The Season of Offer Dropouts - Every Recruiters Nightmare

April is the season of Appraisals which also means there are going to be a whole lot of offers floating around in the market. The recruiters face a tough time during this season as the market is filled with Candidates looking for better prospects, but some companies are not willing to hire people at highly competitive offers. As top talent is in high demand and rare to find passive jobseekers the season of offer dropouts has begun.

Recruitment turns out to be a very costly affair every time a candidate drops the offer. The entire recruitment process has to be initiated all over again. A significant amount of time and effort is wasted to find a new replacement and may at times projects get delayed and all of this would translate to huge revenue loss.

There is no hard & fast rule book which can eliminate offer rejects, but a few strategies can be implemented to minimise the % of offer rejects.

Here are a few things that could help in reducing offer rejections by candidates.

1.     Build Rapport & Keep Candidates Engaged        

Actively, keep talking to prospective candidates. Even if you do not have any vacancies. Passive candidates can turn out to be active anytime and keeping in touch or building a good rapport with them is a good way to keep an active pipeline.

2.     Understand the Candidate’s needs & Mindset

This can happen only if you have open ended conversations with the candidates and get to know what they are truly seeking. Many a times candidates open up and give clarity on the kind of opportunities they are seeking.

3.     Have clear Job descriptions & Well-defined Role.

Make sure you have clear & specific job descriptions & well-defined Job Roles. List the necessary qualifications, required skills, and experience the job applicant must possess. You need to use skill specific jargons that are suitable for the role and that would help the candidate to understand the lingo.

4.     Leverage Employee References & Recruitment Consultants

Personal References from employees would have a higher ratio of joining as the referee reputation is at stake with the employer. Recruitment agencies save your company time and effort by sourcing and shortlisting candidates for your open roles. Recruiting agencies are efficient and shoulder some of your hiring burdens. Recruitment Consultants also do mock calls to check if the candidate is still looking for counter offers and can help raise red flags by following up time to time on the candidate

5.     Improve Candidate Experience, Leverage Employer Branding & Treat candidates like your best customers.

Treat your recruitment strategy the similar way you do with your marketing & sales. If you receive a high-quality lead, would you wait 3 days to call that lead? Similarly, reach out to a high-quality candidate as soon as possible. You should move heaven and earth to accommodate that candidate, impress them & make sure they have a great candidate experience in the hiring process. Offer ejections are at times based on the experience that the candidate goes through during the interview process. If another employer impresses the candidate with their “Candidate Delight” then you are bound to lose that candidate.

6.     Be Quick with Interviews and Reduce Rounds of Interview

Time and speed play a vital role in all aspects of life, especially in the Recruitment industry. Recruitment process has evolved since inception and the pivotal question of any qualified candidate these days is about the TAT from Profile Shared to Offer Roll-Out. A delay of a single day in hiring candidates can make the candidate look out for better offers.

7.     Counter the counteroffers received by the candidate

Do not make low offers to candidates. You can test the water, but anything too low can be offensive and will put the candidate off (especially if they have high expectations). If the candidate is inclined to accept a counteroffer and you are really in need of the candidate, be prepared to counter the counteroffer by bettering what was offered earlier.

8.     Add Value to the Offer with Perks and benefits

Sometimes it is not all about the money. It is also about how well the company can take care of its people. Stress on the benefits provided by your organisation.

Perks and benefits such as 

·       Various insurances – Health, Life and Family group insurance.

·       Perks like – Laptop, Mobile, Phone connection,

·       Food Vouchers & Shopping coupons.

·       Work from Home Option

·       Extended Maternity / Paternity Leaves

·       Employee Stock options

·       Certification & Training Programs

·       Joining Bonuses

·       Additional Incentives 

All add value to the offer. The latest fad of organisations is to provide Covid vaccine & Covid insurance to their employees & their family.

9.     Have a well-planned onboarding Strategy

The stage between an offer to joining Is highly crucial for the employer. It is important to have some pre onboarding engagement activities with the prospective Joinee.

A few good activities that the organisation could plan would be:

·       Newsletters with company updates

·       Employee Career Success Stories

·       Intro to the Team members

·       Casual Visit to the office or Informal catches up for a coffee.

Many companies fail to have an onboarding strategy. The first day is the most important day on job for a new employee. Since research shows that the success trajectory of a new hire is set as early as the first two weeks, it is important to make their first day a special one. In onboarding, big things and little things matter. Therefore, orchestrating their first day can pay large dividends in the long run and creating unforgettable experiences will bond them to your organization. Proper onboarding is not only about first impressions. It also includes having a formal orientation program and a well written onboarding plan.

10. Learn from Mistakes, have a continuous improvement process

All said and done, we are all human and there is no final solution for this. All we can do is have a continuous improvement process and learn from our mistakes. Like a recruiter, even the candidates have many internal & external influences that would make them to change their decision at a drop of a hat or act differently at times.

In this candidate driven market what ultimately counts to most candidates is the CTC value and the benefits offered by the company. The CTC Package needs to be on par with the market based on candidate calibre, location, technical skills & education amongst others.

Offer dropouts are truly a nightmare for Recruiters but If these strategies are applied there are good chances you could minimise the Offer rejection ratios. But at the end of the day, it all depends on the candidate’s decision to choose what he/she wants.