This year, we have helped more than 60,000 people get a job. From retail assistants, graduates entering the workforce for the first time, sales professionals, team leaders and cabin crew, to name just a few. We have supported recruiters across various industries and roles to find the right people to join their organisations.

Yet, for every successful candidate we helped, there were 21 unsuccessful ones. Recruiters do a lot more rejecting than hiring, which begs the question of how good the typical recruitment function is at dealing with unsuccessful candidates. And what the consequences are of not getting it right?

Anecdotally, there are plenty of stories of candidates getting ghosted, dragged through onerous processes, subjected to poorly conducted interviews, or participating in questionable assessment practices. Many of us have experienced lousy recruitment firsthand, or someone close to us has, but when we look at the data it gives credence to these anecdotal experiences.

Starred, a candidate experience benchmarking firm, use Candidate Net Promoter Score (cNPS)* to measure the quality of the candidate experience across several touch points during the recruitment process. Not surprisingly, the cNPS for rejected candidates is -15, meaning that rejected candidates have formed a significant negative view of the company and will likely  detract friends and family from applying with the organisation.

Social media amplifies the consequences of providing a negative experience. A separate study by the Talent Board across 240 companies and 183,000 candidates found that disgruntled candidates will broadcast their negative experience 34% of the time.

Disgruntled candidates impact the brand reputation and the bottom line. Virgin Media recently quantified the cost of poor candidate experience, estimating that across 123,000 rejected candidates every year, if 6% cancel their monthly subscription, then about US$5.4 million in revenue is lost. 

When a recruitment provides a poor experience, they are creating customers for competitors. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Candidates with a positive experience can be one of the most potent tools in building a positive brand and presence in the marketplace.  According to Talent Board, 64% of candidates with a positive experience will expand their relationship with the brand, even if they didn’t get the job. 

What are the hallmarks of a process that consistently delivers a great candidate experience? 

Communication is right up there. Timely and accurate communication with candidates every step of the way. When we look at the feedback candidates provide us, a major theme around the importance of communication emerges. Not surprisingly, candidates appreciate NOT being ghosted. And they also appreciate being given honest and constructive feedback immediately following their interview.

Sapia and it’s blind smart interview

Also important is convenience. Sapia’s chat-based interview format allows candidates to conduct the interview at a time and place where they feel they can be at their best. It is fast, easy and safe.

And finally, candidates need to trust that the process is giving them a fair go. In a recent experiment conducted by Monash University, using Sapia’s chat-based interview platform, female candidates were more likely to continue with the application process when told that the interview will be with AI rather than a human. Using an AI process, such as what Sapia provides, offers a unique opportunity to put the candidate at the centre. And it not only results in better experiences for candidates. Recruiters also benefit by spending less time on administrative tasks and more time building relationships with candidates.

So while we helped more than 60,000 people get a job and are proud of contributing in that way, we are equally as proud of the fact that for the 1.2 million candidates that didn’t get the job, we were able to provide a positive experience for more than 60% of them. This translates into a cNPS of 58, well above the -15 cNPS reported by Starred for unsuccessful candidates.

And we did that by giving everybody an equal opportunity to be at their best during the recruitment process, providing everybody with useful insights straight after their interview, and freeing up recruiters to spend more time with candidates.

*cNPS is the % of advocates less the % of detractors. A positive value indicates more advocates than detractors.

Our friends at eArcu are passionate about empowering recruiters to drive the hiring experience. They help recruiters engage and excite candidates from the first touch, to the first day. Now you can take full advantage of eArcu ATS by using Sapia’s interview automation platform, for fairer, faster and better hiring results. Integrating is easy, and it’ll allow you to get ahead of your competitors even easier!

Simplify eArcu ATS hiring

A lot is expected from recruiters, from screening thousands of applicants to attracting candidates of diverse backgrounds and delivering a great candidate experience. But technology has advanced a lot and can now better support recruiters.  

The great news is that when you integrate Sapia artificial intelligence technology with the powerful eArcu ATS, you will have a faster, fairer and more efficient recruitment process that candidates love.

You can now: 

• Reduce your screening time by up to 90%
• Increase your candidate satisfaction to near 100%
• Achieve interview completion rates over 90%
• And reduce screening bias for good

Sapia + eArcu

Gone are the days of screening CVs, followed by phone screens to find the best talent. The number of people applying for each job has grown 5-10 times in size recently. Reading each CV is simply no longer an option. In any case, the attributes that are markers of a high performer often aren’t in CVs and the risk of increasing bias is high.

You can now streamline your eArcu process by integrating Sapia’s interview automation with eArcu.

We’ve created a quick, easy and fair hiring process that candidates love.

1. Create a vacancy in eArcu, and a Sapia interview link will be created. 
2. Include the link in your advertising. Every candidate will have an opportunity to complete a FirstInterview via chat.
3. See results as soon as candidates complete their interview. Each candidate’s scores, rank, personality assessment, role-based traits and communication skills are available as soon as they complete the interview. Every candidate will receive automated, personalised feedback.

By sending out one simple interview link, you nail speed, quality and candidate experience in one hit.

Integrate eArcu and get ahead

Sapia’s award-winning chat Ai is available to all eArcu users. You can automate interviewing, screening, ranking and more, with a minimum of effort! Save time, reduce bias and deliver an outstanding candidate experience.

Experience the Sapia Chat Interview for yourself

The interview that all candidates love

As unemployment rates rise, it’s more important than ever to show empathy for candidates and add value when we can. Using Sapia, every single candidate gets a FirstInterview through an engaging text experience on their mobile device, whenever it suits them. Every candidate receives personalised MyInsights feedback, with helpful coaching tips which candidates love.

