Respect your candidates

That lack of responsiveness – especially when it comes to scheduling interviews – has an impact on the organization’s brand and the company’s ability to hire the best talent.

Recruitment is a hot topic right now – and it should be!?The labor market is quickly shifting toward the candidate – if it’s not there already – and organizations need to understand candidate expectations, particularly for senior roles or industries where talent is rare to be found. This is why organizations have to start taking a proactive approach to finding and engaging applicants and candidates.

Organizations rely heavily on recruitment because they need employees to deliver their products and services. There is a direct connection between being properly staffed and the bottom-line. This means organizations need to have a recruitment process that applicants and candidates want to be a part of.

Recently a study was published by Cronofy that contained results from?2021 Candidate Expectations Survey? Almost 50% of applicants said that responsiveness is the number one priority in hiring. Specifically, that recruiters don’t follow-up with candidates.

The research shows that 48% of candidates would be less likely to recommend or engage with an employer in the future, based on frustrating interview scheduling experience, rising to 64% with more senior roles.

I personally see non-responsiveness as a pure disrespect for the candidates.

One minute we are writing fancy job ads and hoping for the top talent employees to apply to our calling, sometimes spending good amount of money for better visibility of our job offering on employment websites, and the next minute we are never again calling these most wanted top talents to inform them that they do not move on to the next round of our recruitment process.

Candidates recognize this hypocritical approach from companies. This unhealthy and disrespectful practice (and the damage from it to the company as an employer) cannot be changed by any employer branding campaign, by any open day of the company or fancy company website with unique and appealing manifesto.

What Do Candidates Actually Expect From A Recruitment Process?

According to the Cronofy survey, most candidates (40%) expect their wait to be between 2-6 days between applying and scheduling the interview. That’s less than a week. Many more expected an interview within 24 hours. This data is consistent across ages, genders, and positions.

There is no doubts that the HR departments and hiring managers are busy, but this is good data to share within your organization. Maybe in the process of creating the recruiting strategy, take time to talk about the recruitment timetable. I’m not saying that a week is absolutely necessary. You have to do what works for your organization. However, recruiters and hiring managers should also discuss the consequences of not meeting a candidate’s expectations.

The good news is that organizations can put some of a candidate’s expectations around responsiveness into their own hands. Technology can help recruiters to deliver the recruitment experience which feels and is representative of working for your company.?Once the invite is sent, the candidate can choose the date and time that works for them. This allows the organization to actually eliminate tons of back-and-forth. Done well, it’s an efficient and less stressful experience for all parties. Done badly, and candidates are taking away a negative perception of what it is like to work for your company.

It’s also an activity that candidates are willing to be a part of. Over 50% of applicants?prefer?scheduling an interview using technology such as email, text, and/or social media. Being able to empower candidates to choose the time that suits them best is a huge step forward and there’s evidence that it reduces no shows, something we know?90% of companies experience.

During a pandemic and post pandemic, employees will only change jobs if they’re sure they will be valued in the new company. Over the past year, employers have made significant changes to their hiring practices to ensure the safety of potential and current employees.?So maybe this should be the next one.