Are Job Seekers Ghosting You?

A candidate’s experience with your hiring process is often their first impression of your organization

Too many companies today recruit like they’re hiring during the Great Recession, back when businesses held all the cards. But now, with the lowest unemployment rate since 1969, job seekers are the ones in control. Applicants have so many opportunities that some “ghost” their employers, interviewers, and recruiters. One minute they’re emailing back — the next, complete silence.
 

The reality is that in today’s hiring environment, the applicants hold many of the cards. Much has been written about attracting candidates through flashy benefits, like generous 401K matching, equity options, parental leave, and even perks like pet insurance. But organizations today often overlook one fundamental, basic step — they need to invest in the hiring process.
 
A candidate’s experience with your hiring process is often their first impression of your organization. Factors like how simple is it to apply, how quickly they get a response, and the number of times they have to interview with you, all leave a lasting mark that could result in them simply ghosting you in the process.
 
So how can you fix this?
 
First, hiring managers need to be more involved at an earlier stage. There is often a disconnect between what recruiters are able to provide and what hiring managers desire. Including the hiring managers in more steps of the process ensures the best-fit candidates get shortlisted.   
 
Second, regular follow-ups are critical to the employee experience. In a recent survey by the online recruitment engine Monster.com, 81 percent of job seekers ages 18-30 said their biggest frustration with the hiring process was never hearing back. This is easily fixable with the right technology.
 
Third, companies should shorten the hiring process and provide flexible interview options to accommodate an applicant’s schedule. The best candidates will have competing offers, and they will prefer to join a company that is respectful of them and committed to their success. For example, hotel chain Hilton Worldwide took on average 42 days to recruit an employee, which is more than double their industry standard. By using digital interview platforms, they reduced their hiring process to five days, allowing them to be faster and more flexible than their competitors.
 
Fourth, a company’s online reputation is important and smart job seekers will do their homework before applying. Negative interview experiences spread like wildfire through social media, word of mouth and websites like Glassdoor, LinkedIn and Indeed. Businesses can minimize potential damage by treating every candidate with the same level of respect and care as they do their customers.
 
Ultimately, there is no silver bullet for hiring the perfect employee, and job applicants have a lot of freedom and choice in the current buyer’s market. It’s a new world—one where the “tried and true” hiring approaches no longer suffice and businesses that are unwilling to adapt risk losing out.
 
It’s time for companies to put their best foot forward by modernizing their approach and using technology to stay on top of the process.