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Stop getting ghosted by candidates with these tips and tricks to enable better experiences that prevent #candidateghosting.
There’s no question how important the candidate experience is in the recruitment and onboarding process. While the candidate experience has always been a crucial aspect of hiring, the pandemic has created a catalyst for candidates to realize and act on their wants and needs unlike we’ve seen before.
While ghosting may seem more relevant to your online dating apps, it’s absolutely a challenge you can (and should) address within your recruitment processes. And, there isn’t only one active participant in this dance. Ghosting is a challenge for both candidates and recruiters and employers alike.
According to an Indeed report, 28% have ghosted an employer, up from only 18% in 2019. Meanwhile, 76% of employers have been ghosted in the same time frame, and 57% believe it’s even more common than before.
According to the same survey, 77% of job seekers say they’ve been ghosted by a prospective employer since the U.S. onset of the pandemic last March, with 10% reporting that an employer has ghosted them even after a verbal job offer was made.
So, let’s take a dive in to see what causes are affecting candidates to ghost you, and what employers can do to prevent or reduce it.
Why Candidates Are Ghosting Recruiters
There can be any number of reasons a candidate may ghost recruiters, but let’s look at the ones that seem to surface most frequently, as well as ones you could prevent.
Communication
Candidates, especially those seeking out many opportunities, need communication and transparency within the process. Oftentimes recruiters or employers begin the process and leave the candidate behind not knowing what to expect.
When you’re not upfront with candidates on what to expect and when (processing time, interview scheduling, decision date, etc.), they will leave you for a better or more immediate opportunity. And unfortunately, they don’t owe you an explanation.
It’s important to identify and communicate your intentions with your process upfront to applicants and candidates. Using automation can allow you to easily customize and personalize communications based on triggers to keep communications open with candidates.
“The system is very user-friendly. You can use it for email campaigns, tracking, marketing, keeping in touch with candidates, automated emails.” – Tracker User
Better Offer
While you can’t always compete with a better offer, you still need to ensure you’re competitive within the industry. Additionally, you’ll want the ability to gain insight so you can position your self and your job to match the values, needs, and wants of your candidate.
From a recruitment standpoint, it means fully understanding what a company can/can’t do for the candidate. It also means building a relationship with the candidates to understand their wants and needs to determine what can/can’t be negotiated on.
While many people have assumed pay is a challenge when it comes to candidates ghosting, it’s not always the case. Companies have raised wages with still little to no success. Understanding your candidates wants and needs and how those can align with the company are crucial. And, it’s not always money.
Not the Right Fit
Not every candidate, or even a large percentage of candidates who apply, are going to be the right fit. There are a number of reasons candidates apply to many jobs at once. But what they may be applying to isn’t up their alley. They possibly haven’t read through the description thoroughly or may not fit the requirements.
These are the candidates who are highly likely to ghost after realizing the job isn’t what they thought. This could be after they apply, after a first interview, or even, after they’ve been offered a job.
The cost of a bad hire can be burdensome on a company, not only in lost productivity, but also in the amount of time required to secure a hire and begin the process over again.
Using technology and the right recruitment software to ensure a great candidate experience as well as efficiency is critical to enabling better processes and outcomes for your recruitment team.
Flexibility
The largest percentage of candidates are passive candidates. Seeing as these are individuals with current jobs, flexibility is important for them to be able to fully participate without sacrificing what they have.
According to a 2020 G2 survey, 73% of candidates are passive job seekers.
With such a large talent pool like passive candidates, it’s important to make it as convenient as possible for them to participate. This is because for the right job, they will take the offer.
So how do you make it convenient for these passive candidates to avoid ghosting you? You make everything easy and accessible to them. You can even consider using conveniences such as video interviews and resumes, integrated skill profiling and surveying, and more. These processes allow candidates to easily complete application steps on their time without scheduling conflicts, and from remote locations.
Other Reasons
As stated above, each candidate can have very individual reasons for why they decide to ghost you in the recruitment process. In addition to the reasons stated above, candidates may also ghost because of:
- Safety and health concerns
- Poor company culture and onboarding
- No desire to change (or even have) a job
- Re-evaluating their personal values and wants
The most important thing to evaluate when you are ghosted by a candidate is whether it could have been avoided or whether it was out of your control.
Using technology can not only support and build better relationships but can reduce the chance of candidates ghosting you through efficiencies and better experiences for candidates (and recruiters).
In Summary
At Tracker, we build recruitment software that is easy to access, easy to use, and builds better businesses and relationships. While we can’t guarantee you won’t ever get ghosted, if you use Tracker to build and maintain relationships and communicate consistently, we’re pretty sure it won’t be because of you!
