Why good candidates are walking away – and telling the market

In a hiring market saturated with applicants, it’s tempting to think recruitment has become easier. But as Sam Welch, Chief Revenue Officer at TransUnion, highlights in our recent interview, the reality is quite the opposite. With AI-enhanced CVs, one-click applications and increasing pressure on internal teams, delivering a positive candidate experience has never been more challenging – or more critical.

It’s no longer just about who you hire. It’s about how you hire. And every misstep – a generic rejection email, a lack of feedback, or a clunky process – becomes a story shared on LinkedIn, Reddit or Glassdoor. And these don’t remain isolated grumbles. They’re signals to the market about how your organisation treats people.

In this blog, we explore why candidate experience matters more than ever, and how working with a specialist recruiter can help you get it right. 

More CVs, more problems?

Platforms like LinkedIn and job boards have made it easier than ever to attract large volumes of applicants. One-click applications are now the norm, leading to hundreds of applications for a single role. But quantity doesn’t equal quality. 

Internal teams are often left to manually sift through piles of irrelevant CVs, a task that drains time and resources from HR and hiring managers across the business. The challenge is amplified when hiring for highly technical or specialist roles, where the nuances of a CV can be difficult to spot without domain expertise. Meanwhile, hiring managers are under pressure to move fast, without compromising the rest of the team’s productivity. 

Every candidate interaction is a brand moment

It’s not just about the people you hire. It’s about every single person who interacts with your hiring process. When a candidate receives an automated rejection email address to ‘Dear [Name]’, or a note that’s clearly meant for a different stage in the process, it leaves a lasting impression – and not a good one! 

Likewise, a lack of feedback or clarity around next steps can leave even strong candidates feeling like their time has been wasted. And these experiences are no longer private grumbles to friends and family. Instead, they are published on Glassdoor, shared on LinkedIn, dissected on Reddit. One candidate’s poor experience can tarnish your reputation across the market. 

Making hiring easier for you

The irony is, the very processes meant to make hiring more efficient – job boards, ATS systems, automated workflows – can end up compounding the problem when they’re not managed properly. And for internal talent teams, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by volume and urgency. 

“It’s really hard now to determine… CVs can all look absolutely stellar. That becomes more challenging.. You need to put those extra layers into the process to filter out the ones that are just leveraging technology,” explains Sam Welch, Chief Revenue Officer at TransUnion. 

Old school still works

While digital tools can help scale hiring, they can’t replace instinct. That’s why some of the most effective leaders are going back to basics.

“I like to add a case study as part of my interview process. It might land on a Friday with a Monday turnaround. That might sound harsh, but for me it shows attitude – are they willing to go above and beyond?” Welch continues. “I want to be able to look someone in the eye and ask where they’ve gone above and beyond across their career.”

This kind of scrutiny matters. Because the difference between an average hire and an exceptional one often comes down to mindset, proactivity and fit – not just technical skill, 

Treat talent like capital

Too often, teams are pushed to fill vacancies as quickly as possible – plugging gaps rather than building for the future. But, as Welch points out, strategic hiring requires the same level of thought and rigour as managing financial capital. 

“When I restructured my team, I spent a long time thinking about the right shape – so we could scale efficiently without simply adding headcount.” 

This kind of forward-thinking approach helps avoid constant fire-fighting and creates room for growth without compromising quality. 

How specialist recruiters can help 

That’s where a specialist recruiter can make a real difference – not just faster, but smarter. At Levick Stanley, we don’t just send over CVs and hope for the best. We deliver a shortlist of technically qualified, culturally aligned candidates within 72 hours. 

“In every profession, you’re going to have good times and bad. You need a dependable team around you,” Welch says. “Attitude matters. And that’s hard to spot without a rigorous process.”

We know the difference between a close match and a true fit, because we understand the sectors we recruit in, and maintain strong, ongoing relationships with our candidate networks. 

Protect your brand. Improve the process. Get the right result. 

Hiring the wrong person is expensive. Damaging your employer brand is even more so. Working with a specialist recruitment partner helps you avoid both. 

You get speed, precision, and access to talent you wouldn’t reach otherwise. All while ensuring your candidates feel valued, informed and engaged throughout the process. Because a great candidate experience isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s a competitive advantage. 

Ready to find out more?

Watch the full interview with Sam Welch, Chief Revenue Officer at TransUnion. He shares how to identify top talent, manage high-performers, and make hiring decisions that scale with your business.

And if you’re ready to improve candidate experience, reduce hiring risk, and get access to the right people faster, get in touch with the Levick Stanley team.