Spark Hire Meet offers tools and features you can configure directly inside the platform to improve candidate experience, reduce drop-off, and recover missed assessments.

While all of the following are technically optional, optimizing your candidate experience is about layering one improvement on top of another to achieve greater results.

Here are some examples:

🎨 Brand the experience

Aim to complete the sections of your branding that you haven’t filled out yet. The more recognizable, authentic, and human that you can make your candidate experience, the more engaged your candidates will be.

👉 Article: How should I brand the candidate experience?

💬 Use SMS invites

If you have valid mobile numbers from candidates, use them to send SMS invites which increases visibility and cuts through the noise of their email inbox.

📆 Give an appropriate deadline

Regardless of the assessment type, we suggest providing them with 5-7 days to complete it. This doesn't mean you can't encourage them to submit it at their earliest convenience, but be mindful of weekends/holidays and that things just come up.

✅ Enable deadline extensions

Candidates can miss their deadline for a variety of reasons so why not give them a way to instantly get back in to their assessment? According to our data, 41.3% of assessments that get extended automatically end up being completed.  

This is currently only available for one-way video interviews.

👉 Article: How to set up deadline extensions

⚙️ Consider your settings

The way you configure certain features can have an impact on candidate completion rates.

Example 1: Using the Candidate Questionnaire is a great way to collect additional information from candidates such as their Resume. However, be aware that some candidates might not have their Resume readily available on the device they're taking the assessment from so we rather than require a Resume, simply mark it as Optional.

Example 2: If you decide to limit the Think Time or Takes for a candidate in a one-way video interview, realize that some candidates may dropout of the video interview when they're in the middle of it if they're not satisfied with your answer. So, our best advice here is only use these settings if they're absolutely necessary based on the question you're asking.

📹 Leverage video

Certain features on the Spark Hire Meet platform are not required for your success, but they do offer opportunities to leave a better impression with candidates.

A Profile Video is seen by candidates when completing an assessment. This can be a brand video you already have or one that you record on your own device.

It’s a good opportunity to introduce your organization and your unique employer value proposition.

Keep it generic as it’ll be used for all roles. Don’t worry about making it perfect. In fact, research has shown the candidates prefer authentic, self-recorded videos vs. overly produced, corporate videos.

Intro and outro videos help improve the candidate experience of your one-way video interviews. They showcase to a candidate that you are willing to get on camera, creating that commonality and human connection they desire.

👉 Article: Sample Intro and Outro Video Scripts
👉 Article: Examples: Intro and Outro Videos

Video questions are tied to a one-way interview text-based question. The video plays before the candidate records their answer to the question. The goal is to make the one-way interview more personal and engaging.

None of these videos need to be full-on productions, quick videos with your phone will do wonders!

Summary

Every small improvement you make inside Spark Hire Meet adds up to a stronger, more candidate-friendly experience that drives higher completion rates and helps your team stand out.

You don’t need to implement everything at once. Start with a few easy wins like SMS invites or deadline extensions. Then, as your process matures, layer in branding, video enhancements, and more thoughtful configuration of your settings.

The key is to think like a candidate: make the experience clear, flexible, and human. 

When candidates feel informed and supported, they’re more likely to engage and you’ll see the results in your completion data.

👉 Ready for the next step? See what you can do outside of Spark Hire Meet to improve completion rates.