Valentine’s Day: How to Foster Good Candidate Relationships

This Valentine’s Day, many recruiters will be sending out emails to possible candidates, writing the perfect job posting to start attracting talented candidates, and rejecting a candidate who unfortunately didn’t get the position. 

If you take a step back, the recruiting process can often feel like dating. According to one survey , about an average of 118 people will apply for one job.

The recruiter will have to go through these applicants, determine which ones might be a match, and then start dating (interviewing) the interested candidates to find the right match. 

But one key to this hiring process is ensuring that recruiters have good candidate relationships, or the candidate may not even want the job. So how do you have a good relationship with your candidates? Keep reading to find out!

Write Great Job Postings

Like writing the perfect text or online dating profile, recruiters need to find the magic formula that pulls in many candidates to apply for a job.

When writing the job posting, make sure that you keep it as short as possible. Focus on listing the main requirements that the job needs, rather than just a list of things that would be nice to have. 

You’ll also need to screen your postings before posting them on a job board or social media platforms. Try and keep the biased language out of the posting. For example, some words can make women job seekers subconsciously feel like they wouldn’t be a good fit for the position, even if they were.

Know Where to Source Quality Candidates

While you’re dreaming about the ideal candidate, they may not even know you’re out there or where to find you. That’s why it’s up to you to go looking for them. 

You’re the matchmaker in the employment market, and you’ll need to have relationships in different sectors, networks, and talent pools. When you have multiple candidates in each one, it’s much easier to recruit for your open positions. 

Rather than just posting a job on LinkedIn and waiting for candidates to come to you, go out and find them. You may even want to network with other recruiters to see if they have any people they would refer for the position. It’s all about who knows someone, which is why relationships are essential in the recruitment industry.

If you’re still having trouble connecting with great candidates, there are software tools out there that will take your job position and search thousands of profiles to find the perfect match for you. And if you’re still busy with other tasks, the tool can even send out automated emails to recruit the candidate and set the groundwork for a perfect relationship.

Prepare Candidates for Their First Interview

Once you start finding candidates you think might be a good match, you’ll want to begin setting up interviews with them. Just like on first dates, your candidate might be nervous and stressed. 

However, you can create a great relationship by offering them some encouragement and support. You should set up a quick phone call to screen applicants and show them some last-minute tips. You can include information about the company and who they’ll be interviewing with.

Ask them if they have any questions that make them feel more comfortable with the interview. 

After the interview, you may even want to call them and offer them any feedback. Even just a quick email or text can go a long way in your candidate relationship management strategy. 

Be Honest

Like in relationships, one Glassdoor survey  found that 96% of candidates would like to work for a transparent and honest company. 

When interviewing someone, be honest about the job, requirements, salary, and benefits. Talented candidates want the truth about your organization’s prospects, values, and visions. If they find out that you weren’t honest, it’ll breed disappointment. 

Exaggerating or lying about aspects of the job could cause the candidate to start looking for a new opportunity right after onboarding, increasing your company turnover. Instead, you might want to show transparency by offering to let them shadow people at work or see what it’s like. 

You may even want to share important information like how the recruitment process works, how the projects work, and what a day on the job looks like! You could risk losing out on some great candidates by doing this, but you may have more hiring success and higher retention rates when someone finally does accept the offer. 

Stay In Touch

Not every person who applies or interviews for the open position will be a match. If they’re not, you’ll have to break the relationship and move on to the next candidate. 

However, you shouldn’t ghost the candidate if you decide not to hire them. Be clear and communicate about what wasn’t working. 

Don’t try to sugarcoat everything and say, “It’s not you; it’s me.” Instead, be honest about why they didn’t get the job. If you’re honest and build a new relationship after that job, you can still be friends.

When you have that relationship, you can keep them in your talent pool of top talent, and you may be able to recruit them for the following position that opens up in the future. 

Ask for Help in Creating Good Candidate Relationships

Working as a team is the focus of all candidate relationship management strategies in every relationship. But if you’re struggling with having a good relationship with your candidates, maybe we can help. 

We have an expansive network of recruiters that can be on your team and help you recruit and source the best candidates. 

In addition, we also have machine learning software that sources ideal potential candidates for your positions. 

If this sounds like a relationship you’d be interested in, contact us today !