There are few things more frustrating for today’s employer than discovering the ideal employee and extending a job offer, only to have that offer turned down.
Whether you used a specialist recruitment service to narrow your search, or you started the process from scratch, dealing with the complexities of today’s competitive career market can be overwhelming.
The truth is that most hiring managers and recruiters will feel the sting of rejection from an experienced candidate at least once or twice during their search for talent. As the UK’s employment levels skyrocket to a record 31.4 million, with over 302,000 people entering work at the end of 2016, you might find that you struggle to recruit the perfect employee.
Sometimes, the reasons for a job rejection can be linked back to a few problems within your company or interview process. Here, we’ll take a look at 4 reasons why candidates might be declining your job offer, and what you can do about it.
Reason 1: Problems with Compensation
Although many modern job candidates are searching for far more than just a paycheck when seeking out the ideal job, compensation still matters. Manufacturing experts need a career that’s going to support the life they believe they deserve.
Importantly, you need to be equipped to offer salaries that are high enough to tempt your new employees, but low enough to ensure that you can remain competitive in the marketplace. Ideally, you should consider finding the ideal starting point before you start recruiting. A recruitment specialist can help with this, by providing you with a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the industry.
If you can’t meet the compensation package being offered by your competitors, you could always consider sweetening the deal with additional workplace perks, such as remote working, gym memberships, and more.
Reason 2: You Aren’t Fast Enough
Today’s average job candidate is in a rush. He or she wants to find the career of their dreams and get to work as quickly as possible. Of course, finding the perfect candidate can be quite a challenge. It may take weeks of interviewing to find the perfect employee. However, your aim should be to keep your candidate updated as quickly as possible.
Follow-up with interviews through phone calls and emails, and consider keeping in touch to ensure that your ideal employees don’t go looking for other places to use their skills. Remember that long recruitment processes are off-putting to candidates, and can also make your company look disorganised. Often, working with a specialist recruitment agency can help to boost the recruitment process by helping you to narrow your search.
Less time wasted on candidates that aren’t right for your business means more time focused on the right recruits.
Reason 3: You Don’t Know How to Sell your Business
In a world where businesses are constantly competing with the same range of skills, it’s worth noting that your potential candidate will be looking for a job and an environment that suits their needs. You need to be prepared to convince your candidates that your organisation offers incredible opportunities for their future.
Think about the beginning of your recruitment process, and ask yourself whether the advertisement you created for your position was effective at selling your company. Did your advert offer an intriguing insight into the culture of your organisation?
Remember, there are plenty of review websites and social media platforms out there that can advertise your business for you. It’s up to you to take control of what’s being said about your company. If you can make sure that your workplace looks appealing when candidates approach for an interview, then you should have a better chance of snagging employees.
Reason 4: There’s a Problem with Company Culture
Finally, it’s important to recognise the importance of workplace culture in today’s business environment. When it comes to the manufacturing sector, everyone from experienced experts to younger graduates is searching for something that can give them an effective work-life balance. This might mean that you need to think about upgrading your current environment, and introducing new perks to support healthier solutions for your staff.
Telecommuting opportunities are a great way to get started, and you can also think about new ways to build company culture by using surveys to find out the thoughts and opinions of your staff. The more you learn about what your workers really want, the more you can implement new strategies to make your workplace more appealing.
Remember to Learn from Rejection
If you find that you’re struggling to get your preferred candidates to jump at an opportunity to work for your company, then you’re going to need to make changes.
First, review exactly why you’re not attracting the right audience. A quick phone call or email to help you dig a little deeper into the matter could be the perfect way to find out where you have fallen down.
Sometimes, the questions you asked, or the way you presented yourself during an interview can be enough to tip the balance and prevent an applicant from pursuing a job with you any further. Asking for feedback about the recruiting process could give you areas to work on for the future.
If you’re unsure how to ask for feedback yourself, you could even ask your professional recruitment agency to do some research on your behalf, giving you actionable points to work from. Though rejection will always be frustrating, learning from the experience could help you to attract even better candidates next time around.
Best regards,
Sigma Recruitment
Connect with me on LinkedIn here.
We are ‘South Wales Recruitment Specialists’ based in Cardiff, Wales.
We offer a full range of permanent recruitment solutions to many of South Wales’ and the South Wests’ leading manufacturing, technical, automotive and life science organisations. This includes companies in Cardiff, Swansea, Newport, Ebbw Vale, Port Talbot, Bridgend and the surrounding areas in South Wales.
Sigma Recruitment has one of the largest and most comprehensive recruitment candidate databases in the area. To get in touch with our team call us now on 02920 450 100. Alternatively, contact us here.
