How to improve candidate experience: 10 tactics for a better hiring process

Most candidates begin their job searches in one of two frames of mind—they’re either excited about new job opportunities or full of dread about the labour market.

Either way, it’s your job as a recruiter to give them a positive experience. After all, poor candidate experience, characterised by long application forms, scheduling delays, and radio silence after interviews, will not only turn top talent away but damage your employer brand.

How do you provide candidates with the positive experiences they’re looking for? You redesign your candidate journey around momentum, fairness, and communication. This guide shows you how to improve candidate experience with 10 proven tactics that keep candidates engaged from application to their first day on the job.

How to define candidate experience (and why it matters)

The term “candidate experience” refers to the sum of every interaction a job applicant has with your organisation, from discovering the job posting to starting work. It’s measured by speed (how quickly candidates progress), clarity (whether expectations are transparent), perceived fairness (consistent evaluation), and respect (acknowledgement and feedback).

When it comes to high-volume hiring, candidates expect immediate action after application, transparent next steps, and feedback—whether they progress or not. When hiring teams leave unsuccessful candidates in limbo, even high-quality employer brands suffer.

So, if you’re asking how to improve candidate experience in recruitment, here’s the answer: anchor the journey on an interview-first touch point that turns interest into progress on day one.

Don’t make job seekers wait for you to review their CV. Give them a structured way to showcase their potential immediately and you’ll reduce early drop-off while making candidates feel valued.

Principles that improve your candidate experience

Before diving into tactics, let’s establish four principles that will encourage candidates to progress through your recruitment process:

Design for momentum, not meetings

Move candidates forward asynchronously before calendars collide. When job applicants can complete interviews in their own time and on a mobile device, you eliminate idle time between stages. This reduces drop-off and keeps competing offers from stealing your best people.

Make fairness felt

Blind, structured evaluations and explainable outcomes increase candidate trust. When they see that everyone answers the same questions and decisions are based on consistent criteria, they perceive the process as fair. This is true even if they don’t progress to the next stage.

Communicate like a concierge

Proactive, time-boxed updates beat reactive, ad-hoc emails. Define when candidates will hear from you, then honour those commitments. Candidate experience studies consistently show that communication quality matters as much as hiring speed. Don’t skimp in this area.

Close every loop

Feedback for all applicants, even those who don’t progress, leaves the door open for re-engagement and future positions. Most candidates don’t expect an offer, but they do expect acknowledgement. A respectful “no” with constructive feedback builds advocacy.

Journey Map: Where Candidate Experience Typically Breaks

Let’s walk through each stage of the job application process. As we do, we’ll identify areas for potential friction and how to remove it for future applicants.

Apply

Typical friction: Long forms, impersonal CV uploads, and irrelevant assessments (think games and/or lengthy psychometric testing that feels disconnected from the role.) Job seekers don’t appreciate these barriers, and may abandon their applications if they run into them.

Fix: Trigger an automated chat interview immediately after the application. State the time required to complete said interview and the deadline for doing so. When candidates know they’ll only need to invest a few minutes over the next couple of days, completion rates will climb.

Interview

Typical friction: Scheduling lag between application and interview kills momentum. Inconsistent questions between hiring managers don’t help either, as they make it harder to compare people objectively and disrupt each candidate’s perception of a fair process.

Fix: Deploy a short, structured, mobile-first interview that candidates can access immediately. Then give clear instructions and same-day acknowledgements to show respect for their effort.

Schedule

Typical friction: Back-and-forth emails to book remote and/or in-person interviews can frustrate candidates and recruiters alike. Time zone confusion adds unnecessary complexity. If candidates can’t book interviews immediately, some will abandon the hiring process altogether.

Fix: Allow candidates to self-schedule their interviews, then give them an easy way to reschedule when necessary. We also suggest sending reminders 24 hours and 2 hours before appointments to reduce no-shows. (Note: this can be automated with a tool like Sapia.ai.)

Decision

Typical friction: Silence after interviews signals disrespect, while opaque criteria leave candidates wondering why they weren’t selected. Both can damage your employer brand.

Fix: Generate auditable shortlists in less time with an AI-powered structured scoring tool. Then provide status updates within defined service level agreements. Even a simple “We’re still reviewing” message will reduce anxiety and keep candidates engaged.

