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A Guide on
How to Create
Candidate Persona
 A Guide on How to Create a Candidate Persona

Candidate persona is…

Fictional representation of your ideal candidate, based on data and an educated guess
about their goals, dreams, fears, and background.

It should be created using information gathered from different sources and it will help
you:

 better understand past, present and future employees;

 create more effective talent acquisition marketing content;
 sharpen the communication with candidates;
 better attract and convert talented candidates.

I can create candidate persona…

Using all the information gathered through communication with targeted candidates,
also past and present employees and company executives. Gathering information from
relevant people should be done by using few methods such as surveys, quizzes and
interviews.

A candidate persona revolves around four Ws:

1. Who
2. What
3. Where
4. Why

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 A Guide on How to Create a Candidate Persona

1. Who…
Who is your ideal candidate?

Naming this perfect candidate is giving him life and makes it easier to follow the
process. Then simply start with basic things while keeping it within the role for which
you are hiring.

 John/Jane Doe’s current occupation is…

 He/she has X years of pro experience.
 He/she has worked in XY industry/industries.
 He/she had a role of…
 He/she is/has been working for competitors right now or not…

John/Jane Doe fits my company because…

 he/she has great personality.
 of his/her strong core values.
 his/her hobbies and other outside interests.
 his/her working style.
 his/her preferred environment.

Simply put, culture fit is very important because these attributes are a must have for your
candidate persona. Looking at current and past employees who proved to be great asset
can provide answers and can even set more questions. Great employees help build great
employer brand which is very important for the company to control.

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 A Guide on How to Create a Candidate Persona

2. What…
 are the professional and personal skills that have made individuals great in their
role and still help them be great assets?
 are professional goals that John/Jane Doe should have to be exceeded at this
role?
 is specific skill set that John/Jane Doe has considered to be great asset?
 is the reason that motivates John/Jane Doe to push themselves?

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 A Guide on How to Create a Candidate Persona

3. Where…
 do your candidates spend time online and where would John/Jane Doe spend
their time?
 and how to reach them so you can present your true face of the company?
 is their point of interest – blogs, social networks, groups, forums etc. and which
ones?
 does John/Jane Doe go to research a future employer?
 is the source of the information that John/Jane Doe considers trustworthy?

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 A Guide on How to Create a Candidate Persona

4. Why or why not…

would John/Jane Doe want to work for you? This is the main question that needs to be
carefully answered because info like defining company’s EVP (Employee Value
Proposition) is not easy to gather. Talking to your past and present employees as well
as executives can give you better insights. Then you can define exactly which elements
of the EVP are most important for John/Jane Doe. Few things need to be checked out
and considered to avoid potential dangers.

 How good is your application process (too long, too short, out of date etc.)?
 How does your interview location effect the candidates (they need to travel or it
can be done remotely)?
 How to talk to a person who is interested in the opening but already has a job?

To improve the rate of conversion, you need to find solutions to all of these obstacles
and deliver the-best-you-can marketing campaign. Defining John/Jane Doe means
ignoring your own assumptions. Information needs to be gathered from people involved
in hiring process, past and present employees and C-level personas in the company.

Researching the candidates who already applied and even those who are about to apply
can help you get more additional information which can be very helpful. This can be
done by adding additional custom fields to the application form, asking questions such
as: How did you hear about this role, or Which social media are you using to check out
potential employer?

Being creative helps you gather more information and this gives you better insights,
which in the end provides better picture of John/Jane Doe!

We made a template to help you speed things up and get you exactly what you
want. Simply answer the questions and create your own ideal candidate.

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 A Guide on How to Create a Candidate Persona

Candidate Persona Example

JOB FAMILY: .NET DEVELOPER

SECTION 1: WHO?

BACKGROUND  Senior .NET Developer

Current and past position?  Junior .NET Developer
Experience? Industry?  3-5 years of experience with MS technologies

COMPANY FIT  Self-learning

Personality? Core values?
Style of working?
 Can work both in team and alone
 Writes clean, understandable and reusable code
 Open minded
 Can quickly pick up new frameworks and
technologies

IDENTIFIERS  Being outdoor

Habits? Hobbies? Preferred  Movies and sports
environment?  Prefers small offices to big open space
 Needs quiet working environment

SECTION 2: WHAT?

GOALS  Improve own skills and knowledgebase

Personal? Professional?  Move up the company hierarchy, lead his own

team, become system architect

SKILLS  Communication and leadership

Personal? Professional?  Thinks outside of the box
Specific?  C#, VB.NET, F#, Azure, MS SQL, MVC, Javascript,
HTML, CSS
 Good presentation skills

MOTIVATION  Demonstrate skills and knowledge

Intrinsic, Extrinsic  Get acceptance from team, superiors etc.

 Take pride in finishing tasks on time
 Bonuses and benefit packages
 Organized team activities

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 A Guide on How to Create a Candidate Persona

SECTION 3: WHERE?

INTEREST  Best to reach them through LinkedIn,

Time spent online? How to
reach them?
Stackoverflow or Github
 Tech meetups
 Senior developers prefer being contacted with
full info about the job you are offering them.
Don’t waste time on “Are you interested in new
opportunities…” emails

SOCIAL NETWORK  LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, Twitter,

Which they use? Blogs? Stackoverflow, Github
Forums? Groups?  IT news portals
 Specialized blogs from MS community

RESEARCH  Company page, career site

Where would research future  Ask around on forums
employer? Trustworthy  Glassdoor reviews
information?

SECTION 4: WHY?

APPLICATION  Senior developers want to know as soon as

Process length? Interview possible all the information about the position
location? you are offering them. They prefer short
processes.
 Interview is preferably done via Skype and
similar; or outside work hours
 Junior developers can put up with on-site
interviews and longer processes

COMMUNICATION  78% of candidates are passive, meaning they

Job change? would change their job if offered better
EVP elements to this conditions. Know which conditions you’re your
candidate? required candidate and can you offer them
something better. Nobody changes job for the
same or worse work conditions

REASON  Better salary and benefits

Decision trigger? Does it  Shorter commute
require the candidate to  More vacation days
travel?

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 A Guide on How to Create a Candidate Persona

Your turn

JOB FAMILY: DevOps Engineer

SECTION 1: WHO?

BACKGROUND
Current and past position?
Experience? Industry?

COMPANY FIT
Personality? Core values?
Style of working?

IDENTIFIERS
Habits? Hobbies? Preferred
environment?

SECTION 2: WHAT?

GOALS
Personal? Professional?

SKILLS
Personal? Professional?
Specific?

MOTIVATION
Intrinsic? Extrinsic?

SECTION 3: WHERE?

INTEREST
Time spent online? How to
reach them?

SOCIAL NETWORK
Which they use? Blogs?
Forums? Groups?

RESEARCH
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 A Guide on How to Create a Candidate Persona

Where would research future

employer? Trustworthy
information?

SECTION 4: WHY?

APPLICATION
Process length? Interview
location?

COMMUNICATION
Job change?
EVP elements to this
candidate?

REASON
Decision trigger? Does it
require the candidate to
travel?

Use the following template as guide to creating your candidate personas. You can also
download the Candidate Persona Template in Excel.

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