Using Existing Tech to Slash Job Seeker Ghosting

Time to Read: 3 MIN

In this Blog:

• Candidate Ghosting solutions might live within your existing tech stack 
• How to build a candidate-friendly approach to reducing the number of candidate desertions
  

Recruiting is difficult enough without candidates that appear and disappear like a balloon at 60,000-feet.   

How do we combat this latest joy? Well, let us provide a methodology to resolve the dilemma of these oh-too-frequent ethereal candidates. 

Firstly, what are the triggers of this behavior? 

1. Candidates are not interested in you; they are interested in a job 
2. They will work with whoever responds the quickest or pays the most. 
3. Communications throughout the recruiting process are poor, infrequent and focused on the company’s needs and the limitations of the tech stack - not the needs of the candidate.

So, if these are some of the triggers what are the cures? 

Gap Analysis 

Conduct a gap analysis consisting of 2 audits: 

1. Communication Audit 
2. Technology Audit 

Communication Audit 

Cadence 

When do you reach out to a candidate? Current communication milestones may look like this: 

• Thanking them for completing the application 
• Scheduling an interview 
• Extending an offer 

Is that enough? When are you losing them? 

Platform 

Understanding how you communicate is just as important. Are you using these communication platforms?  

• Telephone 
• Text 
• Email 
• Chatbot 
• LinkedIn 

At what points in the process? To achieve what? How often? 

Metrics 

 What are you measuring? 

• Time to fill 
• Cost per hire 
• Source of hire 

While these are important metrics, does the candidate care? How can candidate satisfaction be measured?

The only thing a candidate cares about is time to interview. So, if you do track this how are you improving this metric over time?  

Technology Audit 

There may be hidden power in your current tech stack that is not currently being used, that can easily be turned on. Once the outcomes of the communication audit are measured, establish how to use your current technology to address the misses. This may mean buying an extra module or having an SME enhance the current setup.  

These audits give you the roadmap to a solution.  

Are there ways to increase the touchpoints within the current tech stack and process without extending internal resources further?  If not, there may be a need to embrace the growing number of text and chatbot vendors that are filling the RMA space. 

RMA (Recruitment Marketing Automation) 

This is a growing space that focuses on candidate experience and thus inherently exorcises the ghosting candidate.  

How? 

• Candidates are screened and either have an interview set or are politely declined. This takes minutes, not days, and provides closure and immediacy. 
• Automate a candidate communication cadence from pre-interview date to their first day. It reminds them why they are joining the organization. It’s simple but most of your competitors aren’t doing this. Overlay this simplicity with what the communication audit tells you.  

Using such tools or adopting the modules within your current tech stack enables you to differentiate yourself. This differentiation -and the power of the technology application - will combat ghosting. 

Why it Matters 

These demographic and technological changes are not a fad. We need immediacy and waiting days/weeks to find out if you can qualify for a job is just too long. Candidates of all ages see WAIT as a 4-letter word of pronounced vulgarity.

The RMA offering is relatively new and sparingly used, but soon it will be expected and commonplace. 

If ghastly candidate apparitions are populating your day these audits are the key to your future sanity and company’s revenue growth. 

Wicresoft offers free application process audits, effectively weeding out pain points for applicants and pinpointing where processes can be optimized. Want to know more about this topic? Contact us today!