No Shows (during interviews and onboarding) is a recurring recruiting problem being faced by all recruiters. After all the efforts put in to shortlist resumes, setting up interviews, booking the meeting room and being all prepared to meet this young, talented and capable candidate, you get the dreaded email or text: I am unwell, Emergency at home, Someone expired, not allowed to leave work, and probably a 100 other reasons; and the candidate fails to turn up for the interview.
Recruiters and hiring managers ought to rethink of ways to avoid this no shows recruitment challenge.
Reasons for No shows
- The candidate did not get time-off to appear for the interview.
- They are actively searching and have multiple interviews lined up. You are not their priority.
- You do not have a strong and memorable brand that really excites the prospective hire to meet you.
- For some reason the candidates don’t feel valued or wanted in your company. This could be because of a variety of reasons.
Quick Tips to Avoid No Shows Recruiting Problem
It may not be possible to completely avoid no shows, but can certainly be reduced if you follow these tips:
- Develop relationships with candidates. Earn the trust of candidates by building a positive rapport and remaining in touch over longer periods of time.
- Do not exaggerate. Be honest while providing your company details.
- Create detailed job descriptions. Share the details of the job descriptions with the candidates including required skills and competencies and prior experience. You don’t want a mismatch at the interview stage.
- Use behavioral interview techniques. Understand why candidates are looking for a job change, their long-term career goals and determine if they are genuinely interested in the job.
- Simplify the application process as much as you can.
- Request information that you need and avoid redundancy at all costs. Study your forms and remove any areas where the candidate is expected to enter the same information twice.
- Allow candidates to submit information in whichever form they can: word documents, linked in profiles, pdf document, text-based submission. Integrate your candidate information capture process with resume parsers.
- Make the pre-interview process short, specific and exciting for the candidate.
- Embrace technology. Use HR technology tools to shortlist desirable job applicants, conduct interviews and onboard the new hires seamlessly.
- Remain in touch with the candidate on a periodic basis. This is a good way to get feedback if they are going to be a no-show candidate.
- Respect the candidate’s time as much as you respect the time of the hiring manager. I often see several candidates waiting for hours at the front desk and this leaves a bad taste in their mouth. One of our customers implemented a solution around this and you can read the case study: Simplify Interview Scheduling and Candidate Management with a Customized Solution
- Accept that the hiring market for good candidates is competitive and you will have no shows even if you follow all the best practices. Shortlist a greater number of candidates than required and build a deep talent bench such that you can revert to them in case the need arises.
- Set clear expectations. Be open and transparent while setting job expectations.
Follow the above tips to increase candidate engagement and decrease no shows at all stages of the recruitment process.
Do get in touch with the no shows to find out why they didn’t come to the interview or did not join post the offer process. This can be an extremely valuable feedback to help you improve the processes. Sometimes small changes can yield big dividends.
Combat this recruiting problem of no shows by understanding the candidates, building relationships and making the hiring process easier and smoother.
