If you are struggling to hire people for open positions and qualified candidates repeatedly remove themselves from the process, those candidates may be seeing red flags that make them uncertain about being part of your company, according to Harvard Business Review.
Harvard Business Review identifies the following organizational red flags that could be keeping job candidates from making a commitment to your company.
- Lack of clarity. Companies sometimes do not communicate the basic facts about mission, values and culture, which can make candidates wary. Lack of clarity regarding job responsibilities and expectations, as well as how success will be measured, also can be a problem. Candidates want to know about the daily details and the long-term career path. Be sure you have a list of questions or statements that make the company mission, values and culture clear; ensure everyone understands the role being filled, including struggles and accomplishments of those who have held the role; and create a clear job description, competency checklist, and outline of desired outcomes or performance goals.
- Bad hiring practices. This can involve a disorganized process; insufficient communication regarding the timeline; lack of honesty and transparency; interviewers showing a lack of interest or respect; biases; and getting too personal regarding family life and similar topics. Establish a clear outline for the process and set a timeline regarding how many interviews to prepare for, what the flow will be and when to expect a response. Be sure to train interviewers regarding questions that cannot be legally asked in an interview. You also can ask candidates for feedback regarding the process.
- Unpleasant/unhappy people. Interviewers can leave a strong first impression. If they are disengaged, unprepared or unfriendly, it will make the candidate less likely to want to work at your company. Support hiring managers by ensuring there is enough time to properly screen and evaluate candidates and conduct in-depth interviews. Establish a protocol for how visitors to the office should be treated, and model positive energy. If your team members seem to have a morale problem, be sure to address it and work toward fixing it.
- Turnover/organizational reputation. High turnover rates can make candidates wary. Most will also avoid companies with poor reputations or a lack of success in the industry. It is important to address legitimate concerns during the interview process and explain the scope of problems; it may be more nuanced than the candidate realizes. Be sure everyone interacting with the candidate is aligned regarding their understanding of the issues and what is being done to address them.
