REKRUITEC

Your #1 Untapped Marketing Channel Isn't What You Think.

Shams Tabraiz
Sep 18, 2025By Shams Tabraiz

You’re investing in social media campaigns, content marketing, and employer branding videos. But what if I told you that the most powerful channel for building your brand is already running 24/7, costs almost nothing to optimize, and reaches an audience of highly engaged potential customers and employees?

You’re already using it. You’re just probably using it poorly.

It’s your candidate experience.

Think your shiny careers page and your "Great Place to Work" badge define your employer brand? You're wrong.

While marketing teams work hard to craft a perfect image, your hiring process is on the front lines, showing the real version of your company to the most perceptive audience: smart, motivated people who are actively evaluating you. 

Every candidate touchpoint is an authentic—and unforgettable—brand impression.

The brutal truth is that your candidate’s experience is the real testament to your company's values. And if it's broken, it's not just an HR problem - it's an existential threat to your talent pipeline and your bottom line.

The Data Proves It's a Marketing Goldmine:

  1. The Glassdoor Effect: Research conducted by IBM’s Smarter Workforce Institute found that a mere one-star increase in a company’s Glassdoor rating correlated to a significant boost in employee satisfaction. 
  2. The Consumer Impact: A landmark case study by Virgin Media calculated that their poor candidate experience was costing them £4.4 million per year in lost revenue—a powerful reminder that applicants are also customers.
  3. The Talent Blackhole: Data from LinkedIn Talent Solutions has consistently shown that a negative interview experience can cause over 80% of talent to reconsider a company they once admired.
  4. The Ghosting Tax: Research from Indeed has found that as many as 78% of candidates report being ghosted by a prospective employer. This isn't a minor oversight; it's a systemic failure that communicates a profound disrespect for people's time and effort.

Ghosting a candidate isn't a recruiting fail. It's a marketing crisis.

Moving From Generic Advice to Actionable Strategy:

It's not enough to say, "be better." Here’s how:

  1. Quantify the Problem Internally:
  • Track your Candidate Net Promoter Score (cNPS): Send a simple one-question survey: "On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend our company to a friend as a place to work?" Anyone who scores you 0-6 is a detractor. Calculate your score. This is your baseline.
  • Audit Your Drop-Off Points: Use your ATS data to identify exactly where in the process candidates are abandoning ship. Is it after the first contact? After a take-home assignment? The data will show you your biggest leaks.

2. Fix the "Black Hole" with Radical Communication:

  • Automate the Acknowledgment: Every single application must get an immediate auto-receipt. This is basic respect.
  • Set & Manage Expectations: In your first contact, provide a clear timeline of the process. If you get delayed, send an update. This simple act of communication is so rare it becomes a massive competitive advantage.
  • Close the Loop for Everyone: Rejecting a candidate after a phone screen? Automate a kind, generic email. Rejecting a candidate after a final-round interview? A personalized phone call from the hiring manager or recruiter is non-negotiable. It’s tough, but it builds immense long-term goodwill.

3. Respect Time as Your Most Valuable Currency:

  • Eradicate "Death by Panel": Streamline interviews. Do you really need 6 separate meetings? Every additional hour you request is a tax on the candidate's current job and personal life.
  • Prepare Your Interviewers: The biggest sign of disrespect is an unprepared interviewer. Mandate training. Provide structured questions. The candidate prepared for hours; the least you can do is prepare for 15 minutes.

The Bottom Line:

In a world where talent has more power than ever, the companies that win won't be the ones with the best ping-pong tables. They'll be the ones that treat every single human in their hiring pipeline with genuine respect, transparency, and efficiency.

Your candidate experience isn't an HR process. It's your single most powerful and underutilized marketing channel.

What's one step you're taking to fix candidate experience this quarter?