Scaring Too Many Good Candidates Off?

October 31, 2016 in HR Best Practices

 

 

Does every day feel like Halloween for your food & beverage candidates by scaring off your candidates?

That’s largely up to you!

Logically, you want every individual who applies for a position to walk away from the experience feeling as though he were treated professionally. But if you’re flooded with unqualified resumes or have a lengthy hiring process, ensuring a great candidate experience is a huge challenge – and can easily get pushed down your priority list.

Regardless of whether or not you ultimately hire them, the way you interact with candidates directly impacts how they feel about your organization. And those interactions have a “trickle down” effect which affects both candidate drop-off rates and your organization’s employment brand.

Treat candidates well, and you’ll wind up hiring loyal employees.

But if you ignore candidate experience?

Candidates become impatient. Feel uncertain. And believe they’re being ignored.

So this Halloween – and every day thereafter – make sure your candidate intake process is a “treat” for food & beverage professionals. Start by avoiding these critical mistakes that sabotage candidate experience and scare talented professionals away:

Making the application the only way to connect.

Not every candidate is ready to hit the “apply” button immediately.  Sometimes passive job seekers don’t find the right job on your career site during their visit, so provide an alternative.  Welcome those promising individuals and give them a way to keep in touch moving forward by:

  • opting into customizable email alerts for new jobs;
  • joining your talent community;
  • connecting with key employees on LinkedIn.

Cumbersome job applications can scare off candidates.

The job search has undeniably gone mobile:

  • Data from Pew Research Center shows that half of smartphone job seekers have used their smartphone to fill out an online job application.
  • Statistics cited in this CareerBuilder post on mobile recruiting indicate that 86% of active candidates use their smartphone to begin a job search, and  70% want to apply via mobile.

To be sure your application doesn’t scare great candidates off, make it a cinch:

  • Shorten your application. Make it as simple as possible for job seekers, while still capturing essential information.
  • For hard-to-fill roles, consider the viability of using a short-form application to minimize abandonment.
  • If your application can’t be streamlined, upload a short video which demonstrates how to complete it.

Ignoring applicants.

Once candidates apply, do they receive the “silent treatment” from your organization? If so, they’re likely to become frustrated or assume the worst. Guard against communication vacuums by creating sound processes for keeping in touch:

  • Send out a branded, automated response letting job seekers know that their application was received.
  • Keep prospects who make it through initial screening informed about timetables and next steps.
  • Manage expectations. If your hiring process is lengthy, be honest. Creating realistic expectations prevents unnecessary worry which could lead a promising candidate to pursue another opportunity.
  • Provide the feedback candidates crave. If you reject a food & beverage executive, be honest about the reasons why.

The vast majority of job seekers who interact with your organization will never be hired by you. Over time, that could translate into hundreds or thousands of people who are either “tricked” or “treated” during their candidate experience. By taking great care of all candidates – including the ones you reject – you can build your brand in the employment market and improve your recruiting results.

Hire Smarter with Kinsa

Since 1985, Kinsa Group has connected exceptional professionals, managers, and executives with leading food and beverage employers throughout North America – and around the globe. Contact us today to get started.

Related post: 6 Steps for Auditing Your Company’s Candidate Experience