People Remember How You Make Them Feel: The Recruitment Lesson Every Business Needs to Learn
By Chris Whatling, Managing Director & Co-Founder of The Animal People Recruitment Company
Over the past couple of months, I’ve found myself coming back to the same thought again and again.
People remember how you make them feel.
It sounds simple, but I honestly believe it’s one of the most important lessons I’ve learnt during more than twenty years working in recruitment.
That thought really hit home after speaking at the Business of Pets Conference, delivering a webinar for Assistance Dogs UK and exhibiting at BVA Live. They were all very different events, but so many of the conversations I had came back to the same thing.
People might not remember every interview question, every email or every meeting.
But they remember how they were treated.
Your Hiring Process Is Your Brand
If you’ve followed me on LinkedIn or seen us at exhibitions recently, you’ll probably have noticed one phrase appearing more and more:
Your Hiring Process Is Your Brand.
Over the last year, we’ve subtly evolved our own branding around that message because it’s become such an important part of what I believe.
Long before someone accepts a job offer, they’re already forming an opinion of your organisation.
Did somebody acknowledge their application?
Was the salary clear?
Did they know what to expect from the interview?
Were they welcomed and treated with respect?
Did they receive honest feedback, even if the answer was no?
Those moments shape how people remember your business. They become the stories candidates tell their friends, colleagues and professional networks.
That is your employer brand far more than any careers page or social media campaign ever could be.
I’m Speaking From Experience
Over the past couple of months, I’ve had the privilege of speaking at the Business of Pets Conference and delivering a webinar for Assistance Dogs UK on topics including Your Hiring Process Is Your Brand and inclusive recruitment.
If I’m honest, I still get nervous before every talk.
Standing in front of a room full of people never feels completely comfortable, but something has definitely changed. With each event, I’m enjoying it more, becoming more confident and feeling even more passionate about sharing what I’ve learnt throughout my career.
What makes me proud isn’t simply being asked to speak. It’s the conversations that happen afterwards.
Hearing business owners, HR professionals and hiring managers tell me they’re going back to review their interview process, rewrite their job adverts or rethink the experience they’re giving candidates is incredibly rewarding.
I’m not speaking from a textbook. I’m speaking from lived experience.
I’ve spent the majority of my career working alongside businesses across the pet, animal health and veterinary industries, helping them attract, hire and retain great people.
I’ve seen recruitment done exceptionally well. I’ve also seen the lasting impact when candidates leave a process feeling ignored, undervalued or misled.
Recruitment Has to Be More Than Filling Jobs
For a long time, recruitment was often about keeping everybody happy.
Don’t challenge the client.
Don’t upset the candidate.
Fill the vacancy and move on.
I don’t believe that’s good enough anymore.
If we genuinely want to improve our industries, we have to be prepared to have honest conversations. We need to challenge outdated hiring practices, encourage businesses to think differently about candidate experience and remember that recruitment isn’t simply about making a hire.
It’s about building trust.
One of the biggest misconceptions about recruitment is that it’s simply matching CVs with vacancies.
I’ve never believed that.
Great recruitment is about understanding people, understanding culture and helping businesses attract individuals who will genuinely thrive.
Sometimes that means encouraging a client to rethink an interview process. Sometimes it means helping a candidate understand why an opportunity might not be right for them. Sometimes it means saying something difficult because it’s the right advice, rather than the easiest thing to say.
The strongest partnerships we’ve built at The Animal People Recruitment Company haven’t happened because we sent the quickest CV.
They’ve happened because
we’ve invested time in understanding the business, its culture and the people who make it successful.
How Do Candidates Feel After Meeting Your Business?
Candidate experience isn’t just an HR initiative.
It’s a commercial advantage.
The pet and animal health industries are full of exceptional businesses, many of which are competing for exactly the same people.
Salary matters.
Benefits matter.
Flexible working matters.
But so does the way somebody feels during your recruitment process.
Candidates want to feel informed.
They want to feel that their time has been respected.
They want to feel that the people interviewing them are genuinely interested.
They want to understand what they’re joining and why the opportunity might be right for them.
Businesses that communicate well, make decisions efficiently and treat people with kindness are creating confidence before somebody has even started.
That can be the difference between securing a great candidate and losing them to a competitor.
Why This Matters to Me
I’ve dedicated most of my career to recruitment because I genuinely believe that helping businesses hire well makes a difference.
When organisations recruit with intention, communicate openly and treat people with respect, everybody benefits.
Candidates build better careers.
Businesses build stronger teams.
Cultures improve.
Within the pet and animal health industries, those stronger businesses can ultimately create better outcomes for the animals, customers and communities they exist to serve.
That’s why I’m so passionate about speaking on candidate experience, inclusive recruitment, employer branding and better hiring.
I’m not trying to shake things up for the sake of it.
I simply believe our industries achieve better results when we’re prepared to challenge old habits and put people at the centre of recruitment.
Let’s Have a Conversation
If you’re a business within the pet industry, animal health sector or veterinary profession, I’d encourage you to ask yourself one question:
How do people feel after they’ve been through your recruitment process?
At The Animal People Recruitment Company, we don’t just send CVs.
We work with businesses to understand their hiring challenges, strengthen their recruitment process, improve candidate experience and attract exceptional people who can help their organisations grow.
If you’re looking for a specialist recruitment partner across the pet, animal health or veterinary industries, I’d love to have a conversation.
And if you’re looking for a speaker for your next conference, leadership event, webinar or organisation, I’d be delighted to share what I’ve learnt, challenge a few assumptions and leave your audience with practical ideas they can put into action straight away.
Because, at the end of the day, people rarely remember every interview.
They remember how you made them feel.
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