A record number of vacancies are currently combining with labour and skills shortages to create a perfect storm within the UK jobs market. Candidate experience is consequently rapidly increasing in importance for recruiters at a time when the labour market is leaning very much in favour of jobseekers.
Our recent research*, however, highlights shortcomings with the candidate experience – with feedback and communication called out as specific challenges:
- Almost a quarter (24%) of those that have applied for jobs since the start of the pandemic say they had no response to their application
- Of those that made it through the application to the interview stage, 16% received no feedback or communication from the business after their first interview
At Reed.co.uk, we’re always looking for ways to support our recruiting customers with their individual challenges, while improving the experience for candidates. For this reason, against this backdrop, we’re strengthening our Direct Apply ecosystem by partnering with HARBOUR, the recruitment software solution provider, to deliver recruiting teams an integrated candidate management process and jobseekers a smooth application experience.
This follows the recent partnership we announced with JobAdder to streamline candidate management for JobAdder users.
Direct Apply
Our Direct Apply solution replaces the traditional need for a redirect process between a candidate making an application on a jobs site and the application being received by a company’s applicant tracking system (ATS). Closing the loop in the hiring process for recruiters and consequently giving candidates a smoother experience.
When a candidate applies to a job via Reed.co.uk, with Direct Apply, businesses using HARBOUR to manage their recruitment programmes will be able to:
- Capture every candidate
- Create a smoother candidate experience by capturing applicant data directly from Reed.co.uk
- Alleviate any drop off
Candidates will complete their application on Reed.co.uk. Reed.co.uk will then automatically send the application, along with any additional detail such as CVs, screening questions and covering letters, directly to the client’s HARBOUR system.
“We’re pleased to be partnering with Reed.co.uk to offer our clients an efficient way of managing their candidates and, in turn, delivering their candidates with a smooth application process.”
Ben Francis, Client Success Director at HARBOUR
* Online survey conducted by Atomik Research among 2,002 adults in the UK – all employed full (80%) or part-time (20%) – between 17th – 20th August 2021. Atomik Research is an independent creative market research agency that employs MRS-certified researchers and abides to MRS code
