Candidate attraction – why is it so important?

Dated: 14 Jun, 2018

Candidate attraction – why is it so important?

Statistics are now showing that candidate attraction is becoming more important than ever as we enter into a candidate driven market.  Candidates are now able to pick what company they want to work for which is why we always work extremely hard to promote our customers culture, history and future plans in order to attract the best talent for them.

Having a recruitment strategy for a growing company is really important to ensure the candidates pick you as opposed to your competitor.   Linked in claim that 75% of job seekers now research a company’s reputation before attending an interview.  Once the candidate is at the interview this is only really the start as a candidate’s experience of the interview process is also important as this is where candidates can be turned on or off.

An interview should be about asking the right questions and making the candidate feel comfortable to enable you to get the best out of them.  If you want to see if the candidate is tough enough for the role then ask questions around their experience.  When the candidate leaves the interview your goal should be that you have provided a good experience ensuring that they really want to work for you and your company.  If they have had a good experience they are more likely to accept your role and will tell others in their network.  If the candidate on the other hand has a negative experience this could not only turn them off working for you but they would also tell others about the poor experience they have had.

Generating a good experience from the start includes; well organised interview times and flexibility (to a degree), interviewing candidates on time, making them feel welcome from the start (reception), giving them timescales for feedback and trying to stick to those times and just generally making them feel special and wanted.

If you do decide to offer the role get enough background information before making the offer – Why are they leaving their current role?  What remuneration are they looking for?   What is their notice period?  Do they currently get paid for any training?  What are they looking to achieve?  What are they looking to do in terms of their career?  What attracts them to the job you have to offer?  What do they feel you can offer them?  Do they have any other interviews lined up?  What are their thoughts on those other interviews?  What will their employer say when or if they hand their notice in?

Once you have offered and they have accepted if the notice period is a month or more then perhaps offer to meet with them for a coffee or ask them to pop in to meet the team (as long as everything is positive and there is nobody in the office that might put them off e.g. An unhappy worker that is leaving!  This contact will make them feel more welcome and bring them into the team before they have started.  We always recommend this with candidates who have long notice periods and it works.

So in conclusion sell yourself and the company to the candidate although this is a 2 way street as overdoing it can sometimes appeal to a person’s ego leaning them towards making unreasonable demands.