You’ve been under the impression that your recruiting methods are faultless; but my friend, you’re terribly wrong.

Slowly, you’ve begun to notice a declining number of quality candidates applying for job openings. That fateful day has arrived, and you’ve realized that candidates are actively rejecting you as their choice employer. You can’t help but ask yourself “why?” Well a report by Staffing & Recruiting Pulse Survey showed that 46% of your contemporaries say their most desirable candidates were offered a more desirable position by another company; better than you could give them. Even though less than 10% of candidates reject job offers by 77% of recruiters it’s just as aggravating when you feel you’ve given them the opportunity of a lifetime… and another recruitment program one-ups you. Maybe it’s your ATS, or maybe it’s your antiquated process; any way you look at it, candidates are rejecting YOU and you have to figure out why.

You don’t give them what they’re worth

Candidates have worked long and hard (or studied long and hard for those fresh graduates). They know their worth, and if you can’t give it to them, they will find it elsewhere.

It is the second biggest reason candidates go with another option when they look for a job. Compensation and benefits don’t always meet candidates’ expectations according to 30% of recruiters. If they have the track record to prove they’re the best fit for the position, then shouldn’t they be compensated accordingly? If compensation resources are limited, it should be at least given room for discussion on the matter.

With the Millennial workforce beginning their professional journey, it is ever-important to be as flexible as possible with potential new hires. They desire a position that allows them time to volunteer, the ability to work from home – or the local coffee shop if they so desire – and a greater balance between their personal and professional lives. In fact, 88% want a better work-life integration than their preceding Gen X-ers.

Your employer brand is just awful

If jobseekers get to your career page and don’t see a single logo or any pre-employment cultural building information, your career page isn’t doing its job.

Everything from the faceless email to the numbing application negates any and all culture your company just might have internally. But your employer brand couldn’t be more dismal. That’s just where it starts. The mass rejection or “you’ve made it to the next step!” emails leave the company faceless to candidates. They want to know whom they are going to work for, and mass correspondence won’t do that. With 43% of email domains sending messages directly to the spam folder strictly based on the “from” name, recruiters will have little success finding credible candidates with a mass email. 

Your application process is worse than “antidisestablishmentarianism”

Your talent has already been searching for a job, spending hours of their time trying to find you in the first place. The last thing they want is to spend hours trying to navigate your career page or the application itself.

If you think that word is complicated, look at your application process; I promise it’s worse. If your career page is as unorganized as your pile of resumes, you’ve clearly purchased (or rented) the wrong Applicant Tracking System. Recruiters aren’t the only ones to experience the trials of your complicated or outdated ATS; candidates know first hand the troubles that accompany a poor system. Even though 76% of candidates prefer to apply for an open position through a career page, 58% of candidates who have a poor experience say it’s due to irregular updates. That can all be changed with the right ATS.

You’re simply not going to attract every candidate that crosses your path, but that’s not to say you certainly can’t try. You can fix the complicated process of applying to your organization. Don’t let your recruitment program fall by the wayside because it’s the only thing standing between your company and that one candidate who can change things for the better.

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photo credit: Caro Wallis via photopin cc