How Do You Handle Candidates Who Promise to Attend Interviews but Don't Show Up?

Hi Friends,

I am an HR Executive in the Recruitment Industry, facing a serious problem of candidates not attending interviews. Our process involves sourcing CVs, contacting potential candidates for their details, forwarding their CVs to the company, and shortlisting them for client interviews. However, many candidates assure us they will attend the interview but ultimately fail to show up.

As a result, we have to spend significant time calling them repeatedly to convince them to attend. This inefficiency is causing us to waste a lot of time. Please suggest a solution.

Thank you,
Veena

Thank you very much for your input. We are implementing your first suggestion of ensuring that candidates continue to follow through.

Regarding your second point about registration potentially weakening the candidate flow to the company, what should we do?

Thanks.

Dear Veena,

Thank you for your message. However, the current solution may not be suitable for my situation. We are recruiting nationwide in India, and our candidates are located in various regions. Therefore, it is not cost-effective to request them to come to our office initially. Could you please suggest an alternative approach?

I look forward to your response.

Regards,
Veena

One of the reasons I found is that the recruiting firms normally call up at very short notice, like 2-3 days gaps. Job seekers commit to them since they want a new job, but at the same time, due to the very short notice for interviews, they find it very difficult to come for an interview, leaving their present job commitments (exceptions are there). I feel job seekers should get at least a week's time to prepare themselves for the interview and arrange things at their current job.

Hi Veena,

Change your presentation. I think the problem might be with you. You must do a self-appraisal and find the solution within yourself.

In addition, I would like to say that you should not try to call those candidates who are staying far from the posting location. If possible, try to ask your client to finalize the interview in one meeting as time is money today, and no one wants to waste it.

If you need more clarification, please do call.

Regards,
Sachin
Sr. Manager - HR
09718249808

Hi Suraj,

It might be true, but not in the case of our company. We provide them reasonable time. If you want, I used to prepare a travel plan for them. Even if it is not possible, then we provide flight fare for the real potential candidate. Now tell me, what is the problem?

I can understand that there are some genuine reasons, acceptable. But if we reschedule them, then they have to go.

That might be very true, Sachin sir. I would like to change myself. But tell me, what is the problem in presentation? I am not giving excuses. I will explain the procedure we use. First, we source candidates according to requirements. Then, we call closely matching candidates considering their location. Next, there is a small questionnaire. We ask them to check whether the candidate is suitable, both technically and otherwise, for which we are trained.

After that, we inquire about their relocation and if they are okay with the profile, we forward their CVs to the company. If they are shortlisted by the company, we call them, and the company arranges their interview according to their current location with reimbursement facilities, even if it is not that far away.

Can you tell me where I went wrong?

Please confirm the following:

1. Since when have you been facing this problem?
2. Assuming you are one among many recruiters in your company, do the others also have the same issue?
3. In which domain do you operate—IT, ITeS, Non-IT, Banking, etc.?

Please note that every domain will have its own set of issues to be handled; I wouldn't say problems.

Regards,
TS

See Veena,

Does your agreement with the employer last until the candidate joins, or is it just to compile the profile and send it to the employer? Or are you conducting a headhunt for the employer? In all three cases, you need to review your procedures and adjust your agreement accordingly. For each order you work on, please collect the relevant data and analyze it. Identify the root cause and take action. If the action taken is deemed satisfactory, make changes to your procedures and adjust the agreement with the employer accordingly. Focus on ensuring business continuity rather than wasting time in non-value-added activities.

Please let me know if you need any further assistance.

Yes, I agree with you. They might be facing the same problem as you. What do you want me to do? Should I go for research in this area, which will be time-consuming? I hope you know that this is a span where companies go for headhunting, walk-in interviews in bulk, and we have to line up more than 30 candidates each day, that too of different designations. Now, tell me the solution.

Hello Veena,

I understand your eagerness for a solution.

But unless one knows what's happening (which you mentioned in this thread) and more importantly WHY it's happening, how would he/she be able to arrive at a logical and workable solution -- whether it's me, you, or anyone else?

You mentioned, "they might be facing the same problem than what you want me to do". Please DON'T ASSUME in such situations. PLEASE ASK THEM. For all you know, they MAY NOT be facing the problem at all -- which could mean that you will need to change the way YOU are handling things at your end. Or they may be facing the same problems for totally different reasons.

And if they are also facing the same problem (now or earlier) for similar reasons like you do now, then they could tell you how they handled the problem(s) -- being near to the scene themselves, their feedback could have a better hit rate than mine.

And every problem would have its own unique solution -- meaning what can work for me need not necessarily work for you, especially in recruitment. The reason for this is everyone has a style of talking, expressing, presentation, etc. And such attributes definitely have an effect on the results.

Also, please don't get weighed down by your targets ("we have to line up more than 30 candidates each day that too of different designations") -- if you allow that to happen, your focus on finding the reasons for your current problem will get affected and mislead the whole effort -- you have to learn to handle such pressure. And you also have to find a solution to your current problem -- or your performance would get affected -- you already are facing it. That's what experience is all about, I guess.

I suggest you talk to your colleagues and let me know the clear picture at your end.

Regards,

TS

In addition to the above senior's post, my point of view is that you should mail them systematically with your introduction, then a glimpse of the client company, location of work, etc., and then let the interested candidates' resumes come to you. This ensures that they are interested in a change.

First, conduct a telephonic interview and then a final interview with the client - this will save time and money for the employer as well as the employee.

Sometimes, what happens is when employees receive a job call, they get interested but do not give importance unless and until you give them some details about the job profile, work location, and client information like the company name and website.

An employee changing a job may consider a payment hike, convenience, designation, job profile, status of the company, existence of the company, etc., which should stabilize him or her for the future.

FYI - Even I received an interview email, out of which one was very impressive, and I was very much interested in that interview. It was all systematic communication from January 15th onwards for the January 31st interview.

I hope my viewpoint is not wrong and is helpful to you.