Post by GlocalizedHR on Oct 20, 2015 17:10:43 GMT
5 Reasons! your candidates are rejecting you
Candidates dropping out after accepting the offer is the biggest challenge for any recruiter. Have you ever wondered, why at many occasions after all the good efforts and shortlisting, the candidates don’t either accept the offer or join the organisation. There is one basis rule, interview is a 2 way process, when you call someone for the interview it’s not only you who takes the interview it’s vice a versa as well. Rather the candidate at many occasions interview in more details that you could do before releasing the offer
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Every time you call a candidate for the interview or any communication, you get interviewed by him at many levels. Let’s discuss those areas where you as an employer or interviewer gets assessed by the candidate, and what could you do to ensure that you clear those rounds
1. Hello! Mr. X
The interview process starts right from the very first step when we contact a candidate for an opportunity with our organisation, that suits his profile. As it’s said that half of the selection or rejection happens in the first 5 minutes of the interview, and it’s not only from the interviewer’s side but also from the candidate.
It’s obvious in today’s electronic age, most of the candidates would be contacted wither by call or mail, in both the modes, the candidates assess you as an organisation basis on how professional or casual did you sound on your call or mail.
You might notice some candidates say that they are not interested in a change when you call them, however, the same candidate must have updated his profile over the job portal or other sources. And whereas if another recruiter calls him for the same role, he comes for the interview. The sole reason behind his denial at first instance was the way he had been approached and the confidence he got from the voice of the recruiter. Similar impact is left on a candidate by the verbiage of the mail, that we have sent to the candidate. Always ensure that your mail is professionally drafted to appeal the candidate showing the reasons why he should join this organisation.
2. Peter Parker or Spiderman
A recruiter has been honoured with a great power of shortlisting or rejecting some, however, with that great power comes the greater responsibility of developing and maintaining the brand image of the organisation, as you than become the brand ambassador of your company. As a recruiter when you meet someone, you try to assess the candidate all the time, and that start from the time, when he walks inside the room and see how the person carries himself. Similarly, when a candidate comes for an interview, the perception about the company starts to build as soon as he enters at the reception of your office.
"With great power, comes great responsibility" - Stan Lee / Spiderman
As the candidates assess you as an organisation, he would assess you how welcoming your office is not only in the look and feel but also the people he encounters and interacts during the course of his interview, be it your receptionist, guard, or the most important the interviewer. Now the question come why does the candidate do this personality and presentability check? the simple answer is the candidate starts to see his future and lifestyle that is going to be in that organisation. If the first interaction is not impressive, than the candidate might not feel like being a part of your company, same way as you would check how the person would fit into the organisation’s culture.
So, it goes without saying that presentability is of high importance not only for the candidate but for the company as a whole as well, because you need to decide what image you would like to portray to the candidate of your company, a superhero or a mediocre photographer? choice is yours.
3. My name is Sherlock Holmes
I am sure when you shortlist someone you try to ensure that you get the best resource onboard, and hence you do the background verification of the candidate from his previous employers on the grounds of his performance, behaviour, work ethics, and many others. Similarly, every candidate does his fair share of background check on your organisation before he accepts or joins your organisation.
As soon as a candidate is approached by you, his first instincts unleashes the inner Sherlock, and he starts to find out all possible information that is not showcased for public knowledge.
"It's my business to know what other people don't know" - Sherlock Holmes
Other than how much you spend on your company's branding or how high your share value is, your existing and ex-employees are the biggest source of your feedback, so it is the key to keep your employees happy and engaged so that they spread a positive word of mouth. Ensure that your company has implemented the best policies and practices for the high level of employee engagement. No matter if you are a recruiter and your company has a different department for the employee engagement, you are the first source of feedback to the company, how people perceive about you in the market. So don’t shy away, be bold and give your inputs to the management for the suggested improvement areas.
4. What's in the bag? - Almond or peanuts
As per a study, after the engagement level, the biggest trigger factor for looking out for a change is the compensation part. People might think that compensation would be the biggest triggering reason but breaking the myth of it, people who are engaged in their work and feel connected, stay longer with the company with higher performance, even at a little lower salary. However, we must not ignore the fact that
“Money might not be every thing, but plays a very important role”
Company might have assigned a certain budget for certain roles and openings, however it is of utmost importance that we understand where do we stand in the market in terms of salary bench marking. If you are below the market standards, you will not be able to attract candidates to join you, regardless of how good policies and practices you have, after all every body wants good living and for that you need good money flow. On the contrary, do check if you are offering higher than the market trend, because if that is happening, than you might be able to attract candidates to join you, but might not sustain for long.
5. Out of sight, out of mind!
It’s a well known human psychology, if you are out of sight you might be out of mind. Most of the time, we have urgent requirements in hand, we even get good candidates to offer, as a result we do release the offer, and then gets relaxed. Moving on to other requirements, we forget to be in touch with the candidate who has accepted the offer with us.
Don’t forget, if you are looking for a good candidate, so is the candidate, he is looking for a good job. That means he is actively looking out for opportunities in the market, so just an offer released from your end will not stop him going out for more opportunities. The only way to keep him warm and live with you is to stay on top of his mind and list of opportunities. Because if you loose touch of your candidates, they will get someone else out there who can offer him the similar or higher offer and can snatch him away from you.
Till the time candidate does not join you and get’s on-board, you must create such a process where in you keep your candidate engaged with the organisation and keep assessing if he or she might be having other offers. Nobody would like to have a drop out knowingly, so better keep your backup ready.
Although this is not a fool proof solution to this ever existing challenge in the lives of the recruiters, but I am sure keeping the above 5 points in mind and working towards them, will surely help you overcome this issue to a high extent. As I always recommend, and will say again, don’t limit yourself to the book of rules, create your own rules, find newer ways to overcome the situations. Happy recruiting.