Offer to Start

Typical friction: The gap between offer acceptance and first day is where many candidate journeys collapse. A combination of paperwork delays, unclear expectations, and a lack of communication results in day-one no-shows that kill momentum and stall productivity.

Fix: Send offer-to-start confirmations, enable document prompts, and ensure shift visibility is aligned to operational needs. If a candidate goes silent for more than 48 hours, escalate with a personal message. This attention to detail improves start rates and first-week attendance.

10 ways to improve candidate experience

Now let’s turn principles into action. Here are ten tactics to enhance candidate experience and support candidates throughout your hiring process.

1) Start with an interview, not a waitlist

Why: When job applicants can demonstrate their potential on day zero, they’re more likely to complete the process. It makes sense. Immediate progress helps candidates feel seen and, therefore, reduces early abandonment. Just remember: chat-based interviews, delivered via a method that applicants love, are critical if you want to optimise the candidate experience.

How: Auto-invite every candidate to a short, structured, mobile-first interview at the point of application. Make sure you show the time to complete and set a clear deadline.

Measure: Apply-to-interview start rates and completion rates within 24 to 48 hours.

2) Publish the path up front

Why: Clarity lowers anxiety and reduces support tickets. When candidates know what to expect, they’re more confident and engaged throughout the recruiting process.

How: In day-zero communications, outline all stages, typical timelines, and privacy basics. Also worth mentioning, link to FAQs so candidates can self-serve answers.

Measure: Drop-off from invite sent to interview started. A spike suggests a lack of clarity.

3) Use expiry-aware reminders

Why: Gentle nudges via SMS and/or email recover distracted candidates without feeling like spam. Most job seekers are busy, and a well-timed reminder can double completion rates.

How: Send reminders at T+12 hours and T+36 hours. Make sure each has a one-tap resume link. Pause nudges after completion to avoid annoying candidates who’ve already finished.

Measure: Reminder-driven lift in completions. In addition, monitor opt-out and complaint rates to ensure you’re helping, not harassing.

4) Standardise structured interviews

Why: Structured interviews reduce bias and make it easier for hiring managers to compare candidates objectively. As such, they also promote a sense of fairness during the hiring process.

How: Calibrate question sets to competencies for each role. Use rubric-based scoring so evaluations are transparent and defensible (should you ever run into compliance issues.)

Measure: Variance in scores by location and/or manager. High variance suggests an inconsistent application of standards. Track time-to-decision as efficiency improves.

5) Give feedback to everyone

Why: A respectful “no” builds advocacy and re-apply intent. Those who receive candidate feedback are more likely to praise your company culture and consider future positions.

How: Provide strengths-oriented, concise feedback immediately after an interview ends. Avoid diagnostic language that feels clinical or patronising. This is easily done with an AI-powered platform like Sapia.ai that will automatically grade candidates based on your criteria.

Measure: Use a candidate experience survey to track sentiment and Net Promoter Score. Monitor re-engagement within 90 days to see if declined candidates return.

6) Enable self-scheduling with guardrails

Why: When job applicants control the scheduling process, they’re more committed to attending. By removing coordination friction, you can reduce no-shows while respecting candidates’ time.

How: Offer multiple time slots with easy reschedule options. Send confirmations and day-before reminders. And sync with calendars and WFM systems to maintain operational alignment.

Measure: No-show rate and time from invite to booked appointment.

7) Auto-progress top performers instantly

Why: Momentum beats competing offers. When you move quickly, you signal that the candidate is valued, and you reduce the risk of losing them to another employer.

How: Use threshold-based progression to automatically advance top scorers to manager review or live interviews. Then set SLA timers to ensure hiring managers act promptly.

Measure: Time from interview completion to manager decision.

8) Localise and make flows accessible

Why: You can reach top candidates who might otherwise drop out by simply removing language and accessibility barriers. Inclusivity widens the qualified pool and boosts completion.

How: Offer priority languages, accessible UX design, low-bandwidth performance, and time-zone-aware sending windows to capture interest from as many applicants as possible.

Measure: Completion rates by language and region. Also, track accessibility issue rates to identify friction points. That way you can fix them in a timely manner.

9) Equip managers with one-tap reviews

Why: Bottlenecks at the manager stage erode candidate engagement and damage your employer brand. When decisions lag, candidates lose confidence and accept other offers.

