Last-minute candidate backout, is this a better approach?
In the last couple of days - I had two candidates back out at the last minute from joining us
The pattern was similar -
suddenly they stopped receiving my calls, they forget to return my calls and messages, finally a day before the joining I get a btw message or comment
“last night I received an offer I couldn't reject”; “my current org just offered the project I was long waiting on”; “I have been interviewing for a long time and finally last night the folks returned back” “I have decided to take a sabbatical for the next couple of months - will definitely reach out when I plan to make my next career move”
Or some more innovative excuses
All those 30-60 days where you have genuinely invested time and engaged these folks. Those confidential updates and those long conversations about the scope of the opportunity. Tweaking policies and timelines so they have a smooth transition. Assigning buddies from our internal team to help them get comfortable with the culture.
Literally, this is one of those moments where as a recruiter, one can get extreme to losing faith in the HUMANITY as a whole :) for being unethical and lacking professionalism. To support your sentiments, every other org will echo - "Welcome to the club” . Also, get in a discussion how the long notice period is the culprit to the whole ecosystem ( this is a whole different topic of discussion)
Obviously, I really want to react negatively and give a piece of my mind. Experience tells me when a candidate put you in this situation - first off realize this is not the right time to - put sense into the candidate, or try to infuse any so-called "Gyan". It will only bitter the whole experience for everyone.
So we @PagarBook, decided to put ourselves in the candidate shoes.
What exactly is he/she ( the candidates) thinking by these last-minute calls-
- their definition of stability - (a known brand or team)
- better offer (more cash, better location)
- candidate perception.
- Stability - your organization is the Best defined for you! you know the culture, you know the scope of opportunity, you know what's waiting ahead, basically, you know the inside story.
for the candidate - it's all a verbose conversation between the recruiter and the team. After all, every opportunity sounds the same. It's promising the candidates, the best team, good growth, everything under the sun/moon.
The question is; Can we actually have them visit or work with us for a week before they chose to move on to the other offer? Will it impact their experience and decision?
2. Better offer It's always about the numbers at the end of the day. Let’s not ignore this, just because you believe, your opportunity is good for them. The location also plays an impact.
One approach here is to teach them to value commitments. The way we can achieve this is :
Encourage candidates to interview at multiple places.
Help them with their homework.
Give them freedom of choice before you put together the offer.
Value the fact they need to have options, so they know they can make the right choice.
If this means - they might end up rejecting your opportunity to take the other, so be it. It's way better than losing them after waiting for months !!!!
The only ask here from the candidate is: Once they accept an offer it's their moral responsibility to honor it.
3. Candidate perception Most candidates have a past experience they relate to. As an organization, let's learn to respect the candidates' perceptions and experience, during the interview process.
- provide them genuine feedback along the process,
- apologize if there is a delay or goof up on the scheduling,
- ensure a transparent approach, answer their questions all along,
- get the candidates to be comfortable to backout from the process at any given point in time,
- respect their aspirations and priority.
There is a shift in energy required from us as an organization - We need to stop looking at candidates backing out last minute as the normal norm.
Let's get ourselves to build an ecosystem where candidates and organizations build an experience of trust and professionalism in the hiring process. !!!!
It's Time to Bring the Change - Let us take the baby step and bring this change!
Entrepreneur | Runner | Fond of stories | Management Consultant
2 年Ancy Verghese This is from 2021, while you were writing this, Ayushi Rungta and I began developing OpenOffers to address it holistically. You're so right, commoditisation has hit the core human values in hiring. So we questioned the age-old practice of competing for talent. After studying every other industry that faced similar challenges, such as banking, insurance, we believe collaboration is the way to bring transparency in commitment, and clarity to decision making for both the sides. And this, became the premise for OpenOffers, a Commitment Intelligence Platform.
Senior Software Enginner at Microsoft teams
4 年Ancy Verghese The point is I have seen HR complaining about this but i have not seen actionable items in this. I have not seen a poll created by any HR where hr is creating a poll to know the reason. A poll where HR is asking if they tell the truth when they reject the offer. Let talk in terms of actionable item instead of complaining. The point is HR interview/HM interview is less of truth and more of reading some blogs and vomiting on interview. I can tell you from my experience att sharechat where i worked with Suneet Agrawal in VP round i knew we both are lying at that phase and 5 month laters that was proven. I have worked in 4-5 company till now and there has been 0 company where HR interview/HM interview were even 30% truth when any question were asked. 1 year later team size is false, growth,Esops, stability are lie.
QA Engineer at Tech9 | Ex-Fiserv Inc.
4 年Nicely written Ancy Verghese, But at the same time we should look at the other side of the story, HR told you at the last minute after clearing all interview rounds that they have got another candidate who is ready to work less than your package. Is this is the correct approach? These days this also happens very frequently.