It’s easy to say you’re client driven, who isn’t?
It’s also easy to say that you’re candidate driven, but without a tool to prove it and hold us accountable to our candidates, it would be all talk – and for many recruiters, that’s all it is.
Most recruiters are client-first businesses – after all, the client is the one paying the bill – but we believe that great candidate experience results in great client service. As recruiters we’re taking the client’s reputation to our candidates. If the candidate is informed, engaged and respected, that reflects well on the client, creating a positive experience for them and us.
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To guarantee that experience to every candidate, our ten point charter is backed by tangible, measurable indicators of how we perform against our commitments. It’s built into the daily operation of our business to make sure we commit to the charter: we even stake our consultants’ bonuses on it.
Here’s how it works – for candidates and clients alike.
The candidate charter – what will we do for you?
1. As a candidate, you will be treated with honesty and integrity at all times.
We want our candidates to find work that’s right for you. We won’t achieve that with cheap tricks, desperate counter-offers, or pushing for fast recruitment turnarounds by forcing candidates and clients together.
2. You will not be put forward for a role without your express permission.
Even if your CV is a perfect match for the job and person spec, we will ask for your consent before sending it in, every time. You choose the roles you want to pursue
Our approach acknowledges that there’s more to recruitment than hours and wages. Structure, formality, ethos and managerial style are all part of the workplace experience. You need to know what to expect
We know you want to focus on interview performance – not keeping track of dates and times, or chasing for details. We know clients want to see you at your best – collected, prepared, and in control – so we help you perform by eliminating stress.
You don’t have the time to worry about applications. If there’s no prospect of employment, you need to know sooner rather than later. We will keep you informed whether it’s good news or bad.
You’re putting your career in our hands. We respect that. You are never just another candidate; you are a professional who has placed their trust in us, and is changing their life on our recommendation.
Leaving aside that it’s a matter of law, we respect the privacy of our candidates, and treat your data with the respect and care we treat our own. It helps that we’re based at the iconic Bletchley Park, home of the original codebreakers. Your data is safe with us.
We work for you. As recruitment consultants, we serve a purpose for our candidates and employers. If we aren’t fulfilling that purpose, we need to know – and we will always aim to improve and evolve to the needs of our most important people: you.
A successful interview isn’t the end of the road. We help candidates into new roles, which means we help with onboarding, feedback and professional development for as long as the help is needed. When you win that promotion, we want to be the first place you turn to take on your first members of staff. For those in senior roles already, we want to help you nail that role which works around your lifestyle.
Times change. Careers too. We recognise that your needs will develop and change, as will your priorities and the kind of role you want to pursue. Nobody’s CV will fall out of date, and nobody will be approached with a role they’d never want to take on.
Most recruiters will only survey the client at the end of a successful hire, but this doesn’t pick up on the candidate experience at all. Neither does it address the unsuccessful candidates that didn’t get the job – typically they receive quite a poor experience. Without an incentive to provide these candidates with a great experience, consultants will typically forget about them – no feedback, no support, and in some cases not even a callback. It’s often these forgotten candidates who damage your brand the most: bad news spreads faster and wider than good, after all. And candidates talk.
We ask all our candidates to fill out a seven question survey, specifically addressing the promises we make in our candidate charter – but we know that having a completed survey isn’t enough.That’s why we use the candidate’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) from their survey to set our consultants’ commissions.
If the candidate scores their identifi consultant an 8, 9 or 10, the consultant gets 100% commission.
A 6 or 7, indicating the candidate was indifferent about the service, means the consultant gets 75% of their commission. (This is the default for non-completed candidate surveys – we feel that a candidate not feeling motivated to respond means we’ve failed to motivate them.)
A 5 or below means the consultant wasn’t delivering the right experience, and results in 50% commission.
By doing this, identifi drive a culture that offers an exceptional candidate experience – we literally put our money where our mouth is.
None of this is set in stone – not the charter, nor the means by which we guarantee it. Identifi reviews its commitments every year, to ensure we are accurately, actively meeting the needs of our candidates. That’s why we have a charter in the first place: to make sure we treat people as people, not things.
We work for you. We help you find the right role. Let’s get started.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
3. For any role, we will provide you with a full job specification, salary information and details of key benefits. We will also inform you about the company culture – information which is missing from most job specifications.
4. We will always provide you with detailed information about the processes for upcoming interviews, keeping you informed and prepared.
5. We will always let you know when a position has been filled or withdrawn.
6. We will always respond to your requests within 24 hours, and update you on your application every 48 hours or sooner.
7. All applications and communications will be processed with utmost confidentiality.
8. We will always listen to your feedback and act upon it.
9. We seek to maintain contact and build relationships with you over time, providing a single consistent point of contact and making sure we’re there to offer support over the course of your career development.
10. Your candidate record will be constantly updated, keeping it current and relevant.
How do we hold ourselves to these principles?
“We use the candidate’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) from their survey to set our consultants’ commissions.
