Berlin Survey Results — Part 4: Ingredients of a great candidate experience
By: Wilbur Von Biscuit
Tags: Hiring, Berlin Tech, Job Search, Recruiting, Candidate Experience

In our previous article, we talked about the stresses and strains that job seekers experience throughout their recruitment journeys. We learned that developers and engineers in Berlin struggle with both the time-consuming process and assignments, as well as the lack of feedback from the hiring side.

Now let’s look at the positive sides of the candidate experience and answer the following question:

What makes one’s recruitment experience positively memorable?

To find this out, we asked developers and engineers who took part in our survey:

“Can you remember the last time when you had an outstanding recruitment experience? What made it so great?”

We got replies from just 69% of our Berlin-based participants. We can only speculate whether the rest couldn’t remember anything positive in their job search history or they simply chose to ignore the question.

Anyway, we analysed the unique responses and identified 8 categories of factors that make one’s recruitment journey feel good:

12.1% of tech professionals said they had no good experience so far.

Next, we counted the number of responses under each of the 8 categories and calculated the percentages. So, here is our recipe for an outstanding candidate experience:

Ingredients of a great recruitment experience

Now let’s look at the top 3 (or, rather, 4) ingredients, according to our Berlin-based respondents.

1. The topmost position is split between Speed and Relevancy & Practicality. These factors were both mentioned by 25.9% respondents.

Here, Speed is either about the number of steps in the hiring process or the number of interview stages. For example:

“The whole process (from the first interview to an offer) took just 1 week.”

“There were only 2 steps in [the] recruitment process.”

Relevancy or practicality refers to test assignments and interview questions:

“They knew what they were asking and did it because I will use it on my everyday job.”

“Whiteboard brainstorm with a team solving company’s actual problem.”

2. Consideration, care & human attitude.

Being treated with thoughtfulness and respect was mentioned by 24.1% survey participants:

“The recruiter […] took my feedback into consideration.”

“Whenever I am considered a human being instead of a candidate/number/CV.”

This goes in line with a piece of advice that our MD Konstanty got in the early days of his recruitment career from Greg Savage: “How you make a person feel is more important than what you say or what you do and will be remembered far longer.”

Well, nearly ¼ of tech professionals from our survey told us the same.

3. Feedback & communication.

20.7% of respondents spoke of feedback that was either fast or sufficient:

“I received timely and actionable feedback.”

“During on-site interview, we reviewed the home assignment.”

Whether this feedback is positive or negative, it’s not only in the candidate’s best interest, but yours as well, to provide it as soon as possible.

Conclusion

Summing it up, a great and memorable recruitment journey is, ideally, a fast one. Making the process job-relevant and ensuring that feedback within the hiring team is well-managed can speed it up significantly.

And don’t forget that you are dealing with human beings. Being amiable, understanding, and unbiased will contribute greatly to the overall impression of you and your company.

Remember that recruitment experience is customer experience. Creating the right experience for developers and engineers who apply for your jobs will help you hire the right people faster and more efficiently. It will also help your company go with a better image as an employer, regardless of whether a person got hired or rejected.