Silent Days in Recruiting

Managing Communication Gaps in the Hiring Process

„There’s nothing more human than the dread of waiting for something”

Do you recognize those days when you are just at the beginning of the day’s work, expecting lots of responses from the candidates being interested in the role and your mailbox or LinkedIn chat remains silent?

Moreover, you are about to finish the day and still nothing. You begin to feel frustrated. All of the effort put into getting those candidates engaged can be poured down the drain.

The wait can seem endless and you already imagine a thousand different storylines to actually try to understand what happened and what went wrong.

Sounds familiar? If yes, grab a cup of coffee and read further because we would like to present some scenarios and the ways how you can avoid such silent days:

1. Is anybody there? A little response rate on the project.

For every recruiter, it is crucial to get a response from the approached candidates. Due to the development in technology as well as the Internet we do have many ways to reach them. Yet, our response rate is getting lower. The talent market is getting tougher and tighter than ever before.

What is the reason behind it? Most importantly, how can we adapt as recruiters and headhunters? We should work on changing our approach methods, looking for alternative channels and sources, adjusting the communication style and the delivery of the message. Personalization is a significant variable that can extend your candidate’s reach.

2. Silent hiring manager.

What if the awaited responses came, the candidates are now engaged in the recruitment process, but the Hiring Manager stays silent. Along with a nagging sense of uncertainty and the constant desire to hassle your hiring manager for updates, how do you stay Zen, especially when your mailbox is empty and without even a word?

In the head of a recruiter, the question arises – what if I lose a candidate because of the time it takes to get an answer?

Preparation is a key to success. Before the acceptance of a new role, remember to establish some rules of cooperation. During the first meeting, explain to Hiring Manager, how the recruitment process will look like, set up some deadlines and make sure both of you are in line with the form of the cooperation and have a timeline set.

It is good to discuss the availability of the Hiring Manager. It is worth asking: Do you prefer reaching out by email or phone? When you are available for a call? What time of the day? Are you going on vacation anytime soon? Agree on a convenient date for both of you, so that you can be clear about the form and time of cooperation.

3. Do you believe in ghosts? 

As a recruiter, we sometimes are exposed to the following scenario – a candidate stops responding after a promising message that he is really into the role and is keen on scheduling a call. And then what? Zero contact after several follow-ups and the candidate just disappears. Magic?

The candidate did not show up? OR what is even worse, are you a ghost recruiter, giving no signs of life to candidates?

While some recruiters will give their final feedback to the candidate just a few days after the interview, others might give the impression that they’ve completely forgotten about the person in the recruitment process. Ghosting can happen at any point during the recruitment process, starting from a message that was simply ignored, a phone call that was scheduled previously, but not picked up later on, or a CV that was not sent after a fruitful conversation, as it might have seemed at that time.

4. Break the silence! What to do when a candidate goes silent?

Recruiters have experienced such behavior most likely more than once. Probably, every time the question arises in their head: how did this happen? Most importantly, what can I do? Of course, there can be many reasons, but in most cases, it comes down to these few aspects.

• First, make sure that you approach the right person. Putting in the effort at the beginning of the process will save time for both yourself and the candidate. Remember to do a careful role vs candidate analysis. What can happen otherwise? The candidate may decide early on that the offer is not a match and simply not reply to the message. Maybe, you do go a little further into the process, to the point of scheduling a screening call or conversation stage itself – then both of you will run into frustration when finding the role isn’t a good fit. On the way to the inevitable, when the candidate comes to such conclusions, well …. sometimes he will inform about it, sometimes not.

• Try to build a bond with the candidate. It is more difficult to not answer the phone from someone you had a nice conversation with. Especially if it felt attentive and simply human. Show kindness in the interview, ask how the week is going and really listen to the answer. There is a good chance that the candidate will pay back with the same kindness and respect and will not leave us one day unexpectedly without an answer. A good relationship with the candidate will also help you to have an honest conversation and determine whether they are really interested in changing the job and if your offer is the right one for them.

• Be prepared and know what you are talking about. There is nothing more unprofessional and annoying for an experienced candidate than an unprepared recruiter who has no idea what the interview is about. If you didn’t do your homework and faced a lack of contact from the candidate … you shouldn’t be surprised.

• Be careful. Ask questions and listen to the answers. However, if there is anything worse than an unprepared recruiter, it is a distracted recruiter who hears but does pay attention to the answer

• Keep in mind, that the times when you had to look for a job are long gone.

Currently, the labor market allows candidates to freely choose from the offers. The certainty that at least a few interesting offers are waiting for them increases the possibility of ignoring our message if the reader feels that:

• You have not prepared,
• you have not read his profile and offered him a job that is for sure not in line with his further career path,
• you don’t know anything about the role you are hiring for ( here we have the standard JavaScript vs. Java),
• your recruitment messages is a template (let’s send bulk it will be quicker).

Keep in mind that on the two sides of the barricade, there are only PEOPLE. People who may consider changing a job or people who are looking for a job and people who can offer the job to you. Let’s be human to one another. If you are overwhelmed with job offers you receive, and feel that responding to each recruiter’s message could be your second gig, just do us a favor and write a short NO to our message, don’t ignore us – it takes a second, and the bridge is not burned. Doing so, you are not a ghost and we don’t feel like being ghosts either.

Since „the only constant in life is change” our paths may cross in very unpredictable situations, so let’s work together – sometimes for better or sometimes for the worse – but together as a TEAM.

Authors: Anna Drzał, Krolina Łojko, Tugce Cakir, Justyna Bury

Editor-in-chief: Olga Kamińska