It’s a tough talent market out there, and when you’re trying to staff your organization with the best candidates, losing even one to the competition can frustrate your company goals and strategy. It’s essential to ensure that your organization puts its best foot forward to attract, hire, and retain top talent.
If you think your organization is regularly losing candidates to the competition, it might be due to one or more of the following ten reasons.
10 Reasons You Are Losing Candidates
1. Outdated or scary job descriptions
Advanced degree requirements for skills-based jobs, cut-and-paste descriptions, requirements for certifications on outdated technology, and strange requests are among the many weird job descriptions posted online. Write job postings that match the needs of the current opening.
In addition, though a job posting should reveal something about your company’s brand, personality, and culture, stay away from language or messages that the majority of job seekers would consider offensive, too cute, too weird, or downright scary.
2. Location issues
In the hybrid and remote work era, most job seekers are looking to trim back their commutes to help better integrate work and life. If your job descriptions require employees to be in the office full-time or preclude any work-from-home arrangements, you may not even be on the shortlist for some of your best candidates.
3. No distinction between “must haves” and “nice to haves”
If your job requirements include a long list of items that may be tricky to find, job seekers may skip your listings. For instance, great candidates may move on to more realistic descriptions if you require four-year degrees for entry-level positions or skills-based work. It’s OK to want a candidate with the perfect education and experience, but be sure to clarify what is a “must have” and what is a “nice to have.”
4.Waiting for purple unicorns
In recruiting (and life in general), there are no purple unicorns. No candidate will perfectly match your desired requirements and have the people skills and leadership potential you want for your job openings. At some point, you will have to hire someone who doesn’t fulfill every item on the list. By waiting for the purple unicorn, you might miss someone who can be a competent and productive team member.
5. Lengthy hiring process
For some companies, inefficiencies or the desire to find the perfect candidate for every role can lead to a long, drawn-out hiring process. While it’s fine to be cautious about hiring, if your process is too drawn-out, your candidates may simply accept other offers while waiting for your next step. Remember that most of your candidates will look at many job postings across companies. If your process is too long, you could lose great candidates to more nimble organizations.
6. Poor interviewing techniques
Not everyone is a natural interviewer. Anyone responsible for interviewing candidates—even occasionally—should be taught good interviewing techniques. Too many interviewers ask inappropriate or odd questions that put candidates on edge or even break the law. In addition, if interviewers don’t have some basic interpersonal skills, the interview could become an awkward conversation that turns the candidate’s attention to other companies.
7. Assumptions about reputation or name
The rise of online employer ratings has been a game changer for candidates seeking details about employee experience at potential employers. If candidates see low ratings or lousy employer reviews on Glassdoor or Indeed, they may never apply for open positions. In addition, if you count on referrals of candidates by friends or family who work for your organization, their opinion of the company could impact their decision to refer others.
8. Poor networking attempts
Despite the proliferation of online communications and social media, the old recruiting methods are still important. Companies that try to meet and recruit potential employees even before they post new openings can get ahead of the competition. Estimates show that as many as 80% of jobs are filled by contacts within someone’s network rather than through posted advertisements. If you get to the point of posting a job publicly, your competition may have already hired your ideal candidate.
9. Passing the buck to others
In addition to slowing down the hiring process, passing the buck to another manager or leader to make a decision can make your company look disorganized or confused about who has the authority to hire. To a candidate, such behaviors may be a red flag that suggests too many layers of internal bureaucracy or an organization that may not be growing. That candidate may move on to an employer that projects decisiveness and forward momentum.
10. Underestimate touchpoints before the interview
Employee engagement starts long before someone fills out a W-2. Suppose someone submits an application or resume and only hears from the company once before the interview. In that case, that candidate may feel like the company doesn’t care much about its employees and isn’t interested in its success. Small moments can matter as much as or more than big moments, and candidate touchpoints before the interview can make the difference between a high-quality candidate who is excited to interview with you and one who moves on to your competition.
Employee experience is about more than just giving current staff the benefits and environment they need to stay with your company. Creating a great employee experience should start long before you post new jobs. Candidates should be excited about working with you from before they apply to long after they’ve moved on. Start crafting a better employee experience today by streamlining and improving your recruiting process, and before long, your competitors will be losing great talent to you.
Self-check:
- What is one thing I can do to create better job descriptions in my department or function?
- What is one step we can eliminate or improve in the hiring process?
- What is one way I can engage with candidates better even before the interview?
