When you’re recruiting, it’s easy to focus on the end goal. You have a vacancy, you need the right person and you want to get them through the door butwhat happens between a candidate first seeing your vacancy and accepting the job can have a much bigger impact than many manufacturers realise.
Candidate experience is every interaction someone has with your business during the recruitment process. It starts with the job advert and continues through applications, communication, interviews, feedback, offers and onboarding.
Candidates are paying attention to all of it.
Our Manufacturing Workforce Reality Report 2026 found that 85% of the manufacturing leaders we spoke to receive no feedback from applicants about their hiring and onboarding process. This means that a large number of businesses could have very little visibility of what it actually feels like to apply for a job with them.
For the organisations that had received feedback, some common themes appeared. Candidates highlighted slow recruitment processes, poor communication throughout the hiring journey and negative perceptions of demanding working environments.
The problem is that if candidates aren’t telling you about a poor experience, that doesn’t necessarily mean the experience is good. They might simply move on.
We explored this further in our blog on how your hiring process could be costing you great candidates.
The recruitment process is one of the first real experiences a candidate has with your business.
Think about it from their perspective. They apply for a role and hear nothing for two weeks. They attend an interview but don’t know when they’ll receive feedback. They’re told someone will call them but nobody does.
What impression does that create?
Candidates might start questioning what communication is like once they actually work there. They might wonder how organised the business is or whether employees are genuinely valued.
That is why candidate experience and employer brand are so closely connected.
As we discussed in the employer brand problem most manufacturers don’t know they have, your employer brand isn’t simply what you say about your business. It’s what people experience when they interact with it.
Our report reinforces this. Candidates judge businesses before they ever start working for them and slow communication or a poor candidate experience can damage recruitment efforts without employers even realising it.
A lengthy recruitment process might not feel like a major problem internally. There are diaries to coordinate, managers to speak to and decisions to make.
For the candidate, however, your vacancy probably isn’t the only opportunity they’re considering.
When another employer is communicating regularly, arranging interviews quickly and making decisions while your process is still moving through internal stages, you risk losing good people.
We’ve previously looked at why slow hiring is costing manufacturers talent and candidate experience is a big part of that conversation.
Speed doesn’t mean rushing important hiring decisions. It means removing unnecessary delays, keeping candidates informed and making sure there is momentum throughout the process.
Even when there isn’t an update, communication matters. A quick message explaining what is happening is much better than leaving someone wondering whether they are still being considered.
Creating a positive candidate experience doesn’t begin at the interview.
It starts with how you present the opportunity in the first place.
Candidates want to understand more than the job title and salary. They want to know what the working environment is like, what is expected of them and what they could gain from joining the business.
That might include progression opportunities, training, job security, shift patterns, workplace culture or the chance to develop new skills.
We explore this in more detail in what attracts manufacturing talent today.
Being clear from the beginning helps candidates make better decisions about whether the opportunity is right for them. It also helps employers attract people who genuinely want what the business has to offer.
Candidate experience shouldn’t suddenly stop once somebody says yes.
The period between accepting an offer and starting a new role is just as important.
Clear communication about start dates, shifts, paperwork, where to go on the first day and what to expect can make someone feel confident about joining.
Then there’s onboarding itself.
Our report recommends that manufacturers review not only the speed and communication within their recruitment process but also candidate feedback and the first weeks of employment.
Those first few weeks can shape how someone feels about the business long term. A positive recruitment experience followed by a disorganised first day can quickly undo the good work that came before it.
Manufacturers are competing for people and candidate experience is one area where businesses can make a genuine difference.
You might not always be able to offer the highest salary in the market. You might be competing against larger employers with bigger recruitment budgets. But you can control how candidates are treated throughout your hiring process.
Respond quickly. Set expectations. Keep people informed. Give feedback where possible. Make interviews feel like a two-way conversation. Make sure candidates understand why they should want to work for you.
These things sound simple but they can have a big impact.
The findings from our Manufacturing Workforce Reality Report show that candidate experience is still largely invisible to many manufacturers. That creates an opportunity for businesses willing to look more closely at their recruitment process and improve it.
At Westray Recruitment Group, we understand that successful recruitment isn’t just about sending CVs and filling vacancies.
We work closely with manufacturing businesses to understand their roles, culture and hiring requirements while supporting candidates throughout the recruitment journey. Our approach is built around creating the right match and making the process easier for both employers and candidates.
If you’re struggling to attract the right people, losing candidates during the hiring process or simply want more support with your manufacturing recruitment, speak to our team.
A representative from Westray will be in touch with you shortly.