Manners Matter
Posted on Wednesday, June 13, 2018
Categories:
Human Resources
No one likes rejection or the silent treatment.
Candidates, like employers, invest time and energy into developing a resume, completing pre-employment assessments/applications, researching your company and attending one or more interviews with the expectation of receiving the job offer. Many times, there is only one position available and many applicants to consider. For some positions and large organizations, this can be hundreds of applicants to review and consider.
Recently while working to recruit for two different positions within our organization, I had the opportunity to receive feedback from two candidates who interviewed with us and were not selected. Both candidates commented how they appreciated the professional and timely communication during the entire process from start to finish and while not selected, would be open to future opportunities with our organization due to the pleasant candidate experience. We’ve made significant improvements to our recruitment process and would like to share a few best practices which can be customized to fit your organization.
Depending on your organization’s size, resources available, volume of applicants and type of position, the following tips are recommended practices to provide a positive candidate experience:
- Make the initial application process as simplified as possible – you may lose applicants if there are too many steps to apply
- Clearly explain your recruitment process: Will there be pre-employment testing or assessments? Is there one interview, two interviews? Set the time frame on when a decision will be made.
- Once an applicant become a viable candidate (meaning they have passed the initial qualifications to move forward) update their status in your records or if using an applicant tracking system – update the system timely of their status. This will help reduce the follow up phone calls or emails on job status and give closure to those not selected timely. It will allow you to quickly identify status within manual records should that phone call or email be received.
- Once the finalist candidate has been identified and offered is accepted, notify those top contender candidates who were not selected of the decision with a phone call, rather than a generic email message. Be sure to thank them for their time and interest in employment with your company.
- Remain in contact - help the selected candidate transition through the on-boarding process and be sure to provide names/contact information for those involved in these next steps.
- Final thought - the recruitment process works both ways. Our future “customers” are those applicants and candidates we initially encounter. Our goal should be to provide a positive experience that will be a set up for long-term employee engagement and success with any organization.
Tagged:technology, hiring, personnel, employment, HR Building