15 Jun 2023
Many of our recruiters have faced that disappointing situation when they’ve advertised the job, shortlisted, interviewed and found the perfect candidate. Suddenly, the candidate throws a spanner in the works, walking away from the offer.
If you want to increase your chances of getting your perfect candidate on board, read our tips below to see what you could do differently:
Help the Candidate Engage with your Company
During the recruitment process, you should be taking steps to help your candidates understand the job, the company and the culture. Take some time to give them a tour of relevant areas of the company/building, show them where they would be based, introduce them to the team they could be working with, and have a coffee in the staff restaurant. This might add time to the whole process but could be the difference between acceptance and rejection.
Keeping in Touch
Wherever you are in the recruitment process, communicate with your candidates so they feel valued and will see that you want them to do well in the selection process. Email them a few days before the interview, tell them you’re looking forward to meeting them, and allow them to ask any questions. Then the day before, phone them to check they know all they need to know (including how to get to your site) before they turn up. Make sure these are informal communications - this will help candidates relax and feel more comfortable during the selection process and help them realise you are a caring employer.
Making the Right Offer
You might think you’re overstepping the mark here, but we suggest you find out if the candidate has any other ‘irons in the fire’ during the recruitment process. That way, you’ll be in an excellent position to judge the type of package they could potentially receive from the competition and at least match it. There’s no problem in asking if they have any other offers on the table or any applications underway with other employers. There’s also no harm in asking them what their ideal offer would look like, this just seems sensible in the circumstances.
Making the Offer Personally
When you are ready to present your offer to your best candidate, find a way to do it in person. Don’t email it or post it: phone them and tell them they’ve done so well that you want to make them an offer, and then invite them back to present it to them.
Sometimes, a return visit might not be possible, and in those cases, present your offer over the phone, quickly followed up by an email.
Verbally communicating the offer means the candidate can ask questions there and then, or they could disclose an offer made by your competitor, which you can then quickly consider to see if you can beat that with an even better deal.
Following all the tips we've included above could help you keep hold of those candidates you really don't want to lose.
