The Candidate Journey Is the Strategy You’ve Been Ignoring
This week in the Holistic Recruiter Club #038
Hello, You Knowledge Thirsty Holistic Recruiters!!!
Firstly COYS, if you get the reference great if not don’t worry ;)
Thanks again for joining me as I go on another rambling about Talent Acquisition. Last week I drove a 1200km round trip to the Netherlands top watch my son play in the National School Football Tournament, after wining the first round a few weeks ago they finished 9th in the district round, but the kids enjoyed it and that’s the main point!
I also want to tell you “ITS OK TO MAKE MISTAKES” if you are are not trying new stuff and failing you are not moving forward. What was the last thing you tried and failed? And what did you learn?
As for me I found time to run 13km for the first time, and give myself blisters but now I’m back and as you would have seen already I launched my first course, which I’m super proud of!
Before I get into this week I wanted to wish my wife Bérengère a Happy First Year at Lunii, she shared a great post about her experience; if you want to read it, click here!
If you’ve been following the last couple of posts, we’ve been deep in the strategy:
What “being strategic” in TA actually means
Why operational excellence is the real driver of influence
And how most teams are trying to build strategy on top of chaos
But today, I want to pull that down into something that we can touch and feel and i believe works across all contexts of TA/ Recruitment.
Something every TA team can feel.
Something no manager will ignore.
Candidate experience isn’t a byproduct of your hiring system.
It’s the clearest proof that it actually works.
Most teams aren’t starting from scratch. And that’s the problem.
You’ve inherited the mess, tools you didn’t choose (hi Workday, yes I think its awful as an ATS and yes as a candidate it’s terrible too, I didn’t get sponsored to say that ;) ), workflows hanging together by a thread, hiring managers that ghost you, you end up ghosting candidates.
And now you’re being asked to “act strategic”?
It’s like trying to build a rocket ship inside a shed in your garden(if you’re lucky enough to have one)
But here is what I want to say:
The candidate journey is the one part of your hiring system that everyone can see, feel, and judge.
That’s why it’s not bullshit.
It’s your operational strategy made visible. And this is inside your control.
The experience is the system.
Do you want to see if your hiring works?
Well lets start with the difference between Outputs and Outcomes
Output is what you did.
Outcome is what it changed.
So in candidate experience terms its like this
Sending a feedback email? That’s an output.
A candidate saying “this was the best process I’ve been through”? That’s an outcome.
Running interviews faster? Output.
Hiring someone who ramps quickly and sticks around? Outcome.
Now lets walk your exeprirence as a candidate.
Is the process clear?
Are the communications consistent?
Are timelines always respected?
Is the messaging human and real?
How many clicks does it take to apply?
If not, you’ve got friction and that’s the prrof you need to see you’ve got a credibility problem.
But here is the jolly good news:
“Candidate Experience is your leverage point”
Lets that sink in
If you fix the candidate journey I beleive this means you’re forced to improve all of these:
Workflows
Feedback loops
Gaps with the tools you use
Communication habits
Hiring manager behaviour
Onboarding
That’s not admin so please dont think of it as such.
That’s operational strategy in real life. And i said before this is all in your control
Data to back it up:
So let’s stop acting like this is a soft part of the process and go through the pain of getting your hands dirty.
Want to get strategic? Map the journey.
Last year I created this video and its still relevant now.
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
Miro, whiteboard, post-its, napkin. Doesn’t matter.
Entry point → First response
First interview → Feedback lag
Offer stage → Drop-offs
Rejection → Silence
Onboarding → Disengagement
You decide what goes in there as there is not a one size fits all for this its YOUR process and YOUR way of working right now.
Track your trough moments and peak moments.
(Yes, the Peak-End Rule is real.)
Remember these two things:
• The peak (the most intense moment, good or bad)
• The end (the final impression)
If you sod that up the whole experience is remembered poorly, no matter how smooth the rest was.
And this is where feedback loops come in.
→ Observe → Orient → Decide → Act
(Does ring a bell? Yep, it’s the OODA loop I’ve been banging on about. And this is exactly where it challenges the traditional “strategy first” mindset.)
Most teams jump straight to “decide + act”
But if you don’t observe and orient first, you’re just reacting .
If you didn’t already know, I have started a course to help with everything in my newsletter, so click on the button and take a look, the first cohort starts on the 19th June.
So what now?
If you’re serious about strategy, start with experience.
Not a strategy deck.
Not another new metric.
Not a seat at the table.
Start by observing whats happening
Just focus on making the journey better, for candidates, for hiring managers, for your team.
Because if your hiring system works in a way people trust…
You won’t need to beg for influence.
You’ll become indispensable.
Coming up:
In the next article, I’ll finally be sharing the rough v1 of the Talent Acquisition Strategy Model, based on context, maturity, and operational health.
But before that, I need your input:
Where does your candidate journey fall apart first?
Message me. Comment. Reply.
I’ll add in real examples into next week’s piece.
Want to learn how to build a hiring system that works?
That’s exactly why I created my 4-week live course:
Build a Hiring System That Actually Works
We will get our hands dirty with:
Candidate journey design
Workflow alignment
Hiring manager playbooks
Metrics that actually move the dial
Starts June 19.
15% off for Substack readers. The discount’s already applied here:
Thanks for reading and I appreciate the messages and support it means a lot! And now we push to 500 Holistic Recruiters ! Let’s go.
John