Are you turning your candidates off?

How many times have you found the ideal person for a role, only for them to disappear completely off the radar before they make it to the interview stage, or even worse, when you’re about to offer them the job?

Candidate drop-out, drop off, ghosting, or Houdini’s disappearing act is one of those annoying things that any recruiter or hiring manager will deal with at some point. Sometimes there’s literally nothing you can do about it – a better offer elsewhere comes along, the person realises they aren’t actually an active candidate, or they decide that that move to Australia is a good idea after all.

The way candidates job seek is becoming a lot like how they shop as a consumer. If the proposition isn’t an attractive one, then they’ll move onto the next competitor – like the consumer world, brand loyalty and reputation just aren’t enough anymore.

Hiring is just like dating. It’s about flirting, sharing information, leaving people wanting more. And sometimes, even if you’re the nicest, best-looking person in the world, it’s not your fault.

But most of the time, it’s entirely your fault. And here are a few reasons why.

Your dating profile is bad

Before we dig into candidate drop-out, let’s just look at how you’re turning your candidates off before they even consider applying to your role. From hastily written, mistake-laden job adverts that look more like job descriptions to a lack of onward link to your company’s page, candidates want to research and learn more before they apply. In fact, only 6% of candidates who land on a landing page or job advert will apply first time, and if their experience is naff, that already awful figure drops even lower.

This also applies to the other collateral your candidates see before they hit the ‘apply now’ button. Careers site slow to load and full of dead ends? Instant turn off. Last post on any social media site more than a few weeks? Not interested. Get active online and stay active!

It's hard to swipe right

You’ve managed to fix your ads and your online presence is looking much better, but your application form is still disastrous. Why does it have the logo of your ATS at the top? Why are there 45 questions, all of which are mandatory? Any why doesn’t anything save if the candidate accidentally closes the browser tab? And the worst one, why is it so difficult to complete an application on mobile, when 90% of us use our mobiles ahead of a desktop?

It’s not just the physical application process either. One of the biggest takeaways we can give you from this article is that candidates who aren’t given a solid schedule are way more likely to get bored, give up or move onto something else. If they know that the process takes a set amount of time, the exact number of interviews they’ll have, and the exact date they’ll receive a decision, they’ll be engaged throughout. Plus, it puts the pressure on your HR teams, resourcers or whoever is in charge of recruiting to do their job properly!

Your chat is bad

We spoke about the effect of bad interviews in our blog last week. Turns out, winging it and not having a dedicated set of questions designed to encourage flowing conversation is a quick way to lose your candidate’s interest. That and being either too brutally honest, or dressing up the truth are both easy ways to give candidates a reason to say no before they’ve heard anything else.

Also, Gary the miserable Site Foreman, who tells it how it is, often brutally, might not be the best person to wheel out at first interview. Maybe coach Gary on how much choice candidates have at the moment and that they may need a softer introduction, and more importantly, explain to the candidate the culture that Gary has developed and why him being a tough cookie has brought the team lots of success.

Stick to a format, make it easy for the candidate to talk and don’t make it up as you go along!

You’re naff at keeping in touch

Communication is essential, especially to Gen-Z candidates who are used to communicating directly with organisations – and of whom 65% will not consider buying from, and therefore working with, a brand who doesn’t respond.

Whether it’s letting the candidate know when the next interview is, letting them know why they weren’t successful this time, but to apply again in the future, or to keep them updated during their notice period at their old job, if you fail to speak to your candidates you might end up making them question whether they’re really going to have a great experience when they get through the door.

It’s not them, it’s you

You’ve had a great interview, you’ve opened up the doors to the office and possibly even made the offer. But then, the candidate pulls out of the process. Why? They’ve seen or heard something which has scared them off. And most of the time, it’s your lack of culture that has done it.

It’s not even the dodgy stories or the bad reviews online either – it’s the fact that they’ve been kept hidden from the candidate from the start of the interview, and that your current and previous colleagues felt aggrieved enough to warn a new starter or write a review.

Instead of shuffling these problems back under the carpet and hoping the next hire doesn’t experience the same, attack them head on and create an open and honest culture where it’s safe to feed back negatively, and to share progress with those coming into the business. If you have ongoing issues, chat to your candidate about them – surely you’re hiring someone to try and fix them, right?

And have you noticed we haven’t bothered to dig into salary, benefits, annual leave and all of those other key reasons candidates often cite as reasons for drop out? Well, they’re all completely meaningless if the candidate was bored senseless at their interview, or left feeling terrified of Gary. If you don’t keep the candidate turned on, it’s pointless trying to sell them on free parking or those two additional days of holiday.

Like any good flourishing relationship, you don’t just give up when the ring’s on the finger. You need to develop the relationship, keep them happy and check in every and now again to spice things up and make sure everyone is still enjoying it.

Are you experiencing lots of candidate drop-out? Are any of the reasons above new to you? Or do you think there’s just something inherently wrong with the current power that candidates have in the market, giving them freedom to do as they please? Join in the discussion on our LinkedIn page or post your opinions!