Hiring, reducing post-offer dropouts, no shows and retaining the right talent is a major hurdle for the Talent Acquisition teams today. As companies come to terms with the effects of the pandemic, the hiring numbers have increased drastically. One domain where the rate of hires is more than the others is that of the Tech industry. As everything has moved to Virtual or Hybrid environment in the last couple of years, the need for skilled talent in all tech domains has increased remarkably.
Service companies are also witnessing an increase in post-offer dropouts and no shows of about 45% to 50%. The overall cost of this has a glaring impact in the cost of acquisition and the growth of the company.
Before moving on to the different ways candidate engagement can be enhanced, it is a must to understand why Candidate Engagement is an integral part of the Recruitment process.
Why is Candidate Engagement Important?
HR professionals and Talent Acquisition teams are well-aware that one of the reasons for the increase in post-offer dropouts and no shows is due to the compensation factor. Though this is an important reason, expectation mismatch and lack of communication is another crucial hurdle.
Through surveys and research, it is recognized that with good Candidate engagement, the chances of the applicants reapplying for future roles, engaging with your services and promoting your brand through word of mouth will be higher. In case of a bad Candidate engagement, the impact on the brand image will be highly negative. This would also lead to a distrust in the brand, in turn, increase the pre and post offer dropout rate
Ways to Boost Candidate Engagement:
1. Create excitement about the company/ Promote Brand
Almost all companies in the current era have a social media presence. Make sure the page on social media portrays all the positive aspects of the company and brand. Posting videos of everyday work life or mentioning employees who have stayed for a long duration with subsequent promotions will act as a motivating factor for candidates inclining them towards the organization.
2. Maintain Transparency and a Definitive Timeline
Make use of automated emails to ensure maintenance of transparency with the candidates. Curate emails for candidates who apply, candidates who are selected for the next round and for ones who aren’t selected. Automated emails will reduce the amount of time spent on informing the same to candidates along with making sure transparency is maintained.
3. Clear Job descriptions and Career growth opportunities
Candidates who are more aware of the roles and responsibilities of their specific designation, through interaction with members of the team are less likely to drop out.
Mixers can be organized for candidates to interact with members of the team to understand the work culture, growth opportunities or more innovative options such as sharing success stories with candidates, making them chat with an employee, and sending stats of growth in their company.
4. Make sure there is no Over Engagement
The right amount of engagement will enhance the brand image but over engagement can prove to be deteriorating to the brand image. Interacting with candidates about once a week, sending relevant emails and introducing them to the teams are likely to work with the right amount of engagement.
5. Invest in the career page of the company
A career page is the first peek a candidate gets into the work culture and work life within the company. The career page has to be both engaging and welcoming to the candidates. Companies can further incorporate videos and fun content which would play a major role in encouraging the candidates to join the organization.
The more engaging the career page is highlighting the job role, expectations and work life, the more inclined candidates would be to join the organization.
6. Maintain Consistency Maintain consistent communication with the candidate. If a candidate does not hear from a company for about a week or more, the candidate is prone to lose interest and move towards other offers. This is especially the case when the selected candidate has a higher duration of notice period. Addressing the candidates’ concerns promptly would help them feel content and valued, in turn, enhancing their opinion of the company as well. This will further play a positive impact with respect to ‘word of mouth’ marketing.
7. Feedback
Create a survey which can be sent to candidates showing that their opinion matters to the company. Along with engaging them, companies will also be able to gain valuable insights with respect to their recruitment processes. This can help companies optimize their processes and offer a better experience along with attracting better talent. Applicants find it extremely helpful and informative to gain insights/feedback on the reason for not getting selected for the said role. This would also help them assess the feedback given before applying for future roles in the company.
Given above are some effective ways of enhancing candidate engagement and improving the brand image of the company. Though one might not see results immediately, consistently following these tips can improve quite a few factors and reduce the rate of post-offer dropouts and no shows.