Job Seeker Confessions: 10 Things They Really Want High-Volume Recruiters to Know

Confessions of job seekers — we’ve all heard or read anecdotal stories from job seekers of their bad interview experiences. But there’s more to the job seeker experience than the actual interview and one of the reasons investing in employer branding is so important.

We recently surveyed over 1,100 job seekers to better understand how they search for a job, how they prefer to be communicated to through different phases of the process, and what they deem the most important attributes of a job.

One question we asked our respondents was, “If you could give feedback to recruiters, what’s the one thing you’d want them to know?” and here’s what they had to say.

1. They want transparency.
   Job seekers want recruiters to be “transparent” and upfront with them about everything from the expectation of hours and duties to salary ranges and where they are in the process. 
2. They want you to look beyond their resume.
   Their resume may not convey it or they may not know how to convey it, but they want recruiters to know they are hardworking, reliable and dependable. They also want you to know that their skill set transfers across industries. When parsing resumes, perhaps look at the length of time at a job to understand loyalty. 
3. Streamline your questions.
   From the application process, job seekers felt that they shouldn’t have to upload their resume and also fill in duplicate information. From an interview process, job seekers want efficiency as much as recruiters do. They want to be asked questions that are pertinent to the job duties they’re applying for and want recruiters to ask real questions and sound less like a bot when asking basic screening questions. (This is where investing in a chatbot could actually save you time by not having to ask these questions during a phone screen.)
4. List the salary or salary range in the job description.
   As one job seeker put it, “I believe it should not be taboo to discuss salary early on. After all, this is why we work first and foremost.” Another reason to list it is that it might not be the right fit for someone’s lifestyle so it can weed out workers who would otherwise turn down the job anyway – saving both parties time.
5. Have more clear job descriptions.
   Many job seekers thought that job descriptions are too vaguely written or list so many required skills that no one would qualify. As one job seeker put it,
   “Please make sure you are accurately depicting the company’s values and the job requirements. Far too many times I’ve known people who have applied for jobs only to find their jobs were starkly misrepresented. This isn’t product for either an employee or the company.”
6. Communicate better and often.
   Most job seekers just want clear communication throughout the interview process, so be sure to set clear expectations about how long the process will take and the steps of your company’s process. PRO TIP: You can easily automate this in an email or text for every requisition via drag and drop workflows.
7. Don’t ghost them. Follow up regardless.
   Lack of feedback and follow-up was the number one piece of feedback job seekers had for recruiters. They were eager to hear feedback about what they could do better. And they really want to hear feedback if they didn’t get the job, even if it’s a canned email response. Check out our blog on 3 ways to prevent candidate ghosting.
8. Be a better interviewer.
   Many job seekers just want kindness throughout the process. Job searching can already be stressful and nerve racking  on its own, so when they land that interview, they expect you to be on-time, courteous, friendly and most importantly — engaged.
9. References might not be all they’re cracked up to be.
   Job seekers want you to know that many people put down their friends as references and in fact lie on their application! So most job seekers while they expect to be asked for references don’t see the point in them. Also, many job seekers find it hard to list more than one. 
10. They don’t mind video interviews.
    In our survey, while they would prefer in-person interviews over video interviews, they actually like video interviews and don’t really mind them. Only 15.5% of job seekers said they do not like video interviews.

To view the key findings of the full survey, download our guide 7 Things Job Seekers Want High-Volume Recruiters to Know.