The Importance of Candidate Experience as a Part of the Recruitment Process

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the importance of candidate experience as part of the recruitment process. The candidate experience starts to form before the applicant has submitted their application and lasts throughout the recruitment process until the first months of employment. There are various factors identified that can help companies to achieve more successful candidate experience, and examples provided to what extend companies can benefit from providing a positive candidate experience.

Qualitative research was chosen as the primary data collection method and semi-structured thematic interviews for three people were conducted about their most recent candidate experience. The interviews were conducted in order to learn more about how applicants perceive candidate experience as part of the recruitment process. Based on the literature review and the answers of the interviews, an analysis was compiled using references to support the data obtained from the interviews.

The results show that a good candidate experience is a significant part of the recruitment process, and different factors in candidate experience affect more to some people than others. It can be concluded that even if some part of the recruitment process does not go as desired, it can be remedied by executing some other part of the process more successfully. Overall, a good candidate experience is an essential part for companies to attract and employ the desired workforce.