Together, Sapia and eArcu deliver an approach that is: 

• Relevant—move beyond the CV to the attributes that matter most to you: grit, curiosity, accountability, critical thinking, agility and communication skills
• Respectful—give every single person an interview and never ghost a candidate again
• Dignified—show you value people’s time by providing every single applicant personal feedback
• Fair—avoid video in the first round interviews and take an approach that’s 100% blind to gender, age, ethnicity and other irrelevant attributes
• Familiar—text chat interviewing is not only highly efficient, but it’s also familiar to people of all ages  

There are thousands of comments just like this …

“I have never had an interview like this in my life and it was really good to be able to speak without fear of judgment and have the freedom to do so.

The feedback is also great. This is a great way to interview people as it helps an individual to be themselves.

The response back is written with a good sense of understanding and compassion.

I don’t know if it is a human or a robot answering me, but if it is a robot then technology is quite amazing.”

Take it for a 2-minute test drive here > 

Recruiters love using artificial intelligence in hiring

Recruiters love the TalentInsights Sapia surface in eArcu as soon as each candidate finishes their interview.

Together, Sapia and eArcu deliver an approach that is: 

• Fast—Ai-powered scores and rankings make shortlisting candidates quicker
• Insightful—Deep dive into the unique personality and other traits of each candidate 
• Fair—Candidates are scored and ranked on their responses. The system is blind to other attributes and regularly checked for bias.
• Streamlined—Our stand-alone LiveInterview mobile app makes arranging assessment centres easy. Automated record-keeping reduces paperwork and ensures everyone is fairly assessed.
• Time-saving—Automating the first interview screening process and second-round scheduling delivers 90% time savings against a standard recruiting process.

Don’t believe us, read the reviews! 

See Recruiter Reviews here > 

HR Directors and CHROs love reliable bias tracking

Well-intentioned organisations have been trying to shift the needle on the bias that impacts diversity and inclusion for many years, without significant results. 

Together, Sapia and eArcu deliver an approach that is: 

• Measurable—DiscoverInsights, our operations dashboard that provides clear reporting on recruitment, including pipeline shortlisting, candidate experience and bias tracking.
• Competitive—The Sapia and eArcu experience is loved by candidates, ensuring you’ll attract the best candidates, and hire faster than competitors.
• Scalable—Whether you’re hiring one hundred people, or one thousand, you can hire the best person for the job, on time, every time.
• Best-in-class—Sapia easily integrates with eArcu to provide you with a best-in-class AI-enabled HRTech stack. 

Getting started is easy

Let’s chat about getting you started – book a time here > 

To find out how to use Recruitment Automation to ‘hire with heart’, we also have a great eBook on recruitment automation with humanity.

New insights from Aptitude Research suggests Ai can play a much greater role in talent acquisition than just improving efficiency for hiring managers,  it can also make the interview process more human for candidates, something Sapia has long advocated

Aptitude Research has published a new paper showing that when you shift the focus in automated Talent Acquisition from an employer-driven view to a candidate-first then it is possible to reduce bias in hiring,  and improve the overall human element of recruitment.

The research, sponsored by Sapia , an Australian technology company that has pioneered transparent Ai-assisted hiring solutions, shows that humanistic automation creates a personal connection at scale, and works to reduce bias, something no other technology or even human-centred solution can deliver.

Madeline Laurano, CEO of Aptitude comments “The misperception that candidates do not want automation and prefer to keep the current talent acquisition is one of the most significant misperceptions in talent acquisition. Candidates want a fair recruitment process and consistency in communication. Automation can support all of these initiatives and enhance the humanity of the experience.”

There are four main ways that talent acquisition is made more human with automation when the candidate is the focus, rather than  simply moving candidates through the process:

1. Automation can understand what candidates want: Ai considers the unique expectations and experiences of candidates and adapts to them as it learns. Collecting feedback about the recruitment experience and continually improving the candidate journey can help candidates feel connected and heard.
2. The correct data can interrupt bias early in the process: By creating a consistent and fair experience for candidates early in the process, and not relying on CV data as the determinate of job suitability,  companies are more successful at reducing bias and increasing inclusivity.
3. Trust can be built through transparent data: Both employers and candidates need to trust the data and methodologies for the technology that they are using, something that can be achieved through transparency. Companies looking at automation should consider providers that will partner with them and provide transparency.
4. Provide feedback to every candidate:  Though natural language processing every candidate receives personalized feedback and messaging. Leaving unsuccessful candidates feedback they can use for future job searches is empowering and a big leap from ‘ghosting’ or a standard rejection email.

The research can be downloaded here https://sapia.ai/recruitment-automation-humanity/

About Aptitude Research
Aptitude Research Partners is a research-based analyst and advisory firm focused on HCM technology. We conduct quantitative and qualitative research on all aspects of Human Capital Management to better understand the skills, capabilities, technology, and underlying strategies required to deliver business results in today’s complex work environment. 

About Sapia

Sapia has become one of the most trusted mobile-first Ai recruitment platforms, used by companies across Australia, India, South Africa, UK and the US, with a candidate every two minutes engaging with their unique Ai chatbot Smart Interviewer.

What makes their approach unique in its a disruption of three paradigms in recruitment -candidates being ghosted, biased hiring and the false notion that automation diminishes the human experience.

The end result for companies – bias is interrupted at the top of the funnel, your hiring managers make more objective decisions empowered by Smart Interviewer their co-pilot, inclusivity is enhanced, and your hired profile starts to look more like your applicant profile.

Media contacts
Barb Hyman, CEO Sapia
barb@sapia.ai

Madeline Laurano , Researcher Aptitude Research
madeline@aptituderp.com