Candidate Expectations When Going On-line

Another consideration for moving from paper to on-line is how going on-line changes candidate expectations. With clients we’ve worked with, we’ve seen 2 changes in expectations that have impacted clients a great deal – access to information and immediate feedback.

First, when you move on-line, candidates now have a tool that provides them direct access to their records. As with many things, the first taste of this whets candidate’s appetites and they want more. So, even if you start with something small such as an initial rollout that allows candidates to merely change their demographics, candidates immediately start to want more. They want to be able to see their test results on-line, track their progress toward certification on-line, submit continuing education credits on-line, pay by credit card on-line, etc. The move away from paper empowers the candidate to do more and they thrive on it and push the boundaries. In addition, candidates expect on-line information to be pervasive in your organization. Candidates get frustrated if they have to enter information more than once, use multiple systems to accomplish tasks, etc. Thus, if you have disparate systems that don’t share information, you’ll need to think about how you might be able to mask this from candidates.

Second, once you move on-line, candidates expect the pace of your operations to match the standards of the on-line world. When all applications are done via paper, they accept that processing and approving an application might take weeks. When a candidate can complete these on-line, they know that much of the time lag inherent in paper processes has been removed and therefore expect much faster turnaround time for your team to approve an application. Waiting weeks for their exam results, days for resolution on a question, or weeks to process their continuing education credits also become unacceptable for the candidate.

Both of these changes in candidate expectations means that your current processes will be tested and need to be reviewed for possible adaptation. For example, in an on-line world where candidates expect to communicate electronically where they set aside the “more legal-like” aspect of dealing with official paper documents in exchange for speed and access to information, does it make sense to replace a process where official notification of exam results is done via mailed paper letters with perhaps email notification and posting of scores to the candidate’s record on-line?

Are there other expectations that people see from candidates when moving on-line? Or, what other process changes have you made to adapt to these changing expectations?

Next posting – I’ll keep responding to the Going Online topic but we’ll switch gears in the next post and start a different topic for discussion.

My Candidates Won’t Go On-line

Continuing our thread about moving from paper to on-line, I thought I’d address a common concern from clients who are going through this transition – “my candidates don’t deal well with computers” and “we’ll struggle to get them away from paper”.

First, know that this is a common response. I’ve heard this concern countless times from clients. I’ve heard it described in various ways:

• My candidate population is age-shifted to those who are less comfortable with computers
• My candidate population contains a higher than normal % of people with disabilities (sight impaired for example) that make it difficult to work with computers
• My candidates are Type B people who aren’t used to the logical thinking required to work well on-line

Rest assured, we’ve gone online with clients like this in the past and each one has worked through these issues and still had great success.

Second, know that even those who struggle with computers are on-line because so much of life is on-line these days. My dad is 70 years old and can’t reset the clock on his microwave. He resisted email forever but is finally dealing with email because he realized that he didn’t really have a choice. The professional world has an expectation around the use of email. Similarly, it’s reasonable to expect your candidate population to look to the web for information and resources. The question is not whether to go on-line but how to transition your candidates and what safety net to give them to ensure they feel supported through that process.

Here are a couple of ways to go on-line that ease the transition.

1) Offer paper as an alternative. A small set of people will always need or want to use paper. Initially, a large number of people may feel more comfortable staying with paper. However, you see an immediate group that will want to go on-line and, as an overall %, that number will increase. You might start with the paper options side by side with the on-line options so candidates can choose. Then, as the on-line candidate population grows to critical mass, you can move your paper alternative to the background so it becomes an exception rather than an equal choice.

2) Train your staff in the new on-line processes before you transition from the paper processes. If you can, have the candidates continue to use the paper processes while your staff implements the newer online solutions. The staff can work out the kinks and get familiar with the new processes so they can better support candidates when you open the on-line systems to the world.

3) Roll new processes out one at a time. Perhaps you allow candidates to apply for your exam on-line but keep your recertification process paper based. Like the previous idea, you can control your exposure to new processes so that you can learn with each step.

What else have you found as part of this transition? Where does the real pain come in transitioning candidates on-line? Any other suggestions for easing the transition?

Next posting – I’ll continue the Going Online topic in discussing what going on-line means with regards to candidate expectations of your processes