July 2024
Enhancing Candidate Experiences & Offer Process Success
Key takeaways
- Collaborated closely with a global investment bank to streamline its offer process
- New strategy improved efficiency and candidate satisfaction, minimising delays and confusion
The challenge
Despite being a successful and long-standing client, this investment bank faced significant issues in its offer process. Following verbal offers, candidates often waited weeks to receive formal offer documents and benefits information, leading to frustration and, in some cases, the loss of top talent to competitors with faster, more streamlined onboarding processes. Our consultants regularly had to keep candidates engaged while following up on offer status, as well as coordinating with multiple internal teams at the bank, where occasional misalignment created some uncertainty around the process.
This prolonged and sometimes fragmented post-offer stage not only impacted candidates but also increased administrative work for our consultants. While it can be challenging to provide constructive feedback on a client’s existing strategy, we believe a true talent partner does more than simply follow procedure. Instead, we seek opportunities to improve, support, and enhance processes to benefit everyone involved. Recognising these challenges as barriers to the bank’s ability to attract and retain top talent, we arranged a meeting with one of their resourcing business partners to provide transparent feedback on how the offer process was affecting candidate experience.
The solution
Highlighting specific pain points in the bank’s existing process, we demonstrated how lengthy timelines and lack of role clarity created a negative impression for new hires, and even put some candidate’s off, leading to roles being rejected. We proposed a streamlined approach that would centralise the offer process under Talent Acquisition and allow for a clear handover to Human Resources post-onboarding.
Our suggestions included:
We recommended that a dedicated Talent Acquisition (TA) team manage all offer-related communications and logistics, ensuring candidates had a single point of contact and consistent updates throughout the offer process.
To avoid confusion and redundant communication, we suggested a formalised “handover” system, where TA would finalise the offer and onboarding documents before passing candidates to HR for further support.
We encouraged the bank to ensure that internal teams were clear on their roles within the new process, reducing miscommunication and creating a more unified approach to hiring.
Results
After several months, we reconnected with the client to review the process improvements. The Resourcing Business Partner shared that our feedback had been instrumental in implementing a new, streamlined offer process, with the TA team now fully managing all steps until onboarding.
This overhaul led to:
Candidates now experience shorter timelines from offer to onboarding, receiving consistent updates throughout the process, which has enhanced their overall impression of the bank and has made them more likely to take up offers.
Our consultants spend less time chasing updates and keeping candidates engaged, as the process is now clearly structured and effectively managed by the TA team.
Impressed by our feedback's impact, the client invited us to continue collaborating on future improvements to the offer process.
Reflecting on the changes, the Resourcing Business Partner remarked:
Your feedback was invaluable in driving this transformation. This new process has not only improved candidate experience but has also streamlined our internal workflows. We’re eager to hear more feedback as we continue refining it.
Summary
Selby Jennings drove positive operational change for this client through collaboration and consultative feedback. A true talent partner goes beyond merely following procedures, meaning we always look for ways to enhance and support processes, creating improvements that benefit everyone involved. Our commitment to excellence in both candidate experience and client service enabled this investment bank to implement a streamlined, effective offer process that meets today’s competitive talent expectations.