How Can Recruiters Minimize Escalation When Candidates Skip Interviews?

Hi, I have a few queries regarding escalation in the staffing process. I want to know how to minimize the escalation. I work in a staffing firm as a recruiter. Many times, candidates don't turn up for interviews after committing themselves to it, and they abscond even after continuous follow-up.

Questions on Escalation in Staffing

1. Is the recruiter to be blamed?
2. How to reduce the escalation in the future?
3. What is the role of a manager in this case? Should he blame his subordinate or work with them to control it?

Regards

Not only are 80% of organizations facing this problem, but even those who call directly and the recruiting agencies are encountering it as well. It is difficult to pinpoint or blame individuals such as Managers, GMs, Presidents, or Directors because nowadays, due to the pressure at their workplaces, candidates may not be able to move or may not be allowed to move to attend the interview. Traffic issues are also a reason why candidates may not attend on time. Additionally, the vast availability of data on the internet is a constraint as candidates often make decisions before the interview. Due to high individual expectations, their decisions and priorities change frequently. Cut-throat competition, last-minute priorities, excuses, and people's attitudes are some of the reasons why recruiters are blamed.

Once interviews are scheduled, senior-level personnel in the organization make themselves available at the venue at the allotted time. It can be embarrassing for HR/recruiting executives if candidates do not show up. They have to face the repercussions.

Instead of blaming their juniors for mistakes they did not commit, managers and senior personnel should understand their problems, acknowledge their efforts, and provide support and suggestions.

With the exception of a few top companies, the majority of people are facing this issue.

Regards, Kamesh

Addressing Recruitment Challenges

Yeah, this is a major problem recruiters are facing nowadays, and the person holding the responsibility for recruiting is often blamed by top bosses for not fulfilling expectations, such as attracting candidates to the job. I feel this problem can be reduced if you segment your skill requirements because only then will you be successful in identifying the prospective and required candidates.

Secondly, feel the pulse of the candidates' wishlist and then set your demands accordingly. Try to convince in the best possible ways and understand their attitude, then act accordingly. There is a great need for coordination between the activities of top managers and subordinates so that the required candidates are attracted to the organization. Blaming is not the solution.

With regards,
RIMA

Dear RIMA, I totally agree with your inputs, but it is not that easy to feel the pulse of the candidates who are looking at "PURSE" and changing their opinions nowadays.

Challenges in Candidate Assessment

The second thing is the recruitment executive only interacts once or twice, that too over the phone, which makes it very impossible to feel the pulse, convince, and understand his attitude. This is because after interacting for one to two hours or even for a day, especially in person during the interview and using evaluation tools like Thomas profiling/MBTI, people are unable to assess the pulse of the candidates perfectly. The candidates who seem well-assessed might end up being unable to perform, unfit for the culture, or might leave for a higher salary.

These are all my practical experiences; hence the blame game does not suit the recruitment process. The only mantra is "Try and try; you will succeed."

Regards,
Kamesh

Improving the Interview Process

Some improvements can be carried out as follows:

1. Assess the inclination or interest of the candidate towards the prospective organization.
2. Give them time to think and confirm the interview schedule.
3. Satisfy their probable queries such as company profile, turnover, size of the company, activity, reimbursement for the interview, CTC range, designation, reporting, etc.
4. If they don't have time currently, ask them about their comfortable date and time for rescheduling the interview.
5. Call at least 5 candidates for one post.
6. Ask the interviewers to conduct interviews with a flexible schedule but without making the candidates wait for a long time.
7. Ask the candidates to confirm two alternative dates for scheduling the interview.
8. Communicate the decision within a week at maximum. Don't keep them hanging by replying, "will call you" or "we are shortlisting only."
9. Confirm with the candidate whether the interview is one, two, or three-tier/rounds.
10. Don't call candidates merely for screening as it wastes their time.

Regards,
P. K. Mishra

I also worked as a recruiter and have gone through heavy pressure. But in later days, I managed to lessen that pressure. You can follow some important points that may help you out:

1. Take a confirmation email from the candidate who is about to attend the interview.
2. Confirm with HR only when you have received a confirmation email.
3. At the initial stage of sourcing, send the candidate's CV via email containing the job description of the position. This will lead to receiving resumes only from candidates who are very interested in making a change, thereby increasing the number of attendees. Also, recruiters cannot be blamed if communication with the candidate is conducted through emails.

Lastly, the manager should assign interview scheduling to an experienced employee within the company rather than to a newly joined employee. This way, the level of interest from candidates can be easily gauged, and any potential issues can be avoided.

Regards,
Sagar

Thank you for your input. I appreciate the point you mentioned about receiving the confirmation email. Even after receiving the confirmation email from their side, we cannot avoid escalation.

I hope this clarifies the importance of the confirmation process. Let me know if you have any further insights to share.

Best regards,