Is Your Outreach Style Turning off Candidates?

January 8, 2015 at 12:06 PM by Kathleen de Lara

turnoff_blog.jpgBad habits are hard to break, and among the list of your other resolutions, we hope you’ve reserved a special subsection for all your open req dreams and aspirations.

The first message recruiters send candidates is a courting, and getting under a candidate’s skin and rubbing the wrong way is a lot easier than most would think. We could probably come up with a list of candidate’s pet peeves about recruiters to take us into the next year. Instead, check out these six to start. Which ones are you guilty of?

Sending emails after burning the midnight oil.

If you’re working around the clock, make sure it’s working to your benefit. Perhaps you’ve spent all day sourcing candidates and working on other projects, and the only time you’re free to actually start your outreach is at the end of the day/early beginnings of the day when most people are away from their computers and other devices. Before sending a message, figure out if there are adjustments to make to increase the chances of it being read, like scheduling the send for a later time when candidates are likely to read it (on the way to work, during their lunch break, on the way home from work, before they go to bed). Don’t forget to account for different time zones and whether you’re sending the email to a candidate’s personal or work address, either which may be sporadically checked depending on the time of day.

Forgetting to disable your auto-reply message.

D’oh! This one’s a huge slap in the face to candidates who end up sending a reply to your concise, relevant, uber-customized message. Throughout all stages of the outreach, keep the messaging personalized, and manage and adjust any auto-reply settings for incoming emails. A simple “Great to hear back!” works a lot better than “We have received your message and will reply in the order it was received within 7-10 business days.”

Neglecting the impact of your email signature.

Some of the best real estate in emails is at the bottom. While the original message may live above where you’ve signed a “Best,” remember to take advantage of the few lines that come after your name. The email signature is a prime location for including a link to the company’s careers page (which may include other positions a candidate may be more interested in or qualified for), a recent press article for a nice credentials boost, and links to the org’s social sites.

Want to learn how to increase your email clickthrough rates? Check out our sample template.

Approaching a candidate with a job and failing to follow up.

Similar to our second point, sharing an opportunity with someone who expresses interest and never hears back from you is yet another instance where unintentionally playing hard-to-get won’t work. (When does it ever?) Track who you’re reaching out to, when you reach out to them, and the status of their reply.

Dragging out the interviewing and hiring processes.

We’re specifically referring to the time between the first interview and the job offer. MRINetwork’s Recruiter Sentiment Study reported 40% of offers are extended sometime within the four weeks after the first interview, only to be rejected by job candidates. In the Venn diagram of talent, the circles of people who are qualified and people who come in for an interview may hardly overlap, so once a good ole sought-after candidate is in the funnel (and office), nurture the connection, keep in frequent contact with hiring managers to stay updated on a candidate’s progress, and follow up with interviewees to let them know if they’ve been rejected or selected for a position. Take a look at the correlation between the length of the current hiring process, the percentage of candidates who make it through the funnel, and the quality of the people who come through.

Using the same template for all candidates and/or rewriting the same emails.

By now, this one should be a no-brainer. Keeping your messaging hyper-targeted and personalized is one of the keys to unlocking a candidate’s willpower to stop themselves from sending your email to the circular file. If you’re using the same messaging template as a one-size-fits-all email for all candidate outreach, there’s a chance you’re widening the gap between the company and a potential hire – not to mention the bad name you’re giving the org’s recruiters and the employer brand. And rewriting the same emails is a waste of time. Prep different versions of templates for positions you’re recruiting. They’ll likely be fairly similar to each other, but can be tweaked to address different factors, like length of experience, relevant skills, the industry they’re in or the company’s in, their alma mater, or role’s level.

What bad habits of recruiting and candidate outreach are on your dont’s list? Anything we forgot to mention that really triggers your SMH reflexes? Share them with us in the comments, and don't forget to check out an entire eBook we dedicated to improving your emails to candidates!

 

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