Imagine finding the perfect candidate for a role that you have been given a deadline to fill. After spending hours scrolling through a high volume of resumes, conducting numerous one-on-one interviews, shortlisting a few candidates to further levels of interviews with team members and management, you finally did it. It didn’t happen easily. There were negotiations and numerous follow ups. But the ‘perfect candidate’ accepted your offer. You are eagerly waiting for him/her to join you, once their notice period is over. But just before the joining date you get an email from the candidate saying that they have decided to decline your offer and join another organisation. Perhaps your competitor. This is a devastating feeling. Hiring managers must avoid this at all costs. Apart from the resources, valuable time is wasted. Opportunities are lost. In this article we are going to discuss how to keep candidates engaged after an offer so that they don’t drop out at the last minute. So, let’s begin.

How to keep candidates engaged after an offer?

If you are facing high candidate dropouts, then improving your candidate engagement strategies can help you boost your hiring success rate.

What is candidate engagement?

Candidate engagement is a process that involves multiple tasks that will help companies build and foster a positive and delightful relationship between the candidate and the employer during the hiring process. It will help you create a lasting candidate experience that is engaging, informative, and supportive throughout the entire recruitment process.

Candidate engagement starts from the moment a candidate expresses their interest in a role you are offering. It continues throughout the entire hiring process, including the application process, interview stages, offer negotiation, and onboarding.

6 Tips to Keep Candidates Engaged Post-offer

1. Automated engagement templates after accepting offer:

Engagement templates are pre-configured email, text, or voice call templates to interact with the candidate once they sent you the acceptance letter. For example: Calling the candidate to congratulate and show excitement for accepting the offer.

2. Create touch points based on notice period: 

Based on the roles of candidates, they may have serve notice periods between two weeks to three months. These days are crucial for engagement as it gives them a window to shop for other offers. In order to minimise drop out during this period, create touchpoints to interact with the candidate via call, text and email. Touchpoints can be anywhere from 2 – 18 touchpoints. This will keep the candidate engaged and build a good relationship with the company even before their first day.

3. Assign a candidate engagement specialist:

In large companies where hiring is a continuous process, it is good to have an engagement specialist who solely focuses on improving candidate experience. HRs and Talent acquisition teams have their plates full with daily operations and they may not be able to engage with the candidates properly. If you don’t have the budget to hire a candidate engagement specialist, then outsource it to a company that specialises in candidate engagement and experience.

“HireLoop Assigns Dedicated Engagement Specialists to Improve Candidate Engagement Scores and Reduce Dropouts. Book a Demo Now!”

4. Provide quick replies to queries:

While serving the notice, candidates may have tonnes of queries that they need answers for. For hiring managers this can get mundane and boring as everyone has the same questions. In such cases, it is better to have a chatbot that replies to their queries anytime. This will improve the candidate experience significantly.

5. Enquire about counter offers:

While making touchpoints, include talks related to counter offers and offers from other companies. Get as much information as possible to understand if the candidate is planning to consider any other offers. This will give you a chance to proactively come up with alternative strategies to try and keep the candidate from considering your company from others.

6. Provide assistance for relocation/WFH: 

Many employees may have to relocate to a new location to take up the job. For some, it can be remote work. In such cases, it is crucial to offer assistance in any way possible. It can be as simple as sending out possible rooms to rent, sending out hardwares early to set up their home office etc. This will ensure that they feel included and won’t think about dropping out.

Also read: 11 Do’s & Don’ts of Onboarding

Reasons candidates drop out after accepting your offer

1. Counter offers from their existing employer: When an employee puts down his resignation letter, most employers would make an attempt to retain them by offering a higher salary, promotion or better perks. If their offer is convincing, then chances are they will stick with their current company.
2. Personal reasons: People have several things going on in their personal lives. Family commitments, health issues, etc may prevent them from accepting your offer.
3. Better opportunities: This is the number reason why most of the candidates drop out. When someone starts their job search, they shop for the best offer. In many cases they may use your offer to negotiate a better package from a different company. If candidates are able to find better opportunities than what you can offer, they dropout.
4. Not meeting expectations: In some cases, candidates will realise that the company or the job role is not as expected by them after they accept the offer. This will lead them to drop out.
5. Relocation issues: If the role you offered requires the candidate to relocate to a new location, they may face difficulties in relocating. This can make them reconsider their decision.
6. Compensation: If the candidate is receiving a better compensation package or finds out that the offered compensation is not at par with industry standards or with peers, they may quickly change their decision and drop out.

5 Tips to Avoid Candidate Dropouts

As an employer, it is your responsibility to take control of the situation and take proactive measures to avoid them. Candidate dropouts are not good for business. Based on our experience onboarding 1000s of candidates and improving joining rate, we have compiled a list of 5 things that are most important for any company to avoid candidate dropouts. They are:

1. Streamlined and simple application process: A lengthy application process that requires candidates to fill out several data points and multiple steps are always going to be a demotivator for many. It is better to have a simple application process to make it easier for candidates to apply for the open positions.

2. Clear communication: Provide complete information about the open position, the hiring process, and what they can expect from the company. After completing each step, you can also provide a feedback or an acknowledgement to keep the candidate informed and engaged.

3. Show excitement & interest: Throughout the hiring process, show sincere interest and enthusiasm in their skills and abilities. This will create a positive impression on the candidate and a great way to show that they are valued and appreciated.

4. Set realistic expectations: Be transparent to candidates while explaining about the role. Be it about job description, challenges or difficulties. You want to make sure that you instill realistic expectations and the candidate is fully aware of what they are signing up for.

5. Provide a delightful candidate experience: What sets you apart from other companies is the overall experience that you are able to provide to the candidate. Even to those that you are not hiring. A positive candidate experience can help you prevent dropouts and encourage candidates to apply for future roles

Also read: 10 Steps to an Efficient New Employee Onboarding Process

Conclusion

To conclude, we can say that it is critical for companies to come up with strategies to keep the candidates engaged after extending your offer letter. To ensure that they do not drop out and cause losses to the company, create an efficient candidate engagement plan that includes having multiple touchpoints, engagement templates, answering queries faster, providing relocation / WFH assistance, and taking proactive measures to counter any possible outside offers. Make sure you subscribe to our newsletters to receive the latest updates in your inbox.

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