Candidate Experience

For us at Cloudoki, candidates are as important as our clients. They are potential future members of our family, but above all they are people. This is our motivation: to bring the closeness of our company culture to our recruitment and selection processes. More than a way of attracting talent, it is about taking the ...

In essence, candidate experience refers to the entire process of interaction of a candidate with the company: the job search, application process, interview process, proposal stage, onboarding and all communication along the way.

The quality of interactions during the entire hiring process, the way employer approach to the candidate and the follow-up along the way will impact the perception of a job seeker about a prospective employer. Thus, not only will it shape his/her opinion towards the company, but it will also increase or decrease the desire to belong to that organization in the near future.

Benefits of a good Candidate Experience

When there is a need to fill a vacancy, we can easily focus only on finding the perfect candidate and forget that while we are screening candidates, candidates are also screening us as an employer. With the recent changes in the market, the candidates are actually the ones who choose in which company they will work.

Candidates look for companies that they like and that share the same values as them, on the other hand, companies also have the intention of atracting and hiring the best talent in the market, for that very reason, the contact with the candidate, from the published vacancies to the final moment of proposal presentation and onboarding, has to be as appealing and clear as possible.

From the application moment, candidate is already evaluating the way the whole process is handled, so the first need for intervention arises: to facilitate the application and respond as quickly as possible.

One of the benefits of having a good candidate experience is without a doubt the image that we pass on to our candidates: respect and ethics.

The Recipe

Cloudoki is a company that differentiates itself by its small size, which allows us to have the proximity that we value so much. Nevertheless, the growing number of projects leads us to new recruitment needs.

But what does our recipe for a good candidate experience look like in practice? Here are some tips on ingredients that we consider to be successful! Do you want to be the next one to test them?

Simple and quick application

Our process starts with a super simple and quick application method. We don’t require extensive forms, we don’t ask for answers to initial questions. On average, an application takes between 2-5 minutes and our platform automatically sends a “thank you” email.

Personalised approach

We know that, especially in this industry, there are several connection requests and messages that candidates receive through LinkedIn. However, if you receive a message from Cloudoki, it will be because we have effectively seen potential in your profile, and it will be a personalized approach. Of course, we have our common standards within the Recruitment team when it comes to our method of communication with candidates, but we always strive to include a little bit of you in our message.

Our partners

The truth is, we don’t work alone. We also have a number of recruitment partners that have an impact on the candidate experience process, as they are also available to provide all the necessary support to our candidates throughout the process. So, instead of one team, you will have two teams accompanying you.

Informal communication

From the description of our vacancies, to our emails and interview process, we try to adopt a close and relaxed attitude with our candidates. We remove the formalism and stress that are usually associated with a job interview moment and try to turn it into a slightly easy-going exchange of ideas and a person-to-person conversation.

Transparency and expectations management

Our aim is to manage our candidates’ expectations of the role and all associated conditions as well as possible. So, we try to be very transparent about what we are looking for, what our needs are, what our business reality is and what we have to offer. Without bullshit.

It’s not just about the work

Our interviews have a strong human side. Besides all the information about the work, we also try to provide information about the extra-work activities that we organize at Cloudoki. We approach our culture with pride and from the candidate’s side, we always like to know more about you – not only the professional skills.

A two-way road

The same way that the company seeks to attract and retain the best talent, the candidate also seeks in the company a safe, pleasant, appealing place and, in the case of Cloudoki, usually a family environment where he/she can eventually grow. This way, the interview works as a two-way street: the candidate is always free to ask all kinds of questions about the company. In the HR interview these are usually related to culture, team size and growth, the way the work is organized, internal benefits and future expectations.

Motivation Analysis

Something that is very important for the recruitment team is to also understand what are the candidate’s motivations for a company change. Each person who joins Cloudoki is much more than an employee, they are a family member! The reasons for a change are often related to the intention of changing business area, company size, stack or simply because they are not challenged enough in their current companies. We always try to figure out, as your future employer, if we can fulfill your aspirations.

The technical interview

Whatever the function, this is an essential step of the process. The technical interview, more than an evaluation, is also a moment of knowledge sharing. Our goal is to gain confidence in your technical skills, but we also want it to be an enriching process for you.

Personalised and continuous feedback

The personalised feedback we provide to all candidates means that even if you don’t stay at Cloudoki, you can understand why we didn’t move forward with the process and you can use the feedback received to maybe redefine your goals or focus your efforts on a specific area. This can lead to a huge professional growth if embraced correctly – in a constructive sense. Besides, no one would recommend a company that has simply stopped responding, right?

100% remote recruitment and selection process

Before the pandemic situation, we already had some flexibility regarding remote working and the possibility of conducting interviews remotely.

Still, making the process 100% remote was a huge challenge in several ways:

Creating empathy: the process of creating empathy through a screen is not as easy to manage as in person. Body posture, gestures and eye contact are some of the key aspects that sometimes get lost in a remote context. However, we always ask our candidates to be willing to turn on their camera if possible. We, of course, do the same!
Trying to explain our working environment: the face-to-face interview allowed the candidates not only to get to know our office, but also to get a quick sense of the working environment and interactions between the team. A simple coffee or glass of water in the lounge before the interview starts can trigger good memories. Nowadays, we try to share who we are in a short pitch. More recently, we’ve changed our website into a blog-first approach, which allows candidates and potential candidates to get to know a little more about us, through everything we write and share publicly.
Use our social networks to show our culture and community: our offices are temporarily closed, so both our interview process and our onboarding process are currently remote. Therefore, requires an effort on our side to make some of our working conditions known through our website and social media, whether through photos of the offices, videos, text or any other content. Another thing that is very important to us is to always keep our staff updated on the website, with their names and functions so our candidates can put names to the faces.

Our work is to mix up all these ingredients for you to have the best experience possible 😃

…And please note that the candidate experience does not end here!

Once a Cloudoki candidate, there is always a door or window open for us to meet in the future, if you wish to do so. And for those who stay, there follows a whole onboarding experience… but that’s for another article!

Cheers,Your Recruitment Team