Unfortunately, in today’s candidate market, there are more vacant jobs than there are prospective employees to fill the roles. As a result, companies may be losing promising candidates during the hiring process, leaving vacancies open for a painfully long time. It’s for this reason that companies must adopt innovative methods of attracting quality talent in a candidate-short market. Read on to discover how to find candidates and maintain the attention of jobseekers in such a competitive employment market.
Pre-interview
When job seeking, the first aspect of your company that your candidate will encounter is the vacancy advertisement. Not only is it important to make the role sound appealing and draw attention to the highlights of the company, but it’s also imperative that the application process is clear and straightforward. In the instance that an application process is too complex and fiddly, the candidate will simply lose interest and search elsewhere. You’re after a candidate who will enhance your talent brand, and these individuals won’t want to waste time.
Interview invitation
After scanning applications and CVs, your next port of call is to send out interview invitations. This isn’t as simple as emailing your candidate with a date, time, and place; this is your opportunity to woo them. Pick out something you liked about their CV and let them know within the invitation. Personalising the experience will make the candidate feel wanted and valued, making them more inclined to accept the invitation and proceed with your company.
First interview
Once your candidate accepts the interview invitation, they’ll attend their first interview. During this interview, you shouldn’t push them for commitment too early, as this will convey desperation and deter your candidate’s interest. Take the interview as an opportunity to get to know your candidate and find out more about their professional experience and education. The purpose of the first interview is for you to weigh up your candidate, and vice versa.
In-between interviews
When in-between interviews, this is a time that can be make or break in recruitment. You don’t want your candidate to lose interest, yet you don’t want to pester them to the point that they no longer wish to work with you. It’s about finding that balance and keeping your candidate touchpoints open without spamming them with emails and phone calls. Your candidate wants to feel considered; however, they don’t want to feel hounded.
Post-interview
After all necessary interviews have taken place, it’s all about acting as quickly as possible. Of course, you shouldn’t act so quickly that you make a rash and uninformed decision, but a prompt response is important. If you leave a candidate lingering for too long, they will assume they weren’t selected for the job, lose interest, and accept employment elsewhere. With this being said, you also don’t want to make a decision so quickly that it comes off as desperate. As with everything, it’s about treading the balance between the two.
Offer stage
The final stage of recruitment is the offer stage, and this is your time to win the heart of your candidate. As with the interview invitation, it’s important to personalise the offers you send out so that your candidate feels as though they’ve been specially selected for the role. Share with them the desirable qualities that you noticed about them in their interview and make them feel validated in a professional capacity. They’re much more likely to accept the offer if they feel you’ve paid attention to their individual positive qualities and appreciated them.
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