There are a few indicators of when a candidate is about to say no to an offer you’ve extended to them, and rather than running in circles waiting on someone stuck in the perpetual state of “maybe”, there are ways to identify someone who’s about to fall out of your funnel.
No matter how much a star a candidate may be, putting a halt on building your pipeline while waiting for a candidate’s response is never ideal or efficient.
What recruiters and hiring managers should generally look out for are candidates who self-select, push back, and delay the hiring process by choice.
Avoid breaking the hiring process and heed caution around candidates who express these behaviors after you’ve extended an offer.
They continually reschedule interviews or follow-up meetings.
Candidates who go from hot to cold in the form of “I’m unavailable during any of those six times you suggested. Can we reconnect early next month?” or something similar could likely be sending the passive message while they aren’t completely committed to your offer, there’s a slight interest to keep your company on their radar in case things don’t work out with other companies they may be speaking with. That amount of interest might not be enough to sway them to make a hard decision, and it’s definitely not a thread your team wants to hold on in the small chance they might move forward with your outreach. Pass on a candidate who reschedules your meetings more than twice without a reasonable explanation.
They ask for more time to decide.
At this point, the decision is mostly out of your hands and you’ve already extended the offer. Similar to the previous point, someone this far in the hiring process who delays moving forward may not be as interested in a role as expected. There’s a good deal of reasons a candidate wants more time to review an offer, like discussing the decision with their spouse or taking a look at how the salary and benefits fit with their lifestyle.
Likewise, a candidate who aggressively pushes back on the offer with compensation requests way beyond what was originally discussed could indicate someone who’s only interested in the company most likely to accept their offer, viewing the job from the short-term “paycheck-employee” perspective, rather than as someone looking to grow with a team over time. Vet and do reference checks on these candidates to find out if their culture fit and expectations aren’t a match for what their experience provides the team.
In some cases, the issue is your own team’s hiring process. Delaying the time between the initial phone interview and extending the offer plays a huge role in how a candidate decides to accept, deny, or prolong doing either. This process can last anywhere between two to three weeks for entry-level to mid-level roles, and four to six weeks for candidates at the VP level. Conversations with C-Suite candidates are expected to last for a few months to allot for multiple interviews, checking references and reviewing these people with the rest of the team. Anything past these time frames makes your offer less appealing to a candidate, and their attention could easily shift from excitement about your company to another org who’s quicker to make a decision.
One way to make an effort to stop a candidate from saying no? Humanize the process. Salary, hours, and job title negotiations are expected with any offer, but one of the most effective ways to make an impact on a candidate is to communicate hiring them isn’t just about meeting your own quotas and filling an open space on the team. Hiring this person means the company values their skills and experiences, and supports their career goals by giving them a place to grow and develop what they know.
What are some signs you’ve noticed of candidates on the route to rejecting you? Tell us in the comments!
