The Importance of Staying In Touch With Your Candidates

For employers, hiring has been rapidly changing for some time now and even more so over the past year. A candidate-driven labor market and advancements in technology that give us instantaneous results have shifted the focus of hiring to the candidate experience. Staying in touch with job seekers throughout the hiring process is no longer a simple courtesy. In our present day, the candidate’s experience rules the day and you need to be prepared with the reasons why those candidates may walk away from your organization.

In today’s world candidates have options, a lot of options! Technology has made jobs more accessible in the way that people both find and apply for them. With the ability to search for jobs right on their smartphones and the ease of online applications, candidates are able to apply for dozens of jobs quickly. This means that most applicants likely have simultaneous interviews, and possibly even multiple job offers at any one time. To further complicate matters, the healthcare industry is on the more extreme side of this trend. Not only is there a rapid increase in the need for healthcare professionals, but there is also a shortage of them. This gives healthcare workers even more opportunities at their fingertips and demands more from employers to engage with candidates in order to pique their interest in their organization. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the healthcare industry is projected to grow by 15% from 2019 to 2029 and will add 2.4 million new jobs to its existing workforce which consists of more than 15 million jobs already.

With this kind of demand, it’s easy to see how candidates might drop out of the hiring process without warning, and often there is a common denominator as to why: communication! Staying in touch with your candidates and keeping them up to date with your hiring process will help them to feel valued and understand your interest in their skills. In our current market, a mistake that many organizations make is assuming interested candidates will wait to hear from potential employers, and that is just no longer true. With accessible technology such as texting, job seekers expect consistent communication and if they don’t receive it, they may assume you didn’t select them for the job, or that your organization is not attentive to its talent.

Whether your organization is working with its HR team, internal recruiters, or with an external healthcare recruitment firm, the pace of the hiring process is equally as important as communication. Employers often make the mistake that recruiters can keep applicants engaged while the hiring team comes to a decision or continues to interview additional candidates, but that’s not always possible. One of our experienced recruiters, Patrick Thornquist, further explains:

“I’d say we hope to have a reply from every candidate presentation within 24 hours. The candidate pool is so tight, especially in clinical leadership roles, that candidates often have multiple interviews scheduled and sometimes other offers on the table. When the hiring process gets slowed down with a good candidate, our clients risk the chance of that candidate finding another opportunity or accepting another offer, even if the delay is only a few extra days.

In the case that a client does want to stretch out an interview process, we do our best to keep the candidate “warm”, but that isn’t always effective. Generally, if the client is excited about a candidate, we recommend moving forward with them in a timely fashion.”

During the Great Recession, it was fairly common for employers to take their time with hiring and to keep their job postings open in hopes of bringing in the most qualified individuals. Slowing down this process today and waiting for additional applicants could backfire, causing you to lose out on a good candidate or several solid candidates, as they move on to other opportunities. Someone who checks off most of the boxes you’ve laid out for an ideal candidate should be a top consideration. Hiring an eager person with room for growth can even benefit your organization as you can teach and train them on how you’d like the job to be done.

If your organization is looking to hire a qualified healthcare professional, LeaderStat can help! Contact us today to find out how our highly experienced recruiters can guide you and your team toward your next great hire.