1. CANDIDATE EXPERIENCE
PLAYBOOK

2. The Digital Advantage:
How to Create an Exceptional Candidate Experience
Think about your company, your brand. What does it represent? Where and how is your brand
experienced by your customers? Online? In stores? At events?
Now think about how well your recruiting process reflects your company’s brand. If your CEO
went through your recruiting process what would he or she say?
Candidates who have a positive, interactive, modern, and personalized recruiting experience can
impact your business by:
• Referring other applicants, helping to increase your talent pool.
• Becoming brand advocates, customers, or referrers of new business.
• Being more likely to accept your offer over a competitor’s.
These benefits save precious time, reflect well on your brand, and ultimately contribute to
the bottom line.
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3. 200,000+ CANDIDATES TOLD US WHAT WORKS AND WHAT DOESN’T
USING NET PROMOTER SCORE (NPS) TO MEASURE THE DIGITAL EXPERIENCE
On behalf of our customers, HireVue offers each candidate a chance to complete a survey following their digital experience. Across our customer
base, we now have more than 200,000 candidate responses, giving us significant insight into what candidates expect of today’s employers.
Candidates are invited to participate in a survey after their interview where among other questions they are asked:
“Based on your interview experience, how likely are you to recommend [COMPANY] to a friend or colleague?”
This question measures Net Promoter Score (NPS), the industry standard in measuring customer satisfaction. Candidates respond using a rating
scale from 0 to 10, with 0 being not at all likely and 10 being extremely likely to recommend. Here’s how the responses are categorized:
• Promoters (9-10)
• Passives (7-8)
• Detractors (0-6)
To calculate NPS, the percentage of promoters is subtracted from the percentage of detractors (passive scores are neutral). For perspective,
popular consumer brands like Apple, Amazon and Pandora each have the highest NPS scores in their markets at 66, 64 and 56 respectively.
By understanding which attributes of the digital recruitment experience influence NPS, companies can make improvements to their process,
and in turn, grow their brand.
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4. TELL YOUR STORY IN A RELEVANT WAY
GET YOUR COMPANY INVOLVED (OUTSIDE OF HR!)
GATHER FEEDBACK & REFINE THE PROCESS
DIGITAL INTERVIEWING DOESN’T HAVE TO BE
SCARY: RELIEVE CANDIDATE ANXIETY
The top four ways you can create an exceptional digital experience:
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5. 1.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS ARE EVERYTHING:
TELL YOUR STORY IN A RELEVANT WAY
You’ve got one chance to create a killer first impression in your digital recruiting experience. Candidates need to feel
an immediate connection to your business, purpose, brand, and culture. They need to understand what makes you
stand out. The first impression needs to offer multiple ways in which candidates can relate to your brand.
Candidates want to be confident that the decision to work for you is the right one. After all, they may be embedding
your culture into their lives. And even if they aren’t hired, you want to leave candidates with a positive perception so
that they become brand ambassadors.
So tell your story, and tell it well. Paint a picture of who you really are as an organization. Show off your culture.
Instill brand preference.
SEE HOW

6. CREATE BRANDED LANDING PAGES THAT EVOKE EMOTION
Ask any candidate to describe your digital interviewing landing page, and they probably won’t recall much. What they will
remember is how it made them feel. A great landing page is a snapshot of your brand and culture, and should excite the candidate
to hear more, complete the interview, and want to work for you.
USE VIDEO TO TELL YOUR STORY
People are more than just words on paper. They’re voices and experiences. So is your company. Video is an interactive way to tell your
story, so create engaging opening and closing videos for your candidates. Communicate expectations about the interview and
illustrate your culture. Include senior leadership, employee testimonials, a “day in the life” portrayals, and hiring manager profiles.
★
★
★ TARGET GEOGRAPHIES & JOB TYPES WITH UNIQUE LANDING PAGES
Whether you’re hiring in Paris or Des Moines, campus or hourly, creating a unique landing page experience will set you apart.
There’s nothing worse than a first impression that signals you know nothing about your candidates. Highlight specific cultural,
team, and brand differences within your organization to show candidates you’re proud of what you (and they!) do.
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7. Recognized on the Forbes World’s Most Valuable Brands list, Red Bull has one of the most
popular and well recognized brands in the world. They embrace digital recruiting and have
created an exceptional candidate experience that mirrors the core of what Red Bull is all about:
high energy. Candidates love Red Bull’s experience, and it shows: Red Bull boasts an average
Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 75!
RedBull Media House: Digital Interview Page RedBull Records: Self-Registered Candidate Sourcing PageRedBull: Self-Registered Candidate Sourcing Page
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Across locations and job types, Red Bull has a unique digital interviewing landing page that immediately
connects candidates with what it’s like to work there.
REDBULL: AN INCREDIBLE CANDIDATE EXPERIENCE

8. RedBull: Intro Video RedBull: Closing VideoRedBull Distribution: Intro Video
8
Red Bull candidates also enjoy high-energy intro videos featuring the hiring manager,
who talks more about the role, what it’s like working there, and what they’re looking for
in a candidate. Closing videos with a Red Bull recruiter thanks them for their time,
and walks through what’s next.

