Poor candidate care during the senior hiring process, characterised by a lack of meaningful communications and consideration for the candidates’ time, can result in star candidates rejecting offers and in long term damage to your employer branding.
Some candidates, especially those identified by an executive search process and who may not be actively looking for a role, need to be handled even more expertly by talent acquisition teams. Candidate care can really make or break the hire.
The contact candidates have with your talent acquisition team provides them with insight into how your company operates, and what it might be like to work there. Poor candidate care will raise red flags for prospective employees. A bad impression will be lasting, and difficult to correct.
We look at the dos and don’ts of candidate care at senior level, and why it is essential to provide the best possible candidate care throughout your recruitment process.
What does bad candidate care look like?
- An inaccurate job description can mean candidates spend time applying for a role, only to find out they don’t have the right experience
- Multiple points of contact and candidates falling between the gaps on hand-over
- Mixed messages from the talent acquisition team and the hiring manager
- Long gaps in communication, especially between interviews
- Poor or no feedback provided after interviews
- No warning about long delays in the hiring process
- Interviews or meetings continually rescheduled, or cancelled at short notice
- Asking the same questions in multiple rounds of interviews
It is important to treat all candidate with care, not just the ones you hire. Candidates often share their negative experiences with their network, and on review platforms such as Glassdoor. This is bad news for all employers, but especially if you are struggling already to fulfil your talent needs, have low employee retention rates, or are trying to improve your employer branding.
What do you need to do to look after candidates well?
- Build a trusting relationship with all candidates you are in contact with and never leave candidates hanging
- Act as a brand ambassador to spread the good word about your company and attract candidates
- Keep candidates up to date with all steps of the process, especially when there are delays
- Help prepare candidates for interviews and provide support during this crucial time
- Get feedback from candidates after their interviews and share with them the feedback from the hiring team
- Call unsuccessful candidates to provide feedback
- Check in with hires after they have started in the new role
Case study
A global medical technology leader was seeking to hire a new Director of Commercial Operations for the DACH region. The stakes were high as they were keen to hire a woman for the role, and the location was not in a major city hub, so the candidate pool was small. The successful candidate went through 6 rounds of interviews before being hired. The talent team supported her throughout the process, providing a single point of contact, carefully scheduling interviews to accommodate the candidate taking time off work, and giving feedback at every stage.