Candidates back out

1. To withdraw from something before completion.
2. To fail to keep a commitment or promise.

Recruiting is a very exciting and challenging profession and even more so when you recruit IT consultants. The challenges for an IT recruiter in today’s job market are in convincing and managing IT job seekers to remain committed and not back out during the hiring process. With the current IT market boom, a good IT consultant can find himself with multiple job offers at any given point in time and will get approached and headhunted by headhunters and recruiters alike constantly. And because he has multiple offers at hand he is bound to remain true to himself and not be loyal to anyone consultant, after all, he can only take up one offer at one time. This will also mean that to the other recruiter, he is bound to be another case of a backout candidate.

As a recruiter, the most frustrating aspect of my job is to have in my hand a candidate backing out – during or after the selection process. For most of us, the stress that we go through as a recruiter is not so much from the targets and the deadlines but the uneasy feeling of not knowing if your selected/Shortlisted candidate(s) will remain committed to your offer and take up the job.

Types of back out:

Let’s look at what stages of the recruitment process back out can possibly happen.

1. Candidate backing out before the interview
2. Candidate backing out after an interview
3. Candidate backing out after accepting the offer
4. Candidate backing out before joining
5. Candidate backing out just after joining

Probable reasons for backouts:

Varied reasons can be attributed as to why a candidate back out, from my past experiences below, are some of the common ones –

• Have in hand several offers and will decide on the best offer
• Developing cold feet at the last moment before submitting his/her resignation letter
• HR/Line Manager convinced him/her to stay back
• Was given a very good counteroffer by employer so decided to stay back
• Not serious about leaving current job, and attending interviews just because the opportunity was presented to him/her.
• Learnt of the project which was not to his liking/preference/expectation and is not keen on joining
• The final offer is not up to his/her expectation
• Did not agree with some of the clause(s) in the offer letter/appointment letter
• His/her friends/contacts gave a negative feedback about the organization so decided not to join
• The required joining time is not reasonable
• See what offer he/she can get from the market to negotiate a better salary with an existing employer
• The selection process took too long and has already accepted another offer
• Tried re-negotiating for more salary after selection
• Genuinely have personal/family issue because of which he/she cannot take up the offer

Repercussions & effects of backing out:

• Recruitment is an expensive activity. Every time a candidate backs out the recruitment process has to be initiated all over again.
• A good amount of time and effort is wasted to find a new replacement and projects can and do get delayed and all these translate to revenue lost

How to avoid & reduce candidates backing out:

• If you and your candidates are in the same area it is always advisable to meet face-to-face.
• Be it on the phone or in person spent as much time as you can and dig for information – what motivates him to look for a change, professional and personal reasons, what are his expectations in terms of money and roles, etc.
• It is important to be in control when it comes to recruiter-candidate relationships. To achieve that it is important that you conduct a thorough pre-qualifying. Get all the low-downs about his background and aspiration, et al.
• Always insist on obtaining either verbally and/or in writing his/her response and commitment to the job offer. You may do this with a direct approach or with great subtlety. Which approach you resort to will depend on each individual or their level of seniority – you need to make the right judgment.
• Constantly update him/her on the process and try keeping in touch on a frequent basis.
• Pay close attention while talking to him/her and listen for those tones and expressed/unexpressed concerns and look for those signs that might indicate his intentions.
• If any of his/her words, expressions, or actions give you a sense of doubt and concern, then drop him/her and move on. It is better to drop him/her now than later to have a back out in your hand.
• Have a set of questionnaires that you can run through with him/her before proceeding to qualify him - a questionnaire that will test his seriousness and sincerity to look for a change.
• Do not hesitate to ask them if they have discussed with his/her family members this plan to look for a job change. Especially for those who are married, please confirm with them if they have consulted their other half.
• Try and get inside your candidate’s mind, and understand his needs and his aspiration.
• Proactively try to cover all areas that you possibly think will be a likely point of concern (reason for backout) for him at a later stage and addressed them immediately.

Conclusion:

If after all this you have a back out it’s probably all right, after all, let us not forget that we are only human, and let us accept the fact that they too are also just human like us and not anything else (wink!). Like us, they too can have many internal and external influences/flaws for them to change their decision at a drop of a hat or act differently at times without any rhyme or reason.

The trick here is to constantly learn from one's mistakes and not repeat the same mistake the next time round. A good recruiter is someone who no matter how many times he falters and gets knocked down will reinvent himself and come back again and again but stronger, better, and smarter.