Recruiters, Inhouse and Agency, sometimes lapse into hubris and complacency.
This, we know. Don’t take offence. It’s a fact. I have been guilty myself.
The candidate experience has been a disaster for decades, ironically made exponentially worse by all the Wizz-bang technology tools, added in to ‘enhance the process’.
But now it’s potentially much worse.
The boot is seemingly on the foot of the hirer right now. We are in a recession. Some countries back in lock-down even. Jobs are hard to find. Agency recruiters are scrambling to secure scarce job-orders from tentative clients.
Meanwhile, candidate flow has increased in volume across the board.
Every day I hear of fresh appalling candidate experience situations. Lack of response. Bad or no communication. Lowballing on salaries. Offers reneged on. You know what I am talking about.
But beware my recruiting friends.
The talent shortages we all grappled with pre-COVID have not disappeared forever. COVID did not miraculously create more developers, UX designers, legal secretaries or forklift drivers.
Sure, right now, there may not be enough jobs to go around. But when the market recovers those talent shortages will re-emerge. Just worse! (the are already in Australia and NZ in some cases)
Looking after your candidates via simple behaviours, like responding, informing, providing feedback and coaching, is the right thing to do as a professional, empathetic human. Especially now.
But it’s also the commercially smart thing to do.
Because when the wheel turns, and candidates are in short supply again, trust me on this.
They will remember the companies and agencies who treated them like cattle. And the names of individual recruiters who demeaned and disappointed them will be burned on their brains.
And they will hurt you—a lot.
And you will deserve it.
Remember, please.
The candidate is assessing you too.
Watch my sixty-second video. Then show it to your whole team. Then come up with a plan to fix your candidate process.
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by Greg Savage