9. 2.
DIGITAL DOESN’T HAVE TO BE SCARY:
RELIEVE CANDIDATE ANXIETY
We get it. People can be camera shy or experience a bit of anxiety with the adoption of a new technology like digital recruiting.
Add to that the pressure of wanting to make a good first impression and nail the interview, and it’s understandable why
nerves can get the best of a candidate during their digital experience. Candidates who are unprepared, surprised, or
uncomfortable during the digital interview are more likely to have a negative experience.
There are ways to easily prepare your candidates for their digital journey, and HireVue and its 24/7/365 Support team are
always here to help.
SEE HOW

10. HELP CANDIDATES UNDERSTAND
THE BENEFITS OF DIGITAL INTERVIEWING
Relieve anxiety and set candidate expectations by describing the digital interviewing process and its
benefits with a quick phone call, a branded email, or a personal message or video. Highlight what’s in
it for the candidate. ★ Convenient:
Interview on
THEIR time
★ Mobile:
Anywhere, anytime
★ Fair:
All candidates asked
same questions
★ Personal:
Candidates tell
their story
★ Broader Reach:
Interviews shared
across hiring teams
TAKE THE PRESSURE OFF
Practice makes perfect, especially when it comes to interviewing. Practicing provides a comfortable
environment for candidates to relax and prepare for the interview. Encourage candidates to complete
practice questions, which helps them navigate the interview process and become more familiar with
the technology. Candidates say they love the ability to practice before recording their interview.
★
★
LEVERAGE HIREVUE’S
CANDIDATE CONCIERGE SERVICE
Candidates might feel like it’s Murphy’s Law. If something can go wrong with technology, it will.
Provide candidates with the resources to prepare for their digital interview. In addition to your
guidance, HireVue provides equipment tests, video instructions, candidate best practices, and
24/7/365 live support in 12 languages. We’re here for you…and them!
★
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CANDIDATE
SELLING POINTS

11. 3.
GET YOUR COMPANY INVOLVED
(OUTSIDE OF HR!)
Every member in your company plays a vital role in delivering a great candidate experience. Be sure you don’t work in
a silo when creating a killer digital experience.
Engage key stakeholders from across the business to understand their unique hiring requirements and what
they want their candidates to experience, so that the candidate experience reflects your entire organization. The
companies with the highest candidate NPS benefit from the involvement of talent acquisition, hiring managers, line
of business leaders and executives.
By being proactive, and gathering feedback from your teams about the recruitment process, you will create internal
champions of digital recruiting, who will be able to communicate the benefits and process to candidates as well.
SEE HOW

12. ENGAGE YOUR TEAMS
Give recruiters, hiring managers, and senior leaders the opportunity to be part of the candidate experience. Capture their ideas
and feedback. Have hiring managers create their own intro videos or their own video questions to add a personal element to the
candidate experience. As a candidate, the ability to hear firsthand from your potential future manager is incredibly valuable.
Using digital for executive positions? Have your CEO create an intro video to welcome candidates to the process.
This approach gets key stakeholders involved and helps create a compelling, unique, and personalized candidate experience.
What’s more, it’s also a great way to expose senior leaders to digital recruiting and get them comfortable with using the
technology themselves.
★
CREATE A CONSISTENT, INTEGRATED PROCESS
Make digital interviewing not just a part of what you do. Make it a part of who you are. Embed digital interviewing throughout your
organization to strengthen your employment brand and create consistency during your recruitment process.
Once candidates become new hires, have them complete a new digital ‘interview’ or introduction as part of their onboarding
process, to continue the digital experience and introduce them across teams and geographies.
★
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13. Often times candidates can feel like their resume got stuck in a black hole. Lack of correspondence from recruiters reflects
poorly on a company’s brand.
Nordstrom has done an incredible job at creating not only a personalized candidate experience, but through it’s ATS,
offers all candidates the ability to tell their story in a much more personalized way, through a digital interview.
This workflow gives candidates the ability to tell their story and put more context behind their resume. The digital interview
includes video questions recorded by the Nordstrom team.
This personalized approach gives all candidates an “at bat” to showcase their skills, talents, and who they are as a person - well
beyond a resume.
The results? An 80 Candidate NPS score, 70%+ take rate, and a more seamless recruitment process.
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Candidate applies
through ATS
ATS auto generates a
Thank You email
HireVue digital interview link
is included inviting candidates
to submit a digital interview
HERE‘S HOW NORDSTROM AVOIDS THE CANDIDATE BLACK HOLE

