Research
As part of the launch campaign for the RecruitRank Awards 2007, and in celebration of the RecruitRank system receiving 200,000 pieces of feedback, Jobsite commissioned some research looking at how and why people feedback to companies on their experiences with them.
The results were extremely interesting and pose lots of questions for the recruitment industry. Top-line findings were:
- We are a more empowered nation in general, with 67% giving regular feedback to companies (e.g. on products purchased or experiences at events)
- However, only 38% of jobseekers actually have the confidence to provide honest comments to their recruiter with 14% only ever telling them what they want to hear and 15% never giving negative feedback in case it jeopardises their chances of getting a job
- The lack of people wanting to give feedback to recruiters is surprising considering 89% of jobseekers believe feedback is important
- Encouragingly 75% of jobseekers place a strong emphasis on positive feedback which will help recruiters to know what they are doing well
- 41% of jobseekers said they had received a response to their feedback from their recruitment agency which is a great start
- Unfortunately 58% feel that their feedback to recruiters is still currently ignored with less than 10% of respondents receiving responses to feedback within 24 hours and 36% believing that their feedback made no difference anyway
- With 85% of jobseekers being unlikely to use a recruiter again after a negative experience it is essential that everything is done to encourage candidates to talk to recruiters about the experience they've had with them
- Something which should make things easier for recruiters is the finding that 45% of jobseekers want to give feedback in person rather than anonymously. This will allow recruiters to facilitate a two way dialogue making it easier to rectify any problems at the earliest stage
As a result of these research findings Jobsite is using a number of initiatives to encourage candidates to increase feedback left to clients through RecruitRank.
They are asking for them to focus not just on the negative, but also on the positive to help recruitment agencies know where they are doing well already.
Jobsite hope that this will allow any negative feelings that the candidate has about the experience to be discussed and rectified at an early stage so that they don't vote with their feet and go elsewhere. This should take us all one step closer to making the recruitment experience a less painful one for all concerned.
