How Employers Should Handle the Candidate Rejection Process: Part 2

Joe Murphy of Shaker Consulting Group

I had an opportunity to speak with Maren Hogan of Red Branch Media regarding the candidate experience. In particular, we spoke about the candidate rejection process.   Maren offers three great suggestions.  Click PLAY to hear Maren’s recommendations, then scroll down to read more.

Candidate as Consumer

Either directly or indirectly, your business may touch the candidate from a consumer or customer perspective.  Maren suggests we treat each candidate much like your marketing function would:  have good communication tools and methods in place, keep track of who you have in the pipeline and reach out to them.  Each interaction provides and opportunity to create a brand positive candidate experience.  Examine the messaging; the continuity and reactions candidates have to how your recruiting process impacts their perception of your organization.

Earlier this year, the first Candidate Experience Awards were presented to a few organizations that take the candidate as customer issue quite seriously.  In addition, a  Candidate Experience Monograph was drafted to provide some guidance on this topic. Additional information can also be found here.

Support Career Search Objectives

Maren suggests HR professionals must not impede the candidate’s career pursuit with vague, misleading or lack of communication. Candidates want to use their time and effort well too.  They do not want to be strung along. Give the candidate a No, to free them up to pursue other options. I wrote about the candidate’s act of hope and possible desperation with each Apply Now click.  Be sensitive the candidate’s situation.

Engage Fewer – Reject Fewer

What is the right amount of candidates?  There is no mathematical formula for that.  However there are some resources to consider. Maren suggests the use of pre-employment tests or assessments. These tools are extremely beneficial with high applicant to hire ratios.  You can read more about these resources on our main web page of on this blog. Maren also suggests focused and effective use of social media.

Candidate pools or communities can be created with a range of social media resources.  To reduce the broadcast approach to sourcing, investing time and energy engaging potential candidates through social media can reduce the number of candidates you may need to engage to find a good fit.  And the benefit of fewer candidates is fewer rejections.

Candidate source can also be analyzed with pre-employment assessment results.  This can help refine sourcing effectiveness by examining both the yield – hires per source, as well as competency profile by source.  Armed with this data, sourcing strategies can hone in on talent pools that drive up recruiter efficiency, improve quality of hire and reduce the number of candidates that need to get the rejection message.

Thanks to Maren for sharing a few ideas for improving the candidate experience.  If you would like to explore improving your candidate experience, give us a call or drop us a note.

This article provided by permission from Joseph P. Murphy of Shaker Consulting Group. Deliver an exceptional candidate experience with Shaker Consulting Group’s Virtual Job Tryout^®.  Obtain a work sample that predicts on-the-job performance. Identify best-fit candidates at the click of mouse. Click here for a 3 minute overview.