Written by Katie Doolan - Lead Recruitment Associate
Have you ever interviewed the perfect candidate, only for them to accept a job somewhere else? Or maybe you have been searching for the dream candidate for your open vacancy for months now and are just getting nowhere, and are wondering what the problem could be?
As legal recruiters, we speak with hiring managers who are struggling to fill their jobs daily, and we come across these common mistakes all the time that can prevent hiring managers from securing great candidates.
Can you relate to any of them?
Taking Too Long to Get Back to Candidates
Great candidates with experience are massively in demand. If they have applied for a job with you, it’s likely they have applied for other similar positions too. If you’re not getting round to looking at applications quickly, then your competitors will, and you’ll miss out!
This is a huge benefit of using a recruitment agency, as recruitment agencies have dedicated consultants who will respond to applications and queries immediately and sell your opportunity to candidates, whereas you might not have time to do this alongside your busy day job.
Another mistake Hiring Managers often make is taking a long time to provide any feedback or make a hiring decision following a candidate’s interview. You might assume that if the candidate is keen on your role that you have all the time in the world to make a decision, but great candidate’s usually have multiple interviews going on at once. Even if your opportunity really appeals to them, they won’t wait forever, and a lot of firms miss out on securing fantastic candidates because of this.
‘Lowballing’ on Salary When Making a Job Offer
There are few things more demotivating than putting your all into an interview process, just to be offered a lower salary than was originally discussed at application stage.
As a hiring manager, you might be thinking ‘I’ll go in low, then the candidate can negotiate if they want more – let’s see if we can save some money here!’ but most of the time, the low offer has made the candidate feel undervalued, and even insulted, and they will just drop your opportunity altogether in favour of other roles.
Not only this, but in a market where experienced candidates are in short supply, the candidate most likely has multiple offers on the table to consider, so you should put your best foot forward from the outset and make the candidate an impressive and competitive offer if you really want them to accept your opportunity!
Forgetting That You Have to Impress the Candidate as Much as They Have to Impress You!
As a Hiring Manager, when you have a vacancy on your team, it’s very common to think about all the things you need from the successful candidate. You start writing your job description and list down all the things you will need the person to do, and all the experience and skills you need the person to have.
But, do you think about all the things that you can offer to the successful candidate? Do you thing about the great selling points of working for your organisation, or your team? If not, this could be preventing candidates from applying for your job.
It’s the same when you’re interviewing candidates too. Remember, they are interviewing you just as much as you’re interviewing them. As much as you are using the interview to ascertain whether this candidate is right for the role, they are also using the interview to judge whether the opportunity is right for them.
It’s so important to really think about how you can give a good impression in interviews. Making sure you come across as friendly and approachable, talking about why your organisation is a great place to work, and taking the chance to really sell your opportunity in the interview can be make or break as to whether a candidate leaves the interview wanting the job or not.
Not Giving Specific and Constructive Feedback
When you’ve interviewed a candidate and decided that they’re not quite right for the position, it’s vital that you provide detailed feedback to them, or to the recruitment agency if you’re working with one.
Interviews are so daunting, and candidates put a lot of effort and energy into preparing for them. Constructive and specific feedback can not only help the candidate to understand what they can work on for their next interview, it will give a great impression of your organisation too. This means they are likely to recommend you to their friends and colleagues, and even want to join your organisation in the future when they may have more experience, or for a more suitable role.
If they don’t receive any explanation or feedback, this can have the opposite effect and may lead to your organisation getting a bad reputation and struggling to attract candidates due to this.
If you’re working with a recruitment agency, giving specific feedback can also help us to better pinpoint the type of candidate that would be a better fit for the position so that we can get better results for you.
Writing Off Potentially Great Candidates Too Soon
We often see Hiring Manager’s holding out for the elusive ‘perfect candidate’ – i.e. a ready-made finished product who can start immediately, ‘hit the ground running’ and easily slot into the job. Someone who has great longevity in their previous roles so there is very little perceived risk of them leaving your job.
Whilst it’s completely understandable that you want to find the right person for your team, this kind of thinking can often be short-sighted and could mean that you’re writing off potentially amazing future star employees.
For example, I once had a Hiring Manager turn down someone for a job purely because they had a 3-month notice period and they needed to get the position filled immediately. However, 6 months later, the job vacancy was still open as they hadn’t been able to find anyone else as perfect as the original candidate, who had since got another job.
I had another Hiring Manager years ago turn down a candidate as they felt the candidate had moved jobs too frequently. However, the candidate had just had some bad luck with consecutive redundancies, and we went on to place them elsewhere, where they have not only been for the past 5 years, but they have progressed and are a huge asset to this organisation who chose to see past the ‘short stints’ and dig a little deeper.
Candidates who you’ve invested training into and took a chance on when they didn’t fit 100% of your criteria are likely to be the most loyal employees as they will appreciate you taking a chance on them too.
Assuming What Candidates Want
Another common mistake that Hiring Managers make is to assume what candidates want before asking them.
For example, I once worked with a Hiring Manager that was able to offer a flexible home-working policy where the candidate could choose to be fully office-based if they wanted to in a very modern office with a big team presence, or they could work remotely if they wanted. The Hiring Manager only talked in the interview about how the role was working from home and spoke of all the benefits of home working as they assumed this is what the candidate would want. However, the candidate really wanted an office-based position so ended up turning down the role even though the role could’ve been fully office-based!
It’s important to never assume what a candidate wants.
Conclusion
A lot of Hiring Managers simply don’t realise how in demand great candidates are, and how few and far between they are to find. If you have a candidate who is great for your job, treat them well, communicate with them effectively and don’t forget to impress them. Understand what is important to them so that you can speak about the elements of the job and the company or benefits that will be of interest to them.
Recruitment agencies are highly experienced in providing an excellent candidate experience and keeping candidates engaged, so engaging with a recruitment agency could be your best bet to avoid making these common mistakes!
If you have any questions on any of the information in this article, or if you’d like to see how we Talentwise Solutions can support you with either a job vacancy, or with your own job search, please do get in touch. We’re always happy to chat!
02477 981223 / admin@talentwisesolutions.co.uk
