3 Reasons Your Hiring Process Drives Top Talent Away

If you want to hire the best and brightest, start by improving your candidate experience

An inability to find quality candidates is the number one complaint from hiring managers. But it might be time for companies to assess whether their own hiring process has become a significant part of the problem.

Nearly 90 percent of applicants say a positive or negative candidate experience would cause them to rethink a role or a company – even if they were initially excited about it. That means your hiring process could very well be scaring off the top talent you seek.

At its core, human resources is a people business – and people respond best to personal connections. An industry’s top professionals receive a whopping average of 23 solicitations for open jobs a week.

They are usually passive candidates who don’t have the time – or desire – to respond to every opportunity. The companies that catch their attention are the ones that use a personal touch: 88 percent of passive candidates say the number-one technique that prompts a response is a personal message with detailed information about a job. Eighty-six percent emphasize that they want to have a dialogue about an opportunity – not just read about it.

If you want to maximize the effectiveness of your hiring process, start by eliminating the impersonal experiences that frustrate good candidates and cause them to cross your company off their list. Here are the three things companies do that job seekers hate the most:

1.  Your application process is impersonal and frustrating

The application process shapes a candidate’s first impression of your company. More often than not, it’s exasperating.

Sixty percent of candidates say they have abandoned online applications that are too lengthy or confusing. Others give up due to technical difficulties, such as screening tools that can’t properly read resumes that aren’t written in standard format.

Candidates who do finish the process often feel like their application is lost in a black hole – more than 90 percent say contact is never made after an initial automated response. Most find it unlikely that a human being will ever see the application they submit.

2.  Applicants think they’re more likely to win the lottery than get a response

No one likes being ignored, especially when it comes to a job opportunity. Candidates want to be treated with respect – and companies that don’t take the time to perform simple courtesies like returning phone calls or sending updates are going to have a hard time converting job seekers into committed members of their workforce.

Companies that take a moment to give candidates feedback on how they did during the hiring process enjoy the best reputations on review sites like Glassdoor. A LinkedIn survey reports that while 94 percent of job seekers want feedback after an interview, only 41 percent actually receive it.

Candidates who feel burned aren’t just going to forget about their bad experience. Nearly 80 percent say they would bash a company online who treats them poorly during the hiring process. Nearly 60 percent said they would even think twice about buying their products or services.

3.  Your hiring process is way too long

Even when they move on to the interview stage, job candidates are frustrated by how long the process takes. The average interview process stretches for 23 days, up from 13 in 2011.

Nowadays, it’s not uncommon for candidates to face multiple interviews, skills tests, sample assignments, and other hiring demands. While these additional steps are supposed to improve the screening process, they also beg the question: If something takes nearly twice as long, can it really be more efficient?

Every hoop you demand candidates jump through takes up a significant chunk of their time. Require too many and you send the message that your company doesn’t value their time.

More than half of candidates also complain that it takes at least a month for companies to follow-up about next steps. By then, many have moved on to other positions and are no longer available for hire. Others indicate the dragged-out response causes them to lose interest because it seems to signal that the position isn’t important enough to make filling it a priority.

Your hiring process is a chance to give top talent a good first impression of your company. But all too often, a frustrating candidate experience keeps you from putting your best foot forward and drives the best and brightest away.

Taking a moment to let candidates know where they stand – and when they have been cut – may actually save you time because it stops them from continually following up. And making a personal connection with the people you may hire shows them that you will treat them with respect if they join your team.

If you simply don’t have the time to give candidates enough personal attention, hiring an outside firm can be a great option. A qualified human resources partner can streamline your recruiting, selection, and onboarding processes, vastly improving your odds of acquiring — and keeping — top talent.

To learn more about how to upgrade your company’s hiring procedures, contact Karp HR Solutions today for a free consultation.