How to ensure the best candidate accepts your job offer

The job market is extremely challenging with skill shortages.

It’s a candidate market and if you want to ensure that the time and money invested by you and your colleagues pays off, you need to ensure that your process from deciding to recruit to making a job offer has been thorough and engaging for all of your prospective candidates. Set out your stall before you start so you, your Recruiter and your prospective employees are clear what to expect during the recruitment process.

Things to consider before you advertise your job vacancy:

1. Have you appointed the right Recruiter who is passionate about you, your team and your business and who can really sell the reasons why this opportunity is the one to seriously consider?
2. Do you know the reasons why candidates should consider working with you, your team and your business?
3. What are the key duties and responsibilities of the role?
4. What specific skills and experience are you looking for?
5. What training and coaching is offered and by whom?
6. What personal development is there now and in the future?
7. What career opportunities are there now and, in the future, and is there a clear path to promotion?
8. What are your personal work values and are these aligned to the business core values?
9. What is your management and leadership style?
10. What are the benefits and negatives are working with you?
11. What flexible working is on offer?
12. How are your staff rewarded?
13. Do you or your business offer staff incentives be this personal, team or company?
14. What is the reason you are recruiting and what reason do you give to a potential candidate if the reason you are recruiting is because of say the dismissal of the previous member of staff.

During the interview:

The interview is a two-way process for all parties to see if there are common grounds of interest to pursue further discussions as to a potential future relationship. As much as an employer may think it’s their chance only to see if the candidate is suitable for their vacancy, it is very much the opportunity for the employer to tell the candidate the reasons why this role is such a good fit to their skills, strengths and aspirations and that they recognise the value they have had with their previous employers, something that you would love to have. Competency based interviews are important in some roles to extract examples of work carried out by a candidate more specifically if the role is a niche role. Often, a competency-based interview can be deemed as too formal and therefore you as the employer/recruiter will not get the best out of the candidate as they are not relaxed. One therefore has to decide if a competence type interview is really the best type of interview for you and your vacancy.

Being honest from the outset in terms of process and format for the interview is of paramount. Setting the stall so there are no surprises which throws the candidate off guard.

A relaxed informal discussion should be the first introduction to you and your business as a ‘get to know’ whereby the end of this initial discussion, you will both know whether it could be mutually beneficial to proceed to a more formal interview. Direct feedback is welcome immediately following this discussion or, if either party needs time to consider, timescales should be given and should be kept to.

Should the candidate be invited back for a more formal interview, they should be given the opportunity and time to explore questions they have for you and be satisfied with your response. At the end of the interview, both parties should be given the opportunity to ask and clarify areas which have been missed or need clarification and to ensure that there is nothing that remains outstanding in terms of questions missed or not answered clearly.

A site tour and/or meet with team members is a good way of providing the applicant with a better understanding of the working environment and culture and this would be recommended should the formal interview go well.

Following the interview:

Prompt feedback is important together with transparency. It is so important that the candidate knows clearly where they stand with you and this job vacancy. We appreciate that in many instances, you will have a first, second and third choice and you will want to keep your options open and retain the interest of all candidates. On the flip side of this, you have to be fair to the candidates who are exploring their other options. You would not want to over promise and not fulfil this, which then results in the candidate missing out on another good job opportunity.

If you feel you have found your new employee, it is important that you establish before you present any offer to them, their current package and their requirements. Many candidates are not best placed to negotiate their package so you need to ensure that you offer the best possible package to match their experience and skills with a clear indication as to when this will be reviewed and to what salary level and also potential start date. Many businesses do not formalise their offer until they have an acceptance subject to contract, however most candidates want to see their offer clearly before they make any formal acceptance. If you are able to do so, the formalisation of the offer is a commitment which will be welcomed by any candidate wanting to secure their next role and this will ensure that you are considered as a serious contender. If you are not able to formalise the offer until a verbal acceptance is given, ensure that all details are provided in the initial offer.

 Company Name:
 Nature of your business:
 Name of contact to report to on arrival:
 Start date of engagement:
 Duration:
 The type of work:
 Location of work:
 Hours of work:
 The experience, training, qualifications and any authorisation necessary or required by law or a professional body:
 Any known health and safety risks and the steps the hirer has taken to reduce the risks:
 Any expenses payable:
 Salary:
 Additional benefits:
 Intervals of payment:
 The length of notice that the candidate is required to give to terminate:
 The length of notice the candidate can expect from the Company to terminate:

Paperwork chain:

The best way to ensure your new starter is committed is to provide a date when the offer needs to be formally accepted with all paperwork signed and returned. The candidate needs to know from the outset of the process and failure to do this will result in the offer being retracted. Once all paperwork is back with HR and checked, it is also important that references are requested as often failure to do this can make the candidate question the process which you follow but also on a positive front reiterates your commitment to them joining your business.

Maintaining contact:

The notice period is the prime time for an existing employer to try and start to coax them into staying in their current role and not leave and to offer various incentives or changes to their role and/or working terms and conditions. Often the continuous bombarding of management and directors can make a candidate decide to stay as they cannot cope with the stress. It is therefore of paramount, that you have regular calls/meet ups and engage with them throughout the notice period to ensure that the notice period is going smooth and to offer any support should this be needed.