Do you know how much treating candidates poorly costs your company? In an excellent article by John Sullivan, titled How Candidate Abuse is Costing Your Firm Millions of Dollars in Revenue, he doesn’t mince words about the way candidates are treated and have been treated for years. I share his sentiments as my experience echoes what he says.
Several years ago while recruiting on site for a growing company, the hiring manager kept a candidate waiting more than two hours, as he had a “customer crisis.” I understand customers are critical but the hiring manager had no clue that this candidate is also a customer, one that will never forget the long hours he prepared only to see the hiring manager for twenty minutes and never receive a rejection letter after the long wait. Later, working for a competitor, do you think he will select products from that company to integrate for his current employer? Do you think he’d recommend that company to any colleagues who are looking for new jobs?
John’s article mentions the importance of the application process. Have you viewed your company’s website to see how many clicks it takes to arrive at the search area? Have you tried using the search buttons? Can you find your openings posted on your website? Candidates sometimes must spend two hours or more to apply online. Our government application process is so labor intensive many people simply give up. And candidates rarely hear a response, even after an interview. An automated response email is the absolute minimum for a company.
Candidates want feedback, if at all possible. Human Resource people are trained to say, “Not a good fit.” I understand that term. Candidates not only need the skills but the personal fit with the hiring team. Many times you must respond in that manner. But if a required skill is missing, what harm can there be to provide that information? “We have candidates who more closely match our requirements in queue” would help the candidate far more than no response. Share details with your recruiter after each candidate interview. That will certainly improve results.
Are you watching your cycle time? I have a candidate in queue with a major company who was identified the day before Christmas and the company is still interviewing other candidates, trying to find the perfect candidate. The candidate has a job, but the unemployed candidate needs income and you risk one of two situations with this scenario: either he’ll go to work for a competitor before you decide or your manager will decide you don’t need to fill the job and cancel the requisition. I’ve seen this happen repeatedly.
With the up tick in the economy you will see people within your company looking for other jobs. They are tired of working excessive hours with the responsibilities of three people. Before this happens, take a good look at your hiring process. How could it be improved?
Call me. I’ll be happy to do the research to help you prepare for the upcoming onslaught. Do it now before the churn starts.
Ruth Glover is the author of MORE than a Paycheck: Inspiration and Tools for Career Change, available online at www.morethanapaycheck.net.