10 ways frontline organisations can improve the candidate experience

Frontline organisations are unique. Not only do they require high-quality, appropriately trained and qualified talent — but they need it fast, with the ability to hire, onboard, and train new employees in time for peak periods. However, hiring new staff is about much more than time-to-hire, onboarding efficiency, or any other HR metric. 

The candidate experience is where the impressions are made. This process encompasses the subsequent touchpoints between the two parties — from application portals to in-person or video calls and final reference checks. And we all know first impressions matter. 

As such, optimising the candidate experience is vital. A smooth, structured and efficient candidate experience speaks volumes about organisational culture and internal processes. It’s a peek inside the door before someone walks through.  

As engineers of our own unified, candidate-centric talent acquisition platform — Humanforce Talent — we’ve compiled 10 ways that frontline businesses can improve their candidate experience for better talent attraction, selection, and retention.

1. Make researching your company easy for candidates 

Social proof has always been, and always will be, a major part of the recruitment process. Nowadays, maintaining social proof online is non-negotiable for frontline organisations. In fact, 69% of job seekers are more inclined to apply for a job with an active online presence.  

When people look for jobs, they aren’t just interested in remuneration or titles. They’re also curious to know more about the company’s employee value proposition (EVP), culture and background, their potential coworkers, the premises and conditions in which they’ll be working, and much more. 

One of the best ways to establish this online presence is through social media sites such as LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok. LinkedIn is geared more towards professional networking, career development, and job searching — job seekers can visit company profiles to view their feed, see their recent posts to gain a better understanding of company culture, and apply directly on the platform. LinkedIn is better suited to frontline organisations in the care and education industries, where professional roles and titles are more prominent. On the other hand, those with more casual, seasonal workforces — like in Retail and Hospitality — can leverage the casual nature of Instagram and TikTok to showcase a more personal side to their business and their staff. 

In addition, the power of job review sites shouldn’t be underestimated, and are useful for any type of frontline business. Encourage both past and present employees to post reviews on sites like Glassdoor, outlining their experience working at your company. Rather than feeling like they’re being persuaded or marketed to when looking for employment, job seekers are sure to appreciate a more unfiltered, unsponsored glimpse into a company.

2. Lean on candidate referrals 

Hiring through referrals is one of the best ways to save on recruitment costs and is mutually beneficial for employers and employees alike. By tapping into internal employees and their networks, HR can: 

• Source talent through recommendations and word of mouth, saving the time and money spent on writing and listing job ads 

• Find the right fit; employees can recommend previous coworkers as candidates, who they likely already know on a personal and professional level 

• Discover individuals who possess niche skills or qualifications, and connect them straight to the hiring manager 

• Incentivise employees with referral bonuses, fostering a more competitive workforce 

• Benefit from curated and trusted candidates who speed up the recruitment process, removing the need for countless application reviews and interviews; this can greatly improve time-to-hire 

Referrals are especially useful for recruitment in frontline organisations, who typically struggle with high employee turnover and seasonal hiring difficulties. Through referrals, frontline employers can establish a network of qualified talent that matches their time-sensitive hiring needs. 

For example, Humanforce Talent allows current employees to easily refer potential candidates for any open roles. They can do so by navigating to the “Find Jobs” tab on the left sidebar, clicking on the role they’d like to refer somebody to, and clicking on “Refer someone”. They can then generate a personalised referral link, copy it, and send it directly to the candidate. If the candidate is successful, any referral bonus on offer will be attributed to them.

3. Keep candidates in the loop 

When it comes to applications, it’s important to let candidates know where they stand in the process. At some point, we’ve all applied for jobs, and either been ghosted or received an automated message months down the line. It may sound trivial, especially considering you haven’t even spoken with the person yet — but in truth, it reflects poorly on your recruitment process and may cause candidates to feel like a number on a spreadsheet. 

Instead, let the candidate know how long the application process will take, or at least how long it will be until you respond. This can be as easy as adding a projected timeframe to the job listing or confirmation email. In doing so, you give the candidate a rough time frame and keep them engaged in the process. Consider a retail worker looking for Christmas casual roles in November; they’ll be more likely to click apply if they know they’re going to hear back in less than seven days. Without a response time frame, they may opt to save time and apply elsewhere.

4. Give candidates a mobile apply option 

A survey by Glassdoor revealed that 58% of its users were looking for jobs on their phone, while 35% would actually prefer to apply via mobile. Offering a mobile apply option isn’t just important — it's essential in today’s recruitment landscape. With 61% of the Australian workforce comprised of Millennial and Gen Z individuals, these mobile-savvy candidates will expect nothing less. 

Offering a mobile apply option, whether it be an app or browser portal, is a key part of designing a smooth and accessible candidate experience. It allows candidates to apply and track their progress from anywhere, at any time.  

To take it up a step, consider offering an ‘easy apply’ option. This feature is available on platforms like LinkedIn and Humanforce Talent, and allows users members to autofill application fields with information already contained on their profile, saving them time writing repetitive cover letters, experience history, and more. In Humanforce Talent, for example, candidates (both internal and external) can apply simply by entering their email, first and last name, and mobile number. Their profile does most of the talking, giving them more incentive to hit apply. 

5. Help candidates prepare for their interview 

This isn’t about giving the candidates your transcript beforehand, or spoon-feeding them the right answers. It’s more about providing a means for the candidates to reach out as easily as possible to ensure they feel as prepared as possible for their interview. 

