How to reduce dropouts while hiring for your early-stage start-up?

*This blog is useful for Start-up founders and CHROs that are looking to hire great talent.

Having a dropout after an offer has been made to a candidate, is a huge problem for any company. It’s a tough situation for all stakeholders - Recruiters, HR in general, line managers, and business overall.

But is there really a way to reduce dropouts, aren’t dropouts outside the control of the company and depend more on salary, sector, career, etc? The answer is “No”.

While there are factors that are outside a company’s control, there are a lot of initiatives that can be done with little effort to reduce the number of drop-outs. Here is a set of actions that your company can take:?

1. Relook at the hiring process:

a. Number of Rounds:?Think of the interview process as an equation between the candidate and the company. The company is looking to hire & the candidate will undergo tests/stages of the interview to get a great job/career at the end of it. If you have a long interview process that makes the candidate spend more time than what he/she is willing to invest, there would be drop-outs during the process.?Another reason would be that typically a candidate would be in multiple processes, and therefore a longer process spoils the experience and one may lose out to a much faster competitor.?

b. Online Tests: It is generally seen that with the introduction of tests in the hiring process, drop-outs would go up since candidates would not complete the test. If the drop-out number is very high then in such cases a live coding/case study methodology is a much better investment of your time. Also, if there is an aptitude test as part of their hiring process, it’s best not to have it administered across levels. For senior candidates, this can be put-offish. The bottom line is, that even if the test is mandatorily a part of your process, make sure that they are quick and smooth.

2. Interview process:

?a. Gaps between Interviews:?Keep the gap between subsequent rounds to a max of 1 week. More than that, you are giving time to the candidate to rethink their application.?

b. Keep it professional and in sync with the role:?There are a wide range of questions that can be considered inappropriate that may form part of the interview process and be considered normal. Evaluate the interview process, identify them and make sure any person, cliched or discriminatory questions are removed.?

c. Vibe during the interview: A few small things like switching on the camera, introducing the company in detail, helping the candidate understand the product/services that are offered, spending time on Q&A, etc, adds a lot of value to the tone of the interview process. It gives a positive experience and hence reduces drop-outs.

d. Pre-Interview:?It’s a good practice to send candidates a pre-read that lets them know what to expect during the process. A pre-read can be made for a specific role and it can include – what to prepare for, details about the process, the number of rounds, etc. The idea is to make them feel involved and supported.

3. Brand: Glassdoor and LinkedIn are two sites that candidates would research before coming for the interview to educate themselves and hence a positive experience there, would reduce your drop-outs as well.

a. LinkedIn: Uniform content across employees helps.

b. Glassdoor:?For candidates that have joined in, do present them with the opportunity to share their interview experience on Glassdoor. Make it easy for them to access the site by having the link as a part of the onboarding experience, should they choose to share.?

c. Regret Emails:?A candidate is 40% more likely to recommend a company even if they are rejected, only if a reason for rejection is shared. We understand that getting to give feedback to rejected candidates is tough but the brand equity that gets generated by this one act will surely compensate. Also, it's courteous to get back to candidates who have invested their valuable time.

4. Benchmarking Salary:?If your offer salary is less than what the typical cost of the role is, there will be dropouts. Also, location and salary go hand in hand. Your salary in, say Chennai, will be different from what you pay in Mumbai. So, any parity issues w.r.t that and the market will make your candidates drop more than usual on this one aspect. So, benchmarking will save a lot of trouble.

5. Use Technology:?There is software like tawgl.com that can help you shine a light in the black box that is the interview process. To learn more, leave us a message at tawgl.com

And lastly have a cool, calm demeanor w.r.t dropouts, some of them cannot be helped. At all times, act in accordance with your company’s values.