Resources

Global CTO at DailyMail Online and Metro.co.uk

Our success totally depends on the quality of people we hire.

I have been doing hiring for 25 years, working with lots of recruiters and agencies around the globe.

If your offers to top candidates are declined, these may be the potential reasons why.

Your offer is not competitive

Everyone operates within certain budgets for an open position. However, if you find someone who you really like, you may want to go an extra mile. Do not forget to mention the whole package – any training allowance, conference, medical plans, stocks, variable pay, etc.

You and your people fail to inspire candidates

Interviewers think of finding the best candidate available without taking an effort to explain why the opportunity is so good for the candidate. You need to be enthusiastic and passionate about what you do, and that should show. Beyond that, most candidates want to hear not about your pizza Fridays and bagel Mondays, but what their job will entail, what will they be able to learn, how this job will benefit their career from the long term stand-point.

You do not provide recruiters with information they need to sell the job to candidates

Similarly, you do not provide enough information to in-house or external recruiters on why candidates should work for you, in your team and in your company.

You take too long to respond

In this competitive environment, a delay is detrimental. Good candidates simply do not last on the job market. Make decisions and get approvals fast, and come back with an offer quickly.

Your interview process is disorganized

Any kind of inefficiency in the process sends a wrong message to the candidate. Your staff should be trained on how conduct interviews. You also should have a plan on who is going to focus on what aspects – experience, knowledge, specific skills, etc Asking experience questions for the 4th time may send a wrong message to the candidate.

You have too many interviewers

This may sound like a good idea to have a full picture of the candidate. However, it is also may be overwhelming to the candidate. Not to mention the toll it takes on your own staff. The number of interviewers should be reduced to a useful minimum.

You ask demeaning questions

I do not mean illegal and inappropriate questions about marital status, children etc. Of course, those questions a no-no, full stop. But for example, asking question probing an intelligence of a really good and an experienced candidate may be a put off. Accomplishments and experience should speak for themselves.

Neither your marketing department nor you promote the company as a great place to work for

You need to make an effort to be present at industry events, make presentations, publish white papers.

You try to close the candidate yourself

Sourcing candidates is finding them, recruiting them is influencing them. You are good at what you do. Let professional recruiters do what they do best. Closing candidates is their forte.

Counteroffers

Good candidates will get counter-offers, you can count on that. Which is why it is very important to know why the candidate wants to leave the present job, make notes of that, and then be able to replay those reasons back when the counter-offer is given. In the end, people do not leave jobs, they leave their managers. No amount of money is going to change this and other factors that led them to accept your offer in the first place.