Interviews can be nerve-wracking. Providing employees with an on-platform messaging service, or phone number to call or text with any queries, can help break down any barriers pre-interview, settle their nerves, and give them the best shot at securing the role they applied for. This also builds trust and confidence from the onset. 

6. Provide next steps and follow-up with candidates 

Make sure to update candidates as soon as possible, ideally within 24-48 hours of every touchpoint. Being punctual is always a good look, but especially important during the hiring process. Timely, clear communication is the key here. Let candidates know what to expect going forward and provide them with feedback at every touchpoint. Speed is key in today’s hiring process.  

Top talent doesn’t wait. If left in the dark, they’re likely to move ahead with an employer who has a quicker hiring process. Think Retail and Hospitality — employees are often transient, hopping from one job to another, especially when looking for seasonal work. To attract and retain these employees on a consistent basis, you’ll also want your hiring and onboarding processes to be quick and painless.

7. Reduce interview-to-offer time 

Reducing the time taken between the final interview and job offer is another crucial aspect of the candidate experience. One survey found that on average, candidates wait 25.1 days from their first interview to receiving a job offer or rejection. It sounds like a long time, but there’s plenty going on behind the scenes; other candidates are being interviewed, background checks are being conducted, internal decision-making meetings are taking place, and time is being spent preparing the official offer and drafting contracts, to name just a few tasks. 

Automation is the best way to reduce interview-to-offer time. While internal discussions are always going to be necessary to come to a decision, automating logistical and administrative tasks via your HR software can help turn your preferred candidate into an employee in no time.

For example, the Offer Management add-on solution for Humanforce Talent allows hiring managers to send out offer letters as soon as the candidate has been selected. They can harness the power of offer letter templates, complete with rich text editing and PDF download functionality to accelerate the process. With Offer Management, hiring managers can view the entire application process from start-to-finish within the same Humanforce Talent environment.

8. Engage with new hires before their start date 

To echo the sentiment in tip five, it’s important to touch base with the candidate before their start date. Of course, you’ll need to contact them for logistical and administrative reasons (which can almost entirely be done via your HR software, such as Humanforce’s Onboarding & Offboarding solution).  

However, the human element can’t be replaced — and shows that you’re going above and beyond to make the candidate feel welcome, prepared, and engaged. Frontline managers could perhaps send out a box of merchandise to new hires, a training or onboarding roadmap, or contact the candidate directly via call or text to see if they’re all set for their first day.

9. Increase communication with candidates and provide feedback 

Regardless of whether they are successful or unsuccessful, providing open and honest feedback to candidates is a must. At minimum, it shows respect for the candidate’s time, effort, and interest. But most importantly, it demonstrates consideration for the candidate’s career development and shows that you care for their growth and chances of securing another role. In doing so, you tie things up on a good note, and promote positive word of mouth about your company, its staff, and the hiring process. 

By cultivating this feedback loop, you are also helping enhance your interview process. What did you do well? What can you improve on? What attracted candidates — or caused them to disengage during the hiring process? The answers to these questions yield valuable clues on how and where to improve. You can both give and receive feedback via SMS, email, or your on-platform messaging service. And remember, timeliness matters — follow up right after the last touchpoint

10. Communicate the next steps for successful candidates 

For successful candidates, it's important to communicate that your organisation's key objective will be to onboard them as smoothly and efficiently as possible, and to get them onto their first shift as quickly as possible. Again, a HCM suite like Humanforce can help, as it links key parts of the employee journey, from recruitment through to onboarding, and onto rostering & scheduling.

Critically, our Onboarding solution facilitates digital pre-boarding, so essential employee information can be gathered before day one. That means faster time to productivity and more assurance for your new hire that their first pay cheque will not be far behind. It closes the loop on the candidate experience: recruitment, onboarding, rostering, shift completion, pay.

Craft exceptional candidate experiences with Humanforce Talent 

Humanforce Talent is the all-in-one talent acquisition platform for frontline organisations. It allows employers to build an engaged Talent Community consisting of current and past candidates, existing employees, contractors, and alumni, to streamline hiring workflows and deliver exceptional, branded candidate experiences: 

• Timely, personalised communication via SMS: A more effective way of touching base with busy shift-workers, and keeping them in the loop 

• Faster application process: Members of your Talent Community can apply for open roles in seconds using their existing profile information 

• Branded talent attraction: Create a branded career site that showcases your company culture through engaging content and visuals 

• Recruitment CRM: Cultivate your talent pools, harnessing AI-driven tools for candidate matching based on skills, roles, locations, and departments 

• Applicant tracking system (ATS): Accelerate hiring with automated, unbiased screening workflows, allowing you to move candidates through in bulk. Schedule interviews, send SMS and email reminders to candidates, and track the entire application process in one place 

The candidate experience is much more than an interview or hiring process — it’s about crafting a considered series of touchpoints complete with open communication and feedback. It’s wise to treat all candidates as if they’re already your employees — as suggested earlier, the experience you deliver is a sneak peek into your organisation’s inner workings.

About Humanforce 

Humanforce is the all-in-one platform for frontline and flexible workforces, offering a truly employee centred, intelligent and compliant human capital management (HCM) suite – without compromise. Founded in 2002, Humanforce has a 2300+ customer base and over half a million users worldwide. Today, we have offices across Australia, New Zealand, the US, and the UK. 

Our vision is to make work easier and life better by focusing on the needs and fulfilment of frontline workers, and the efficiency and optimisation of businesses. 

To learn more about how Humanforce’s solution can help automate people processes in your business, please contact us.