Remember if the candidate is a good one he or she will more than likely have more than just your offer to consider, so the very first thing to do is truly understand how to stack the odds in your favour.
To tip the balance in favour of your company you need to be ready to sell your offer....but when you are doing this make sure that you understand and appeal to the candidate’s priorities and his or her personal circumstances. Remember it is not always about money.
- Emphasise how their career will grow at your organisation
- Show how their contribution and role will be valued by the company
- Demonstrate you have a clear and flexible plan for their personal development
Never forget though you are dealing with a person and not a product – don’t just put the offer letter in the post and sit there waiting for it come back. Get proactive!
- Build rapport over the phone
- Meet up in person to discuss any last minute concerns
- Involve stakeholder in the closure of the offer – a wise head explaining the career path is a 100% better than a diagram!
When everything go to plan you have your starter and then you can think about the last stage of the process – the onboarding process, which we look at below. However....not everyone will say yes.
So in the event your offer gets rejected – it’s your responsibility to get under the skin as to why. For example the job may have be perfect for them but you may simply have done something say in the interview process that put the candidate off – you need to understand and remedy the reason why your perfect candidate has said no – or the odds are the next one will too!
Moving on – your candidate is signed, sealed and starting. The final step of the recruitment process is the first big step in retaining them!
It is vital you have a straightforward onboarding process.
In its simplest sense onboarding is the process of seamlessly integrating your new employee into their new work environment. Your focus here should be four fold, ensuring a strong employer welcome, affirmation that they have made the right choice, emphasising the way they fit into the company and the build of a long term relationship.
Ensure the real basics are covered early – a first day/week session covering all the company basics; employee handbook, payroll paperwork, company structure, mission, goals and any other structural information – but do not make the mistake of thinking that this “orientation” is the same as onboarding.
Remember you have made a big investment in terms of both money and time to secure the candidate – don’t be the fisherman who talks about the “one that got away”!
Whatever your company does or whatever the role is a successful onboarding process must deliver the following.
- A clear, structured route to provide new employees more information about the organisation
- Open opportunities to question and understand the company’s culture, its mission and operational goals
- The opportunity for a new employee to bond – be this a night down the pub or a formal mentoring program!
If you tick all the boxes you’ll have a happy, comfortable and productive employee who makes an impact! Furthermore you will have a “brand advocate” someone preaching the virtues of joining your organisation...which after all will make the job of recruiting all the easier!
Happy recruiting!
Missed the previous posts? Don't worry, you can check them out on the blog archives on this site!
Chris Smith is the founder of yourpeoplemarket.com a game changing, free to use, fixed fee recruitment marketplace – where you can engage with agencies at a fee you set or less and only ever pay on success.
Before this Chris was Joint Founder of ecrmpeople, which over a seven year period he took from being a start-up to a £12m company.