In retail’s ever-evolving landscape, customer satisfaction reigns supreme. Yet, the candidate experience in hiring is often overlooked despite its critical role in a company’s success. In 2024, as retail continues to evolve amidst technological advancements and shifting consumer behaviors, prioritizing the candidate experience is not just a nice-to-have, it’s imperative.  

AI-driven, automated technology that enables the attraction, engagement, nurturing, and deployment of talent is crucial in today’s competitive landscape. As the retail industry continues to face a talent shortage, talent leaders must address how that technology and automation is being utilized to improve the talent experience, screen candidates, and ensure a seamless, scalable hiring process.  

Meeting talent where they are makes it easy for them to engage with your brand. This means enabling them with an easy, fast, engaging experience – from initial outreach through onboarding. Providing candidates with self-service functionality throughout the hiring process means they can control when they apply, interview, schedule shifts, look at open roles, and more. This gives flexibility and provides a better user experience.  

In an era where retail brands fiercely compete for talent, providing an exceptional candidate experience sets organizations apart. With the rise of social media and employer review platforms, job seekers have greater visibility into companies’ hiring processes. A positive candidate experience attracts top-tier talent and enhances employer branding, positioning the company as an employer of choice within the competitive retail landscape. It also protects brands from negative reviews, which can impact future hiring initiatives.  

Retail thrives on delivering outstanding customer experiences, and exceptional customer service often begins with engaged and satisfied people working for you. By prioritizing the candidate experience, retail organizations cultivate a culture of respect, mirroring the customer-centric values they wish to project. Candidates who feel valued and respected are more likely to become brand ambassadors, enhancing the overall customer experience. 

One way to help simplify recruitment while also bringing in top talent is garnering referrals through crowdsourcing. The talent shortage has created a significant deficit in highly skilled candidates. Many organizations rely on contingent labor to help close the gap, but it can still be difficult to find qualified candidates. Referrals can help to close that gap, and the more people you have referring their network, the richer and highly skilled your talent communities will be. LinkedIn found that 46% of referral hires stay on at least a year versus 33% from career sites and only 22% from job boards, so garnering referrals from known and trusted resources makes sense.   

With data-driven decision-making more critical than ever, every touchpoint in the candidate journey provides valuable insights into improving your recruitment strategies and enhancing your overall hiring process. By leveraging tools such as applicant tracking systems (ATS) and candidate feedback surveys, retail organizations gain actionable data on areas for improvement, any bottlenecks in the hiring process, and trends in candidate preferences. This data-driven approach enables retailers to refine their recruitment strategies, optimize resource allocation, and ultimately secure top talent more efficiently and effectively. 

WorkLLama’s AI-driven talent acquisition, talent management, direct sourcing platform includes advanced employee engagement features that not only empower your staff but also fosters a positive work environment. By investing in their satisfaction and well-being, you’ll reduce turnover and increase productivity. This means fewer unfilled shifts, happier customers, and better productivity. If you want to learn more, visit Workllama.com.