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The Recruitment Process: Is your candidate experience up to scratch?

4 September 2026

The Recruitment Process: Is your candidate experience up to scratch?

​Are people blown away by your candidate experience?

When it comes to recruiting in the current market, a speedy hiring process can be the main differentiator that secures the top talent you need.

Our recruiters see it day in and day out. The longer you take to hire, the greater the chance of losing candidates to your competitors. This only results in creating a more frustrating process for everybody involved.

Below are some of our top tips to help you accelerate your candidate experience and get talent knocking at your door.


Your brand

The best candidate experience does not start with recruitment, it starts with your
brand

. Think of companies like Google, Nando’s, Astra Zeneca, and Network Rail… who wouldn’t want to work there? Get your brand EVP right and show off your excellent employee experience.


Ask your employees

‘People buy from people’ – something we hear time and time again, but it’s true. One of the best ways to show off your brand is by asking your employees why they work with you! What sold them to join your company? Displaying these case studies will only further attract candidates to want to work at your business.


Craft the perfect job ad

The best job ads display straightforward job titles and promote your company in a captivating way. But, make sure to use inclusive language! Did you know women will generally apply for a job if they 100% meet the criteria, whereas men will apply if they meet 60%? If you are struggling to craft the perfect advert, our recruiters have been trained to help you write and capture your vacancies in as little as an hour.


Use technology to your advantage

The one thing that the past few years have taught us, is to stop waiting to see candidates for an in-person interview and instead conduct video interviews. This creates a much quicker screening process for the first interview, and you can decide later to then meet the candidate in person. If you need to, make use of your recruitment partner’s tools – we use Odro, a platform to conduct and record first-stage interviews. This can reduce your intro to hire by 70%!


Create a clear process

Nobody wants to attend a lengthy interview process. Get rid of any unnecessary steps in your recruitment process. Having a clear timetable for your recruitment process from the start, confirming who you will need to engage with the candidate at each stage. Block these stages out in your calendar to ensure you are prepared for the candidates, creating an enhanced, clear, and speedy interview process for you, the recruiter, and the candidate.

If you would like to learn more about how we can assist with your next hire, contact us!

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THE ONE GROUP

Where we're from,
and how we got here

Twenty years of specialist recruitment in the East – and a lot of small decisions that added up.

TOG started in Peterborough in 2004 with a small team and a simple idea: that recruitment is a people business, done best by specialists who stay in their sector long enough to know it properly.

More than two decades on, we've grown into four offices across the East of England and Home Counties. We recruit for finance leaders, HR directors, engineering managers, tech founders, scientists, and the commercial teams that keep businesses running day to day. Between us, we've built up over 258 years of collective recruitment experience across our specialist divisions, and a network of more than 150,000 candidates we've placed, coached, or come to know across two decades in the region.

The founding principle hasn't changed. Recruitment as it should be.

OUR STORY

Key events timeline

2004

Doors open in Peterborough.

Our first office launches with a team of six on Lynch Wood. Cambridge follows the same year, giving us two offices before our first anniversary.

2015

Northampton makes it three.

Our third office opens with a team of five, quickly growing to eleven consultants covering the wider Midlands region.

2017

Peterborough moves across the road.

The team has outgrown the founding office. We move into Arena House on Lynch Wood, big enough for a growing consultant base and the back-office team that supports the whole group.

2018

Cambridge moves too.

Our second office relocates to Cambourne Business Park, giving the growing Cambridge team the space it now needs.

2023

Four offices, three counties, one very good year.

The Hertfordshire & Essex office opens in Potters Bar, extending our footprint into the Home Counties.

In the same year, we're named Business of the Year in Northamptonshire, and Employer of the Year in both Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire at the regional SME Business Awards. Three counties, three panels.

TODAY

Still growing.

Four offices, more than 258 years of collective recruitment experience across our specialist divisions, and a network of over 150,000 candidates.

Same founding principle.

SPECIALISTS BY DESIGN

What we do

We're specialists, not generalists. Every consultant at TOG focuses on one sector and stays in it. Not because it's the only way to do recruitment, but because it's how you build the depth to spot the difference between a strong CV and a strong hire.

It's also why so many of our clients come back to us years, even decades, after a first placement.

01
Accountancy & Finance
→
 02
Human Resources
→
 03
Commercial Office
Administration, customer service, project management and more
→
 04
Technology
→
 05
Engineering & Manufacturing
→
 06
Scientific
→
 07
Sales, Marketing & Creative
→
 08
Executive Search
Across all of the above
→

Beyond the recruitment itself, we produce annual salary guides, regional market reports, and the practical resources our clients and candidates turn to when they want a clearer view of what's happening in their sector.

THE WAY WE WORK

How we work

Four principles show up in every conversation and every process.
01

Be curious.

We stay interested in the market we work in, and in the people who work in it.

02

Keep it human.

We remember your kids' names and know how you take your coffee. That's just how we work here.

03

Make a difference.

We're here to help people build careers they love and businesses they're proud of.

04

Enjoy the ride.

Recruitment is a career, but it should be fun too. If it isn't, we've done something wrong.

WHAT COMES NEXT?

Recruitment
as it should be.

Hire with TOG → Looking for a role →
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