In today’s labor market, companies can’t afford to scare away candidates. However, avoiding it can be surprisingly tricky, especially if you don’t view your candidate experience through the eyes of job seekers.
Often, candidates have very similar priorities when it comes to employers. By ensuring you aren’t making any missteps, you’ll be able to secure the talent you need quickly and efficiently. With that in mind, here are some aspects of the hiring process that may scare away candidates and what you can do to fix the issues.
Poor Work-Life Balance
Work-life balance is critical in the eyes of candidates, particularly in the post-pandemic landscape. Whether it’s requiring all employees to be in the office full-time, frequent mandatory overtime, insufficient paid time off, or not having mechanisms to provide flexibility, connecting with top talent won’t be easy.
Look at what you expect from employees and what you can offer to support work-life balance. Any programs that make managing work and personal obligations are worth highlighting in your job descriptions, and if you don’t have much to showcase, consider adding perks to make your company more competitive in this arena.
Overly Long Hiring Processes
Cumbersome, lengthy hiring processes harm the candidate experience. Issues like requesting a resume and requiring job seekers to also fill out an online application don’t reflect well on your company and may cause candidates to abandon their applications. The same is true of submission processes that require navigating multiple pages on your website or a slew of essay questions that make in-depth responses necessary.
Additionally, never-ending rounds of interviews come across as indecisive, and some job seekers may view them as disrespectful of their time. As a result, they might remove themselves from contention.
If you want to keep candidates engaged, seize every opportunity to streamline your hiring process. Shorten the application as much as possible, allow resumes or applications instead of requiring both, and limit the number of interviews to just two. Partnering with a recruitment agency like A.R. Mazzotta can also help, as we use candidate-centric approaches designed to boost engagement and improve candidate satisfaction.
Negative Online Reviews
Poor online reviews can scare off applicants. Most candidates do research companies before applying, so the odds are high that they’ll notice negative comments if they’re present.
While it may seem like there’s little companies can do to manage negative reviews, that isn’t the case. Often, employers do have a chance to respond to the criticism, and doing so professionally may allow you to counteract some of the negative points.
However, you need to ensure that you handle these issues strategically, choosing an appropriate representative to respond and being cautious with the comment. Acknowledge what went wrong, mention how the company is working to improve in these areas, and thank the contributor for their feedback. By doing so, you can come across as proactive, which can make a difference.
Need Help Hiring in Connecticut?
Ultimately, all of the issues above can scare away candidates. Use the tips above to improve your strategy, allowing you to connect with top talent with greater ease. Additionally, if you could benefit from a reliable recruitment agency, contact A.R. Mazzotta to see how our services can help ensure you can get the results you need to thrive.