What is candidate experience and why does it matter?
It is everything a candidate perceives through hiring. A poor experience damages your reputation and consumer brand; a respectful, honest one strengthens both, whether or not someone is hired.
Candidate experience is everything a person perceives while interacting with your hiring process: the advert, the application, communication, interviews, feedback and the final decision. It matters because it is your employer brand made tangible; candidates judge the whole organisation by how they are treated, and many are also customers or will tell others. A respectful, honest, timely process strengthens both employer and consumer reputation whether or not the person is hired, while a dismissive or silent one damages both. It carries such weight because it is a lived experience, not a message. The pitfall is investing in attraction while neglecting the process itself, so a great first impression collapses into ghosting and delay.