Why you need to become “the best” at candidate rejection

We are in the business of rejecting candidates, and we do it very poorly.

Why? We previously haven’t had the time, resources or capacity to do it any better.

For some TA teams and for certain roles the candidate rejection rate is as high as 99%. The experience for those candidates is often receiving a sanitized “thanks for applying” email, followed by a tightly scripted “you’ve been unsuccessful” email four weeks later if they’re lucky. The emails from various employers all look the same and the job seeker sees no difference.

It’s truly amazing that in a highly competitive industry, our main form of communication with candidates is generic, tightly scripted and near identical from employer to employer. That “candidate brand” that you think differentiates your organisation from all the others doesn’t stand out at all in the emails your TA team sends to over 95% of all candidates.

What if you became “the best” TA team at rejecting candidates?

But what if you could turn this weakness into a strength? What if your “Thank you for Applying” emails were truly unique and memorable, because they offered value? There’s a huge opportunity here.

The challenge though is obvious. Creating unique and memorable communications that offer personalized value take time, effort, and resources. So how can you provide meaningful value to tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of candidates without creating a huge amount of work for your TA team?

To begin with, let’s remember that communication (emails) is already being sent to these candidates. If within these emails you can offer something of high value – at just the right time – there’s a high chance that you’ll stand out.

It’s time to help your unsuccessful applicants find a job

The key is providing something of value to a job seeker. You can’t give the job seeker a job, so what’s the very next best thing?… It’s HELP to assist them with landing a job.

Optus is just one organisation who believes there’s real value in helping candidates with their job hunt, regardless of whether they’re successful in the Optus application process or not. Daniel Balout, Talent Operations & Project Lead at Optus says that job hunting is a universal experience that we can all relate to, and should apply those sentiments in our candidate communications.

“We have all been job seekers at some point, and completely understand the frustrations that candidates face when looking for their next employer. As such, we take great pride in continuously improving and enhancing our candidate experience to let job seekers know we will be with them every step of the way.”

Flybuys is another company who recognises the importance of providing great candidate experiences. Michael Christmas, their Talent & Candidate Experience Manager says that they want every single candidate who goes through their application process to feel supported.

“We know people are at the heart of everything we do and it is so important for Flybuys and for me personally to provide a great end to end candidate experience.

“We’re constantly iterating and uplifting our candidate experience processes, and it was important to us to find a tool that provided extra support for candidates before, during and after exploring a future with Flybuys. So whether you’re exploring potential opportunities, interviewing for live opportunities or were unsuccessful on aligning with current requirements, we still want every candidate who walks in and out of our doors to leave with a smile and feel supported.”

How do you provide career assistance at scale?

It’s important that the help you provide your unsuccessful candidates is meaningful, powerful, modern, digital, and available 24/7.

And that’s where The Candidate Coach comes in, with our digital platform offering 35 coaching videos, presented by 17 different recruitment experts. The coaching videos are complimented with worksheets, templates and checklists, all of it fully branded with your organisation’s colours and style.

The Candidate Coach will significantly improve their candidate experience and perception of your brand.  Even if a candidate doesn’t click on the link in your rejection email, it’s likely that they will notice you are making an effort to assist them in their future job hunt – making your candidate experience stand out from other organisations they are applying with.

Want to find out how Optus, Flybuys, Medibank, and other leading organisations are providing great candidate experiences? Take a look at The Candidate Coach.

This article is contributed by The Candidate Coach. Want to publish your content on the ATC blog? Get in touch.