The successful employment of a productive worker starts before their first day on the job. You could say it starts the first day they begin their career, or even when they begin their education. But their candidate journey to become a contributor to your business definitely starts before they apply for your open position.
They bring all their professional experience to that moment. They may bring knowledge of your company if you are recognized in your industry. They certainly bring their expectations for satisfying employment, just as you bring expectations for their performance.
But, the adoption of remote workstyles has made the path to attracting, securing, and fully engaging the best people for any particular job easier in some ways and more difficult in others. Here is what the candidate journey looks like for positions that can be successfully filled by remote employees:
What is the Remote Candidate Journey?
A candidate journey is each of the steps both the employer and the employee take to fill an open position. They broadly fall into the seven steps described below. It’s called a journey because each of the steps gets the participants closer to their goals.
Employers want the best person for the job, both in terms of their skills and their cultural fit inside the organization. Candidates want fulfilling work which goes beyond fair compensation to include personal recognition and a sense of belonging. Each of the steps in the journey should be approached as an opportunity to project how each party will help the other reach their goals.
A key measure of how well a company is executing its part of this journey is the conversion rate of applications to hires. According to Pinpoint Recruitment Trends, in Q1 of 2024, technology companies had to go through 140 applications to fill a single open position (0.7% conversion rate), professional service firms had a 1.4% conversion rate, while healthcare providers (across all aspects of the industry) converted at a 2.4% rate.
You can see from this sampling that recruiting and securing the talent you need takes patience and diligence. While it’s not clear from the data if or how many of those positions were remote, it can be assumed that – if the candidate’s goal included remote work – it’s just one more variable in the decision but a potentially decisive one.
7 Key Touchpoints of the Remote Candidate Journey
For the company, the journey is motivated by an unmet need in the company’s workforce. This is usually a necessary skill they lack or an increased volume of work due to growth or employee attrition. Whatever the motivation, the company usually has a clear idea what they’re looking for.
For candidates, the goal is often less clear. If they have specialized skills, they’re looking to apply those in a rewarding role. If they have more general skills in some category of business, they may be looking for the best position from which to grow their professional opportunities.
Since the company is starting the journey with the most specific goal, their HR professional is best positioned to guide the journey to a successful conclusion. They undoubtedly know the company’s requirements, but they will also want to consider the candidate’s perspective.
Pre-application phase
Awareness
A candidate’s awareness of a job opportunity is shaped by the company posting the position. The descriptions of the job and the applicant requirements are the best chance to attract the best candidates. Perhaps even more important is how the company describes itself. Remember: For the company, this is a professional decision, but for the candidate, it’s a personal one.
If the role can be satisfactorily filled by a remote employee, that fact should be understood inside the organization from the very start. Considering remote prospects expands the candidate pool considerably.
Consideration
Theoretically, the most desirable candidates have multiple options. Even before they apply, they are evaluating each opportunity against their alternatives.
This is where the prospect of remote work can make the biggest difference. Depending on how important a remote or hybrid situation is to a candidate’s sense of fulfillment, it may be their first consideration for any new job.
Interest
A job posting is a kind of ad for the hiring company. Candidates express their interest by submitting an application. Even if that process is relatively easy, it represents a critical juncture in the journey and a concrete expression of the potential they see.
As your company gets ready for the influx of applicants, be aware of The Cost of a Bad Hire & The Warning Signs To Look Out For.
Application phase
Application
The information the application process requires and how it walks a candidate through that process may tell the company a lot, but it also tells the candidate a lot about their potential employer.
Don’t think of the application as a form. Think of it as an experience to draw out the skills and qualities you’re looking for, and for the candidate to determine if this is really a job they want. The first, best way to narrow the field is to give candidates the information they need to self-select.
Selection
Depending on the rigor of the selection process, this part of the journey can be long or quick. Yes, it’s an opportunity to add more context to the information gathered from the application. But it should also be the place where the “chemistry” of a potential relationship gets checked. Because companies control this portion of the journey, they are in the best position to get a feel for whether or not the candidate is a fit.
This can sometimes be to the detriment of the process. Make sure the vetting of potential employees gives them a chance to share the best of themselves and to get their own feel of the opportunity and company. This will help them to help you decide if it’s the best fit. And, if it is, they will already be getting excited about working with your company.
Hiring
You might think this is the conclusion of the candidate’s journey. But it is simply the most significant milestone. For all the formal and regulatory considerations like processing an offer letter, mandatory background checks, and legal documentation, it should feel like a cheerful welcome. This is HR’s chance to build the first bonds with the employee and accelerate them towards maximum productivity.
Post-application phase
Onboarding
The final stretch of the journey begins with integrating the new employee into the team. You should make it obvious that their arrival was anticipated and meaningful for the organization. If they are going to be working remotely, extra effort should be taken to make them feel welcome and engaged. You can find a range of potential bridge-building exercises in Remote Employee Engagement: Strategies to Inspire Remote Teams Worldwide.
But the journey is only complete when the employee starts work for your company. If the company has properly managed its part of the candidate journey – with consideration for their prospective employee – everyone should be on track to achieve their professional and business goals.
Creating a Positive Remote Candidate and Employee Journey with Solvo
Not every small or medium-sized business has the HR resources to execute each of these steps with the necessary level of attention, especially coordinating with remote candidates. This is where Solvo can help.
Solvo is a nearshore provider of business process outsource (BPO) services, with a specialization in HR, including recruitment, hiring, and training of employees. In fact, depending on your needs, Solvo can actually be the source of the talent and skills you need.
Getting ready to hire? See what Solvo can do for your HR operations, and even you entire business. To access a world of skilled talent, contact us today.
