With the job market tightening, candidate experience has become the most important aspect of successful executive searches. After all, executives are far more discerning than most about employment opportunities, and many have concrete ideas about the type of company they want to lead. If expectations for the candidate experience aren’t met, executives are more likely than lower-level employees to decide to look elsewhere. Here are some tips for designing a candidate experience that attracts top executive talent and keeps their attention. Be Informative and Non-Pressuring Executive candidates respond well to companies that give concise information about themselves and the position but in a non-pressuring way. This gives the candidate a chance to see whether the job would be a good fit for them without feeling pressured to interview if they deem that it’s not a good fit. A genuine approach is always appreciated, and it goes a long way to ingratiate your company with the candidate. By sharing information about your company and the position, your team is essentially making a sales pitch, but it shouldn’t sound like one if you want to avoid candidates running for the hills. Keeping conversations low-key will give you the highest value outcomes. Make Applying Easy Having a big hassle factor is probably the biggest reason an executive candidate will walk away from an opportunity with your company, assuming the position is a good fit. Expecting candidates to complete a lengthy application and format their resumes for your ATS system ruins the candidate experience right off the bat. On the other hand, a brief application that candidates can complete with their iPhone tells them that you understand how busy they are and that you want to make the process convenient for them. A video interview can be another way to keep the hassle factor low, especially if the candidate doesn’t live in your area. While a video interview can seem distant and removed, it can be done effectively and may be a way to make things easier for a busy executive that doesn’t have the time to travel to your location. Avoid Obvious Questions Executive candidates will quickly tire of basic questions about themselves and their experience that could easily be discovered through research. Doing your homework before the interview can lead to more in-depth questions and avoid wasting everyone’s time on the basics. The search team can also use its research to help guide the conversation with more relevant questions. With more time left in the interview, the team can also get to know the candidate better on a personal level to help assess cultural fit and whether the candidate would work well with the rest of the C-suite. Thrive TRM can improve your executive candidate experience by providing a way for your team to instantly communicate with the candidate, keeping candidates delighted and engaged at every touchpoint. Contact us for more information about how Thrive TRM can help you with all of your executive search needs.