What are the benefits of a good candidate experience?
The Business Benefits of a Great Candidate Experience
When a position needs to be filled, it can be easy to concentrate solely on finding the perfect candidate and forget that while you’re screening applicants, your applicants are also screening you as a potential employer. In this challenging talent landscape, candidates are in high demand and are faced with more career choices than ever.
Candidate experience (CX) refers to how job seekers perceive and respond to your recruitment process, from the first job advert to final offer and onboarding. It’s about the journey as much as the outcome.
And it matters more than ever. A poor candidate experience could be quietly costing your business in more ways than one.
Why Candidate Experience Is a Business Priority
According to the latest research:
49% of UK job seekers have rejected a job offer because of a poor experience during the recruitment process.
65% say a negative experience would make them less likely to engage with the company in future, as an applicant or customer.
78% would share their experience with friends or on social media.
The implications for your recruitment success, brand reputation, and even sales performance are clear.
1. Better Offer Acceptance Rates from Top Talent
Securing great candidates goes beyond ticking boxes on a CV - they also need to choose you. In today’s job market, strong candidates are often weighing up multiple offers. Their final decision is heavily influenced by how your business made them feel throughout the hiring journey.
If the process is smooth, transparent, and respectful, they’re far more likely to accept. A slow or impersonal approach, however, may result in you losing the ideal hire to a competitor.
2. Stronger Engagement, Loyalty and Retention
When candidates join your organisation with a positive impression already in place, they’re likely to hit the ground running. They’re more engaged, productive and loyal — and that positively impacts your culture and your bottom line.
Better still, a strong CX supports long-term retention. Employees who start off feeling valued are more likely to stay, reducing the costs, time, and disruption associated with replacing leavers.
3. Reduced Hiring Costs and Faster Time-to-Fill
Improving your CX often leads to faster, more efficient recruitment:
Simplifying the application process means fewer drop-outs
Clear communication keeps candidates engaged and informed
Efficient processes reduce your time-to-hire and help fill vacancies faster
This translates directly into a lower cost-per-hire and less productivity lost to unfilled roles.
4. A Boost to Your Employer Brand
Every candidate interaction shapes your reputation. Even those who don’t get the job will leave with a perception of your organisation.
According to the CIPD’s 2023 Resourcing and Talent Planning report:
Employer brand is one of the top three priorities for UK talent acquisition teams
Poor candidate experience risks damaging brand perception, which can deter future applicants and reduce engagement from current employees.
In contrast, a good experience encourages more people to apply in the future, including those with niche skills or in high-demand roles.
5. Commercial Impact: The Virgin Media Case Study
Your recruitment process can even affect your consumer brand. A well-known UK case study from Virgin Media revealed that:
Poor candidate experiences led to over130,000 applicants switching providers
This cost the business over £4.4 million annually in lost revenue
That’s the commercial impact of recruitment poorly done. But there’s a flip side: candidates who have a good experience, even if unsuccessful, are more likely to stay loyal as customers.
6. More Referrals and a Healthier Talent Pipeline
People talk. When candidates feel respected and well-treated during the recruitment process, they’re more likely to:
Refer friends and colleagues to future vacancies
Apply again themselves if another suitable role opens up
This strengthens your employer brand, builds a stronger pipeline for future hiring, and reduces reliance on external advertising or third-party agencies.
How Greenbean Can Help
Candidate experience is no longer a ‘nice to have’ - it’s a critical part of your recruitment strategy, your brand identity, and your business performance.
At Greenbean, we help organisations design and deliver recruitment processes that put people first, without sacrificing speed, quality or compliance. From attraction to onboarding, we work with you to:
Optimise your hiring journey
Increase offer acceptance rates
Reduce cost-per-hire
Build long-term candidate loyalty
As part of our Talent Advisory services, our Recruitment Process Diagnostic & Design solution helps you step back and evaluate your hiring process as a strategic business function - not just a recruitment task - identifying opportunities to improve efficiency, experience, and outcomes.
Let’s talk about how we can improve your candidate experience and drive real business results.
