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Redesign the Candidate Experience

Embrace design thinking to elevate the candidate journey and to build a competitive advantage for your organization.

  • Candidate experience affects not only the employer brand but the consumer brand and overall organizational reputation as well.
  • With more and more organizations recognizing the need to deliver a positive candidate experience, standing out amid competitors and differentiating the candidate experience is a challenge.
  • What HR and talent acquisition perceive as a positive candidate experience may differ from the lived experience of candidates.

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  • Get on-demand project support
  • Get advice, coaching, and insight at key project milestones
  • Go through a Guided Implementation to help you get through your project

Our Advice

Critical Insight

  • Think about your candidates as consumers. Making the effort to truly understand their needs will attract great talent and build positive brand perceptions.

Impact and Result

  • Design a candidate-centric talent acquisition process that addresses candidate feedback from both unsuccessful and successful candidates and is aligned with your employee value proposition (EVP) and employer brand.

Redesign the Candidate Experience Research & Tools

1. Determine candidate experience goals

Map the organization’s current state for candidate experience and set high-level objectives and metrics.

2. Assess the candidate experience

Strengthen the candidate lifecycle by improving upon pain points through design thinking methods and assessing the competitive landscape.

3. Redesign the candidate experience

Create action, communications, and training plans to establish the redesigned candidate experience with hiring process stakeholders.


Candidate Experience

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How to complete this course:

Use these videos, along with the Project Blueprint deck above, to gain an understanding of the subject. Start with the Introduction, then move through each of the Course Modules. At the end of each Module, you will be required to complete a short test to demonstrate your understanding. You will complete this course when you have completed all of the course tests.

  • Number of Course Modules: 5
  • Estimated Completion Time: 1.5 hours

Learning Outcome

Assess and create an action plan to redesign the candidate experience.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, learners will be able to:

  • Assess the candidate experience at each stage of the candidate lifecycle.
  • Align the candidate and customer experiences.
  • Link the organization’s EVP to candidate messaging.
  • Identify candidate pain points.
  • Select actions to improve the candidate experience.

Course Modules

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Introduction

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Module 1

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Module 2

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Module 3

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Module 4

Redesign the Candidate Experience preview picture

About McLean & Company

McLean & Company is an HR research and advisory firm providing practical solutions to human resources challenges via executable research, tools, diagnostics, and advisory services that have a clear and measurable impact on your business.

What Is a Blueprint?

A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your HR problems.

Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.

Need Extra Help?
Speak With An Analyst

Get the help you need in this 6-phase advisory process. You'll receive 20 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.

Guided Implementation 1: Determine candidate experience goals
  • Call 1: Review the organization’s agile talent acquisition strategy
  • Call 2: Determine target candidate segments
  • Call 3: Review EVP and determine key candidate experience messaging
  • Call 4: Set high-level objectives and metrics to measure organizational-level results

Guided Implementation 2: Assess the candidate experience
  • Call 1: Analyze quantitative and qualitative data
  • Call 2: Analyze data collected from discovery interviews and empathy map findings and prepare for candidate journey mapping activity
  • Call 3: Review results and prioritize lifecycle stage(s) to address
  • Call 4: Identify success metrics for priority lifecycle stage(s)

Guided Implementation 3: Redesign the candidate experience
  • Call 1: Review and select recommendations from the Candidate Experience Best Practices Action Guide
  • Call 2: Customize McLean & Company’s Candidate Experience Service Level Agreement Template

Guided Implementation 4: Determine candidate experience goals
  • Call 1: Review the organization’s agile talent acquisition strategy.
  • Call 2: Determine target candidate segments.
  • Call 3: Review EVP and determine key candidate experience messaging.
  • Call 4: Set high-level objectives and metrics to measure organizational-level results.

Guided Implementation 5: Assess the candidate experience
  • Call 1: Analyze quantitative and qualitative data.
  • Call 2: Analyze data collected from discovery interviews and empathy map findings and prepare for candidate journey mapping activity.
  • Call 3: Review results and prioritize lifecycle stage(s) to address.
  • Call 4: Identify success metrics for priority lifecycle stage(s).

Guided Implementation 6: Redesign the candidate experience
  • Call 1: Review and select recommendations from the Candidate Experience Best Practices Action Guide.
  • Call 2: b. Call 2: Customize McLean & Company’s Candidate Experience Service-Level Agreement Template.

Contributors

  • Adam Cooper, HR Director, Aon
  • Amar Grewal, Global Practice Leader, Talent Acquisition, Hatch
  • Alexandra Norris, Talent Specialist, HubDoc
  • Camille Shrouder-Henry, Talent Acquisition & Candidate Experience Manager, Fleet Complete
  • Dorothy Wolentarski, Strategic Talent Acquisition Projects Leader, Intact Insurance
  • Elyse Mayer, Director of Marketing, SmashFly Technologies
  • Lisa Chartier, Global Head of Employer Brand & Marketing, Philips
  • Maura Dyer, Vice President, Talent Acquisition & Employment Brand, Rogers Communications
  • Maureen Carroll, Senior Manager, Talent Attraction, Finastra
  • Peter Cappelli, Professor of Management, University of Pennsylvania & Director of Center for Human Resources, The Wharton School
  • Sara Cooper, Talent Director, Portfolio Companies, OMERS Ventures
  • Sarah Mortimer, AVP HR, SuccessFactors Lead, Great-West Life
  • Sondra Dryer, Global Head of Employer Brand & Experience, Alexander Mann Solutions
  • Tiffanie Witherspoon, Learning & Development Associate, The George Washington University
  • Tim Sackett, Chief Storyteller, Fistful of Talent HR Blog & President, HRU Technical Resources
  • Tracey Wells, Talent Acquisition Manager, HubDoc
  • William Maurer, Global Talent Sourcing Manager, General Motors