14. 4.
GATHER FEEDBACK AND SHARE SUCCESSES
Feedback loops are key to refining your candidate experience and creating a positive impact on your Net Promoter
Score. The loop begins by analyzing candidate feedback on the interview process, and then sharing that feedback
across the business with key stakeholders.
Executive teams want to know what candidates think of their organization. Marketing teams, customer care teams,
and others are always tracking NPS scores. Share your NPS across teams. Compare it to other NPS scores across
divisions. Share how recruiting efforts support broader business initiatives. Discuss what’s working, what’s not, and
how to capitalize on success.
Refine your candidate experience based on candidate and company feedback. Continually refine your experience to
ensure the optimal response.
SEE HOW

15. BECOME A CANDIDATE FOR A DAY
What your organization thinks it’s doing to deliver a great candidate experience, and what candidates are actually experiencing are often two different things.
Walk a mile in your candidates’ shoes. Experience the recruiting process for yourself from beginning to end. You’ll learn where the experience may be lacking
and find opportunities to make modifications.
★
LISTEN TO YOUR CANDIDATES
Your candidates hold the key to invaluabale knowledge about the digital interview. So, listen to them!
In addition to capturing your overall candidate NPS score, HireVue also captures anonymous, free form responses from candidates about your digital
recruiting experience to help you refine the process. Categorize these responses to understand what you can change, then make decisions on which changes
will have the most impact. Take their feedback seriously and apply it where it makes the most business sense.
★
SET CHANGES IN MOTION
Knowing which changes need to be made is half the battle. Getting the changes made is the other half. Pinpoint which departments, groups, and colleagues
can help you make changes to your candidate experience. Call upon your HireVue team to help refine the process and ensure it’s optimized. Once
modifications are made, your entire organization will begin to see the impact on the candidate experience with increases in your NPS score and new
brand ambassadors.
And it doesn’t stop there! You should continuously revisit your candidate experience to ensure it’s evolving with your business, meeting your candidates’
needs, and reflects well on your brand.
★
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16. Delta Air Lines continuously reports incredible Candidate NPS scores in the mid to upper 80s, earning them a
top spot among all HireVue customers.
But that score is well earned. Their candidate experience is well thought out, personalized, and memorable
with introductory videos and video questions asked by current employees to give a better sense of the
company, culture and people.
Delta Airlines: Digital Interview Page
Delta Airlines: Video Interview Questions
Delta Airlines: Intro Video16

17. HIREVUE CUSTOMERS: CANDIDATE NPS BY INDUSTRY
2014 Survey of 200,000+ Candidates
0
25
50
75
100
BankingStaffi
ng
Construction
TechnologyUtilitiesEducation
M
edia
O
ther
M
anufacturing
3rd
Party
RecruiterEnergy
Pharm
aceuticalM
fGInsurance
Telecom
m
uncations
H
ealthcare
Electronics
Entertainm
ent
O
il&
Gas
Retail
Consulting
Com
m
unications
N
otforProfit
H
ospitality
Food
&
Beverage
RealEstate
RecreationFinance
Transportation
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18. “I have done other HireVue interviews before for other jobs and feel it is a great way to introduce myself
to clients and people interviewing me… giving me an idea of what the company is looking for and also
letting the recruiter and company become knowledgeable of who I am as an individual and professional.”
– Candidate, Technology Company
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CANDIDATE FEEDBACK

19. CANDIDATE FEEDBACK
“The interview was convenient and the instructions provided were clear and concise. The video
questions created an authentic, positive interview environment and felt more personal than simply
reading a question from the monitor.”
– Candidate, Sports Apparel and Accessories Company
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20. WANT TO SEE HOW DIGITAL RECRUITING CAN IMPROVE YOUR CANDIDATE EXPERIENCE? GET A LIVE HIREVUE DEMO.
Based on over 100,000 candidate interviews, our joint
research with The Talent Board shows that digital
interviewing offers a better candidate experience, a higher
Net Promoter Score (NPS), and improved brand perception.
Find out how Under Armour created an incredible
candidate experience with digital recruiting.
MORE RESOURCES
Research:
How to Improve the Candidate
Experience with Digital Interviewing
Success Story:
Under Armour Doubles Retail
Industry NPS with Digital Recruiting
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