How your resume review process affects your company’s brand

“Branding” is nothing short of a buzzword. Influencers seek to build a personal brand. Companies funnel effort and funds into branding and marketing. But have you ever considered how your hiring and resume review process affects your company’s brand?

Below, we’ll consider why the hiring process affects your brand—whether or not the candidate is ultimately hired—and what you can do to make a good and lasting impression. We’ll also discuss how the inverse is true—that your brand can influence the availability of top candidates.

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Why the hiring process matters

When a candidate submits an application, they are taking the first step of a journey with your company. For some, the journey may be brief if it is determined they are not a good fit for the company or position. For others, the result may be a coalition lasting years or even a lifetime.

Many candidates are understandably nervous. Choice of employment is a life-changing decision with daily effects on the quality of life. The process also involves unfamiliar and stress-inducing situations, from how to make a resume and make an eye-catching LinkedIn profile, to how to ace an interview—or at least get through it.

That individual’s perception of your company is shaped by this experience. It will flavor any future interactions with the company—as a customer, as an employee, and even in whether they recommend the workplace, goods, or services to others.

Good experiences during the resume and interview stage will lend themselves to improved word-of-mouth branding overall. Too many bad experiences could sour public opinion against your company.

For this reason, it is important to make the hiring process as smooth, respectful, and transparent as possible, even for those who are not ultimately accepted. Consider how you can do so in the following ways.

How to improve your brand during the hiring process

Just as you implement strategies to attract customers and keep them happy, you can plan ahead to attract top talent and provide them with a painless application and interview process.

Build trust through transparency

A job posting can be a candidate’s first impression of your company. Make it a good one by clearly outlining the responsibilities of the position and the experience, skills, and education the candidate needs. This helps candidates self-select when they are a good fit. This saves both the candidate and your team time and frustration.

Also review the online tools your applicants will be using. Log on and engage with the process as if you were applying. Look for pain points and seek ways to correct them.

In the listing and/or the application, outline a timeline for reviewing the resume. Then, don’t fail to communicate within the stated time. We’ll discuss communication more in the next section.

Communicate early and often

“Radio silence” is one of the most frustrating aspects of many job searches. Candidates who apply and never receive a response may wonder, “Did my application go through or get lost? How long should I wait?”

A simple automated email can assure applicants that their application was not lost to the vast reaches of the internet. Following this, hiring managers should promptly supply updates, including delays and rejections. You can use email templates to help you draft such communications efficiently.

When candidates aren’t accepted, simply notifying them that they have not been selected for the role is acceptable, but there is more you can do. Consider providing feedback that will help them grow and improve.

For high-level positions, you might offer personalized feedback on why they were not selected. For other roles, automated messages with generic feedback may suffice. Either way, you are potentially preparing these candidates for future roles with your company.

Finally, don’t forget to express gratitude. This soft skill is increasingly one of the most sought-after in the workplace, and it can go a long way towards making a positive impression. Thank them for their effort every step of the way, and for their application, even if they are not selected.

Don’t make candidates jump through hoops

There is a lot about the job application process that can be intensely annoying. Review your process to make sure you aren’t asking candidates to submit the same information multiple times. Eliminate or tweak questions, skills tests, multiple interviews, or written entries that do not inform your hiring decisions. These types of repetitive “hoops” can make top candidates doubt your company’s culture—whether it is disorganized or inefficient. Think about your HR team’s time as well; don’t give them the unnecessary work of reviewing useless information.

You can also streamline candidates’ experiences by offering low-competition jobs. In a competitive job market, low-competition openings can be a breath of fresh air for your candidates. You can accomplish this in a number of ways. If you are filling a high-level, skilled position, you can reach out to a handful of qualified candidates rather than posting the job listing online. When candidates know they’re competing with a half-dozen or a dozen of their talented peers, they may be encouraged to outperform the rest.

Another method is offering entry-level positions as gateways to more skilled work. For example, you might hire office workers, factory technicians, or unskilled positions relevant to your industry with the option to receive training for internal promotion. In this way, applicants avoid the high competition levels inherent in upper-level, skilled jobs while still getting a foot in the door with your company—and growing with it.

Leave them with a positive impression

Keeping your applicants happy does not mean you have to hire everyone who applies—doing so would be unreasonable and impossible. But you should strive to maintain a good impression even with candidates who are rejected.

How, though, can you reject someone on a positive note? Good communication and transparency, as described above, will go a long way. For example, many job-seekers apply with many companies at the same time—and they may receive multiple offers. Clear and prompt communication that they have not been selected can allow them to invest their time and attention in other opportunities.

When left with a good overall impression and following a painless recruitment process, candidates may be inclined to apply again when another job opens up. On the other hand, if candidates feel like they’ve been neglected, ghosted, strung along, or treated impersonally, they may pass even if a future opportunity presents itself. Also, don’t forget that interview candidates can now leave reviews of the interview process at your company on websites such as Glassdoor.

Sometimes selecting the single best candidate is a difficult choice, especially when multiple candidates are highly qualified. When this is the case, don’t be shy about offering to keep them in mind for future openings. Keep a record of candidates that are potentially fitted to specific roles. In so doing, you can create a talent pipeline. Instead of hustling to fill every new vacancy, you can build relationships that help provide a continuous supply of talent over the long term.

How your brand affects your hiring process

Up to this point, we’ve discussed how your hiring process affects your company’s brand. But the opposite is also true—your brand affects your hiring process. How so?

A reputation as an attractive workplace will attract top performers. This includes your overall brand reputation—fans of Apple products, for example, may want to work for Apple and be associated with and immersed in their brand. 

It also includes the company’s reputation regarding how they treat their employees. Perks are great, but fairness, consideration, and flexibility are even better. The bottom line is that you want to give talented, in-demand candidates a good reason to seek employment with your company above your competitors. The above tips for interactions during the hiring process lay the groundwork for a desirable company culture.

Key takeaways

When you optimize your resume review process, you’re not just working toward filling the next job opening—you’re investing in your company’s brand as an agreeable employer and ensuring a steady flow of talent for years to come. 

Remember to be transparent, communicate well, avoid unnecessary pain points, and leave every candidate with a positive outlook. You may even find that doing so improves your task of finding capable and qualified employees!