How to Improve the Candidate Experience From the Very Beginning

“Taking a moment to slow down and understand the candidate experience and finding time to focus on that is incredibly important,” said Kristen Baller, head of talent acquisition at DISH Network. 

“The candidate experience actually has a fundamental impact on our organization’s bottom line, meaning every candidate is a customer. And so, talent acquisition, while we may be looked at as a cost center, ultimately, has the ability to help drive revenue,” she said during a fireside chat at From Day One’s February virtual conference. 

Focus on the Candidate

“What we’ve missed is where we actually carve out time to focus on creating a better candidate experience, focusing on the candidate—whether they’re going to be an employee, or whether we move forward with somebody else,” she said.

One of the company’s core values is that opportunity is their number one benefit. Baller says that when looking at skills for both current and future positions within the organization, it’s important to assess whether someone has the energy to overcome adversity and the intelligence to think critically and outside the box.

Internal mobility is also top of mind at DISH. Finding opportunities within the organization as Baller highlighted provides candidates confidence that “we go to the market and tell people to come build your future with us. There is someone and somewhere for everybody.” 

Leading With Empathy

“When we think about our employer brand, one of the things that our team’s focused on is how we are taking the time to give back?” she said, highlighting their EchoStar Cares and Dish Cares volunteer work initiatives. 

“But how are we actually giving back to those that don’t join our organization? How do we create the space to just be more human and empathetic?” she asks. With this in mind, the company is focused on giving back and building their brand around that. 

Baller outlines that what she wishes industry leaders would do differently is to start carving out space for more empathy and human connection. Many of the metrics used by leaders and talent acquisition focus on efficiency and optimization, such as the number of positions filled in a quarter, time to fill, and time in process. Instead, leaders should shift some of that thinking to focus on metrics that measure candidate experience.

Transparency can provide great value to the recruitment process, and overall candidate experience, says Baller. “How do we give them more transparency around what they can expect with the next steps of the interview process?” 

While Baller focuses on the candidate experience, the employee experience remains equally important to her. Baller highlights the importance of celebrating each other, “from a diversity, equity, and inclusion standpoint, it’s really important as an organization that we’re still investing and making our employees feel safe,” she said. Employers need to find ways to invest in and celebrate one another, recognizing that our differences and diversity of thought are what make businesses thrive and help move us forward as an organization.

Tabitha Cabrera, Esq. is a writer and attorney, who has a series of inclusive children's books, called Spectacular Spectrum Books.

(Photo by everydayplus/iStock)