learning have become essential.

To maximize these competencies, candidates need smooth communication skills for effective collaboration. This is where an efficient pre-hiring language test comes into play.

Enhancing Candidate Experience with Language Assessment

A robust language assessment tool goes beyond evaluating business language proficiency. It sets the stage for positive interactions between your company and your candidates. 

When you conduct a thorough, fair, and transparent language assessment, you create equal opportunities for all candidates to show their communication skills. This increases their chances of being selected for roles that need collaboration. No matter the outcome, applicants feel valued and respected. 

creating-positive-candidate-experience-smiling-asian-female-headphones-laptop

With a well-structured language assessment process, job seekers will more likely perceive your company as professional and committed to employee development.

Barriers to Effective Language Assessments

Conducting language assessments comes with its own set of challenges.

Recruiters must juggle assessments alongside other tasks within strict deadlines. As a separate solution, it requires a lot of time and effort to manage. Without expert evaluation of test results, maintaining impartiality becomes difficult. Cheating is also a concern because it compromises the assessment’s integrity.

For candidates, language assessments can induce anxiety, particularly for non-native speakers. Time constraints to complete tests also contribute to their stress. Accessibility and connectivity problems can further impact their performance.

Recruiting Strategies that Shine

To end, or at least minimize, the challenges mentioned above, consider adopting strategies to make sure your candidates have a pleasant experience as they take your proficiency tests.  

First, give your candidates a user-friendly online language assessment that allows them to navigate the tests smoothly. This takes away the stress of using the platform and allows them to focus on their answers. goFLUENT’s Language Assessment has a simple and intuitive candidate portal. It has clear instructions and features that enable simple navigation.  

Second, transparency is key. Explaining the purpose of the assessment and giving prompt feedback, builds trust. The goFLUENT Client Admin Center lets you quickly assign assessments to shortlisted candidates. You can email them login credentials to the goFLUENT candidate portal, and send timely notifications of their results. 

Third, when you give candidates enough time to complete the tests, it shows that you are flexible and considerate of their situations. With goFLUENT Language Assessment, they can access the portal 24/7, and finish the tests within a specific timeframe you set.

Finally, a great strategy is to recognize performance through certification. This is a good way to support job seekers, whether they move forward in the hiring process or not. goFLUENT Language Assessment generates a CEFR Certificate of Language Proficiency. It contains the candidate’s CEFR level and a summary of their language skills. This gives them insight into their abilities and areas for improvement. It also strengthens their profile and aids them in their job search.

creating-positive-candidate-experience-happy-man-with-glasses-raising-fist-feeling-fulfilled-laptop

Create a Winning Hiring Strategy with Positive Candidate Experience

Candidate experience stands as a significant force propelling organizations towards higher levels of recruiting process excellence. Nevertheless, crafting an exceptional candidate experience is a complex, time-consuming, and intentional process. It demands making authentic connections; it is about practicing fairness, transparency, and unwavering support. Despite the investment required, the returns truly make it worthwhile.

When you go the extra mile to create a good candidate experience, you create a winning recruitment strategy. It helps you stand out in the tough competition for talent all around the world. 
  
If you’re ready to level up your candidate journey, goFLUENT is ready to help you make this transformation a reality. We will revolutionize your recruitment and help you secure the best talents.