I’m always on the backs of those in my network to demonstrate how job seekers need to know what their message is and how to communicate that message clearly and understandably when networking and applying for their next career move.   

But that does beg the question about the other side of the coin? Do employers deliver the message they want or should, in a way that enhances their company’s image and reputation? And does every contact point they have with anyone interested in potentially working for them through social media or in person take the right message away into the marketplace. You want people to be really excited about working for you, that is that your organization is really together & thriving and a company of real interest now and for the future.  Let’s face it, companies often fall short of delivering this message because their interest in really limited to snagging the one top individual who fits the bill for the job open right now!! That in and of itself is a mistake because how a company handles every candidate they come into contact with is an essential part of its success in its future talent branding.

Each company is unique, but all have one thing in common: they need talented, really well skilled, motivated and highly promotable people to keep the succession plan robust and the business moving. The Human Resource team which would include Talent Acqusition/Recruiting, is critical to any company’s success, all the more so because building a strong and effective team takes a lot of time and effort and so much goodwill in the marketplace. Companies expend vast time and resources creating and primping and controlling their public image. Because of this, employers need to be mindful not to unwittingly undermine their efforts by doing certain things which could create confusion, dismay, anger, or resentment among potential employees.

OK, so here’s a scenario: you just found out that the perfect candidate to whom you just offered a job in Supply Chain Management has rejected your offer. OUCH. Worse, you’ve realising that more and more often, top candidates in Supply Chain, Logistics and Procurement are “disappearing” very quickly throughout the recruitment process. What’s going on? Firstly, this is a vertical of the market which is in extremely high demand but where the supply is low. We are all experiencing the highs and lows of courting these scarce candidates. 

Candidates drop out of the recruiting process for many reasons. Some receive offers from competing employers who move to hire faster, and a hot candidate may not be able or willing to wait to see what your offer looks like. Others become disenchanted or lose interest simply because they have no imformation and the process to hire is slow – Important to know that companies are very aware that their SCM staff are always getting pursued for other opportunities, so sometimes candidates decide to stay put where they are because they unexpectedly get a raise or a promotion.  

What should be most worrying to a prospective employer is when a candidate forms a negative opinion of your organisation, and have simply decided they don’t want to work there. Why you ask? Well its very easy to have happen. Lack of communication with the candidates during an interview process is the number one reason for losing the love and is a real NO-NO. To those interviewing, it just looks like the company doesn’t have their act together and nothing angers them faster than being left in the dark – to them it makes the company look inefficiency and that that speaks to how the company operates as a whole. The other problem. Long periods of time between one interview and another is a candidate killer. Vital to keep the process moving very fast utilising video conferencing and Skype for example. Areally savvy organisation can have taken top talent away from all competing firms before anyone knows it by using technology and team interviewing. The lack of feedback and follow up connundrum leaves unsuccessful candidates feeling empty and worse still, angry and the unfortunate news for the company that’s a guarantee of telling at least 10 people about how badly they were handled in their social network. And that’s press no company needs.

So this begs a question: if you’re noticing increased “dropout” among candidates, you need to look at your recruiting process and determine if it is sending an unintended message? Are you somehow chasing candidates away in a fiercely competitive talent vertical?

Here are some simple things you can do to work at retaining the interest of candidates longer through your recruiting process – even if you end up not hiring the candidate because statistics have proven that you quite possibly might want to revisit that rejected candidate sometime in the near future – and you want them feeling just as good about you later as they did in the first place.

Humanise, Humanise, Humanise, your process that is. People always prefer to deal with people and the thin end of the wedge is that if someone gets caught in email jail or in black void of application hell or they can’t get a live person to call them back to find out what the result was after their interview, they are going to take it out on how they feel about your company.

That’s not a good place to be.  More pointers to follow in my next blog. It is possible to get candidates loving you and your brand even if you had to let them down and didn’t give them the job. Sure it takes a little more time but hey they will respect you for it and the good press you get is something you can’t pay for. People love telling hero stories even if the ending wasn’t happy.

Over and Out

Bronwen