Have you ever interviewed the perfect candidate? The one who ticks all the boxes? The one who seems to be the perfect fit for your whole team? But just when you’re excited to hire them and give them the offer – there’s an eerie silence and it seems as though they have disappeared into oblivion! Despair strikes as the impending doom of re-starting your whole recruitment process begins again…… It’s OK! The fact is, nearly everyone in the HR industry has experienced the pain of losing a promising candidate. So here are 3 ways you can decrease your candidate drop off rates and secure every candidate that you are after!
Constant communication throughout the entire process of recruitment is the key to preventing high candidate drop off rates. By communication, I don’t just mean calling them up for an interview. Candidates hate when they don’t receive any response or acknowledgment for their application. This causes them to lose interest in working for your business and leads them to submit multiple applications elsewhere. So make sure you stay in constant communication with them throughout the process of shortlisting, interviewing and offering (or not offering) the position.
As hiring can be a timely process, candidates tend to lose interest and move onto the next-best option immediately. Thus, it is important to have complete openness and transparency in communication throughout your hiring process. Open communication isn’t just related to good news but to bad news as well – So whether you need longer time to decide or the interview was not successful; let them know. Well developed Applicant Tracking Systems should allow you to manage your candidates and stay in communication with them during the interviewing process.
Key Tip: Recruitment Software systems have automated ‘Acknowledgement of Application’ emails that let the candidate know you’ve received their application the moment they hit submit. If you’re ATS does not automate these responses, look into a free recruitment software system that does today!
On-boarding is a crucial step in the hiring process, as signing the contract determines whether or not you have secured a new employee. Let’s put ourselves in a candidates’ shoes for a minute. Imagine you’ve received a job offer from a company who lets you know that you will receive an email with contract details ‘shortly’. By ‘shortly’ they really meant an entire week so they could finally put the contract together in a PDF. You then realize you need to print all these documents off, then fill them out, sign them, scan the documents onto your PC, attach all the documents in the right order and finally send it off. Now I don’t know about you -but just the thought of this makes me tired! This is why Applicant Tracking Systems with paperless onboarding and digital signing features are the key to making this on-boarding process easy and efficient. A recruitment software that provides auto-generated contracts and digital signing is core to decreasing candidate drop off rates as it makes it easy, efficient and timely for a candidate to sign off the contract.
Key Tip: Make sure your Applicant Tracking System is paperless and fully equipped with digital signing and payment integration systems. If not, look into an ATS that does! Learn more about the paperless onboarding process here.
Many HR executives make the mistake of thinking that just because a candidate has signed the contract; the process of hiring is over and that they have successfully secured a new employee. However, this notion couldn’t be further from the truth. Has your hiring process really been successful if your employee quits within the first week, month or year of employment? From initial induction to their role, to training and development; you need to make an employees integration into your business as smooth and enjoyable as possible. Some ways you can support this process is through initial inductions, training, updates about the company and constant career and promotion opportunities. If new employees aren’t given this proper care and development throughout their employment; chances are they will most like leave and move to a company that does.
Key Tip: Some applicant tracking systems allow you to share documents and videos for training or induction purposes during the process of on-boarding itself.
A well-developed applicant tracking system will not only help automate your communication and on-boarding process but can also help retain a new employee throughout the process of induction. Does your applicant software system allow for constant communication, paperless onboarding and supported integration into your company? Try a recruitment software that does today!