How: Provide compact candidate summaries with approve-or-advance functionality in one tap. Send nudges for overdue items to keep the process moving.

Measure: SLA adherence and reduction in aged-in-stage applicants. Faster manager action directly improves time-to-hire and helps create an exceptional candidate experience.

10) Keep momentum post-offer

Why: The offer-to-start phase is where many journeys collapse. New hires may accept multiple job offers and ghost the ones they’re less excited about, leaving prospective employers in the lurch.

How: Send confirmations, shift previews, document checklists, and reminders throughout the pre-boarding period. Escalate if a candidate is silent for more than 48 hours.

Measure: Offer acceptance rate, start rate, and first-week attendance. These metrics reveal whether your post-offer engagement is working or not.

How do AI-powered interview platforms improve candidate experience?

AI-powered interview platforms like Sapia.ai improve the candidate experience in hiring by removing the friction that frustrates both applicants and hiring teams. 

Here’s how:

• Speed: AI unlocks interviews without human intervention. Candidates start within seconds of applying, creating immediate momentum and reducing early drop-off.
• Clarity: Structured questions and clear rubrics reduce guesswork for today’s candidates. Everyone knows what to expect, and the process feels transparent from start to finish.
• Fairness: Blind, explainable evaluation strengthens trust and improves diversity and inclusion outcomes. As such, chat-based interviews that adhere to DE&I standards, like those offered by Sapia.ai, promote fairness by avoiding unconscious bias.
• Feedback: Automated, strengths-based summaries close the loop at scale. With tools like Sapia.ai, every candidate receives personalised insights—even if they don’t progress—leaving them with a positive impression of your employer brand.
• Operational fit: AI platforms that work as an overlay with existing ATS and scheduling tools enhance your recruiting process without replacing your infrastructure.

How do you ensure a positive candidate experience? Measure your results!

If you want to create a positive candidate experience, you have to track specific metrics throughout the candidate journey. That way, you know what works and what doesn’t. Any hiring tool you use should give you visibility of this data.

• Completion rate: The percentage of candidates who apply and finish the initial interview. Low completion suggests friction in your interview design or communication.
• Time to first interview: How quickly candidates access their first interview after applying. Shorter times correlate with higher engagement and lower abandonment.
• No-show rate: The percentage of candidates who book an appointment but fail to attend. High no-shows indicate poor communication or scheduling friction.
• Stage conversion: Progression rates between key milestones. Drops at any stage reveal where your process loses momentum or fails to engage candidates.
• Candidate sentiment: Post-process surveys measuring how candidates perceive their experience. This metric predicts whether people will recommend your open positions.
• Manager SLA adherence: How quickly hiring managers review candidates and how long applicants wait at each stage. Delays lead to poor experience and higher drop-off.
• Equity signals: Representation data ensures improvements benefit all demographic groups. Track if underrepresented candidates progress at similar rates to identify bias.

A proven implementation checklist

Use this checklist to transform your recruitment process and connect with the right candidates.

• Turn on interview-first at application with time expectations and deadlines.
• Publish a journey overview to share stages, timing, and privacy details.
• Configure automated expiry-aware reminders via SMS and email.
• Standardise structured interviews and rubrics by role.
• Deliver feedback for all interviewees after the interview stage.
• Enable self-scheduling and reschedule options, then sync calendars and WFM apps.
• Define manager SLAs with one-tap reviews and automated nudges.
• Use a CX dashboard to track completion, no-shows, conversion, sentiment, and equity.
• Review your recruitment process at T+30 and T+90, then iterate as needed and scale.

Upgrade your candidate experience

If you’re wondering how to provide good candidate experience, start where momentum is created: an interview-first touch point that provides clear expectations, consistent evaluation, and feedback for all. This will keep the best candidates from losing interest after their initial application.

We also suggest piloting your approach in one role or region. Once you prove the approach lifts completion and start rate, expand to other positions and/or areas.

When you optimise candidate experience, you don’t just hire faster—you build a stronger employer brand that attracts and retains top talent for years to come.

Book a demo of Sapia.ai to experience the end-to-end candidate-first journey.

FAQs about candidate experience during the application process

About Author

Laura Belfield

Head of Marketing