Recently, our Talent Acquisition team (Anastasia Bartolucci & Alex Putman) were honored to with an award for candidate experience, Candidate Experience (CandE) Award with Distinction at the 15^th Annual Human Resources Technology Conference & Exposition in Chicago. When you hear about awards like this you think of large companies with deep pockets and tons of resources. This does not describe us!

Our company is an entrepreneurial, highly creative design organization that is 6 years young. The formal talent acquisition department was established in November 2011 and from January-September of 2012, we hired 108 total people globally.

So how did we build a department from the ground up, hire so many people and achieve an honored distinction with limited resources and a workload 3x most departments assumed capabilities? We used the oldest model in the book: “Treat others as you want to be treated!”

Everyone has a personal job search horror story; receiving a “no thanks” for a job you have long forgotten. Bashing the company and the brand for their snail-like responses (or many cases, no responses). These actions speak volumes for the potential employer, and do not engage people to the company or the company’s brand.

So in 2012, we had our work cut out for us! Here are a few points on how we built positive candidate experience into our hiring model.

1. Designed an application process that takes less than 1 minute to complete.
2. Ensure job postings are active, not in a sourcing stage (if in this stage, we are clear in the job description).
3. Provide all candidates with a  message regarding candidate status during hiring stage, offer stage and when the role is filled.
4. Transparency regarding our start-up environment with video. We showcase our environment and provide a realistic look of each department (no actors or staging).
5. Videos of our actual hiring  managers (2 minutes or less) discussing what they look for in talent.
6. We provide quick (48 hours when possible) feedback on candidates interview.
7. Shorten the hiring process; two interviews max; then we make a decision.
8. No waiting around for the next interviewees or for someone to greet you.
9. All employees are ambassadors of the organization and encouraged to write reviews (positive and improvement areas) in social forums to paint the true picture of the organization!
10. At the 30-60-90 day mark, all new hires complete a confidential survey of the hiring process and provide the positives and improvement suggestions of their experience — then we act immediately to  fix issues!
11. Report quarterly to the executive team all survey findings and improvement plan!
12. During on boarding, all new hires receive a huge jar of candy at their desk, and if you want a piece, current employees must ask them a question (get to know the new hires).
13. All new hires pictures are displayed—on our product–in the front entrance of the office.
14. Keep it real! Talent Acquisition team uses personal twitter accounts to communicate with people.
15. Assist people to connect with other jobs outside of the company’s needs by networking with them via social media outlets.

The biggest complement we receive is when candidates we are unable to move in the interview or hiring process refer their friends and colleagues for future jobs (this happens a ton)!

None of this is earth shattering. We simply communicate with candidates on a consistent basis, believe in showcasing a transparent organization and attempt to help everyone we can in one of their biggest life decisions; career.

We already have several new improvement actions to implement in Q4 2012 and 2013. This list contains more candidate engagement including; surveys of people that we decide not to hire or interview and additional communication resources for job seekers. Our goal is to always be better and provide an excellent experience all candidates!

Does being recognized as a company providing positive candidate experience feel great “YES”, doe we plan to rest on this distinction “NO”! Every day, every candidate we remind ourselves; “if this were me, how would I want to be treated?”

Check out the press release here!