My Candidate Signed… Now What?
Onboarding, retention, and the long term value of your new hire.
Let’s talk about candidate retention.
It is a common misconception that the recruiting process is over when a candidate accepts an offer. The extension of that process, retention, continues through their first day, and definitely past their 90 day mark. Thinking about how to provide a best-in-class candidate and employee experience benefits you as it does your next hire.
Spending months on a search to find the perfect fit for your team, only for them to call you two days before their start date to let you know they won’t be showing up isn’t fun. We thought it would be valuable to explore how to mitigate the “re-neg”, as it’s called in the talent acquisition space.
The Post Offer Recruiting Process
The post-offer recruiting process can be simple, but extremely powerful in recruiting and retention efforts and will hopefully help you avoid those last minute offer declines.
Take a moment to evaluate what your touch points look like from the time a candidate accepts an offer to their start date. If your answer is “there is none”, you’re losing out on critical relationship building moments with your new hire.
This phase is debatable the most crucial in terms of candidate experience and ensures you start off on the right foot with your new hire. We need to remember that even if a candidate agrees to accept your offer, a more compelling offer that comes in at a later date can change their mind.
Employers need to remember that they are always competing in the marketplace.
Here are the steps you should take to make a candidate feel engaged with us post interview that will set you apart from the competition:
One day following offer extension:
Whether the candidate has accepted the offer yet or not someone on your team that the candidate has met should reach out and and sent a note congratulating the candidate on their offer to work at your company. The email should be fun and inviting.
Immediately following an accepted offer:
Immediately following the news of an accepted offer the hiring manager should directly call the candidate to tell them how excited they are to have them join the team — this call should also set a timeline for what to expect leading up to their first day and what their first few weeks might look like.
4 business days prior to their start date:
The hiring manager calls/emails to give them their first day instructions. Starting a new job can be stressful, giving them the instructions in advance gives a reason to have a touch point and to prepare them for their first day.
In every interaction, remember you are still selling the opportunity.
Calling is more effective than emailing- do not default to email, relationships are always built stronger when you are able to hear someone’s voice.
Candidates can easily ignore an email if they have a more compelling offer. If at any point you know the candidate is going to be in town or near the office invite them to come onsite and get an additional tour or say hello.
The small things count!
You would be amazed how much the small details matter when people are making a decision about a new job. Look for a reason to make a connection and humanize the process. For example, if we know a candidate is relocating for the job send them a few areas around the office they might want to consider finding a home. Another example may be if you see an article you think might be relevant to that persons new role or an interest they mentioned, send it to them to take a look at.
