Struggling with No-Shows: How Do You Handle Candidates Who Disappear on Joining Day?

I am frequently facing a serious problem. We have a requirement for a Front Desk Executive in our firm. After a lot of hard work, we found some suitable candidates and offered her the offer letter as per her choice of joining date. However, on the day of joining, they did not show up, and she is not answering our calls. Our office timing is very convenient, and we do not have late sittings for female candidates. Despite these arrangements, I continue to face this kind of problem.

Please provide me with some helpful suggestions, and also advise me on how to work more efficiently.

Regards,
Amita

Please check these factors and evaluate what needs improvement:

1. Pay
2. Office location
3. Chosen candidate's location
4. Your office ambiance/business profile presentation
5. What's the job briefing given to the candidate?

Please call the candidates who did not turn up and have an offline understanding of why they did not show up. Please relax as there are so many unemployed in this country. Someone will turn up. Choose the right recruitment media too.

Best,
KB

In addition to what KB has pointed out, please keep in mind that no-shows are quite normal. Often, candidates attend an interview without the job in mind. It's more about trying out a possibility and finding an alignment, sometimes even considering their market value.

Suggestion for Handling No-Shows

Here's my suggestion: issue a letter to the candidate with an end date for the job offer. If she doesn't join by that date, she stands to lose the job.

During hiring, build a pool of candidates so that if one doesn't show up, another would be ready. Wish you all the best!

Please consider the solutions shared in this thread. It's an old discussion; however, the points remain valid.

How to Handle No-Show

In addition to the valid points made by KB and Cite Contribution, the following steps may also be helpful to encourage a selected candidate to accept an offer:

1. **Commutation:** In Mumbai, apart from distance, the way one has to commute to their workplace also weighs on the minds of prospective candidates when making a choice. For example, a candidate from Belapur may prefer a job at CST over one at Lower Parel. The commute to Lower Parel involves getting down at Kurla, catching a train to Dadar, changing over to the Western Railway, and then taking another local train to Lower Parel. Additionally, the candidate may have to walk or take a cab to reach the workplace. This does not even consider the challenges of boarding trains during the evening rush hour at Dadar and Kurla when returning home. Even if you find a good candidate located in an area not directly connected to your workplace, the likelihood of them accepting your offer might be low. They may opt for a job with lower pay if the commute to their workplace is easier. If the candidate is a woman, she will be especially concerned with this aspect.

2. **Interview Invitation:** When sending an email for an interview, you can mention that candidates who are interested in joining the job upon selection, regardless of their location, need only appear for the interview.

Regards,
B. Saikumar
HR & Labour Law Advisor
Mumbai

This is to add some tips to your problem. Do not give the candidates their free choice when they can start. During interviews, you can ask these questions to them. When presenting your job offer, set your own date so that in case they cannot come on the specified day, you can choose another option from your pool of candidates.

I have been facing the same issue with profiles like Front Office/Secretary/Telecallers/Back Office and Sales Executives. After 10 calls, one person agrees to attend the interview. However, if I line up 10 people, only 1 or 2 attend the interview. Even if they agree to join, they don't show up. And if someone does join, they leave within 2 months.

Understanding the Challenges with Certain Profiles

I just want to understand what is wrong with these profiles! Can anyone shed some light on this discussion? I am so frustrated that I am only focusing on Senior to Top management positions, where I find people with the right attitude!

Seeking Suggestions and Ideas

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions on how to handle these profiles, please share!

Before coming to any suggestion or solution, I would like to tell you that "In recruitment, one cannot avoid no-shows but can definitely reduce them." Moving forward, as a recruiter, you should always keep in mind that whatever you are offering to a person should be aligned with his or her expectations. The moment you are communicating with prospective candidates, you must feel that interest and excitement in their voices, just as you do. Communication should not be one-way from your side; let them speak, try to understand their areas of interest, and avoid forcing or negotiating with unchanged conditions.

Highlights on Reducing No-Shows

I can share a few highlights on reducing no-shows, hopefully, they will work for you.

- Speak less, understand more; let them speak on why they are interested in this opening.
- Present all the conditions as given in the job description and do not force them if they are not sounding flexible or interested.
- Avoid those who have a history of frequent job changes without valid reasons.
- Always screen the profile based on HR grounds before talking to the candidate, such as expected CTC, relocation, and reasons for the change, which will help you understand them.

And always remember, "No hiring is better than bad hiring."

Look out for potential candidates whose expectations match the opportunities you are providing; they will never be a no-show.

Thanks,

Shilpi

Our job location is Vashi, near the station, and it's just a 2-minute walk from Vashi station. The name of the company is Micro Technologies (I) Ltd.

Job Openings

If anyone has references for the following positions, please ask candidates to come for an interview from Monday to Saturday during working hours from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm:

- Front Desk Executive (Salary: 10k, Experience: 0-3 years)
- Marketing Executive (Minimum 6 months experience, Salary up to 15k)
- Media Executive (Minimum 6 months experience, Salary up to 18k)

Hi Amita, I would suggest that you need to look at your recruitment and selection process. If I understand the underlying message in the above posting, you are just interviewing random people off the street, as it were. You have no process in place.

That is not recruitment. I have posted here many times on this subject. Here again is John in Oz's 6 Easy Steps to Recruitment and Selection:

If you want the right candidate for the job, you only need 6 things:

1. A proper position description that sets out the requirements of the job.

2. A person specification setting out what the successful candidate needs to perform the job.

3. A rigorous selection process based on the PD and PS, to choose the top 4 candidates to interview.

4. A targeted interview questionnaire based on the PD and PS, to ensure the candidates can do the job and can integrate into the company - no stupid, irrelevant questions that have nothing to do with the job.

5. Well-trained interviewer/s.

6. A rigorous reference-checking process.

Place well-worded advertisements or work with a trusted employment agency that will source the RIGHT type of candidates for interview.

That's all there is to it. No need to complicate the process. Remember the KISS principle.

If the same issue has been repeated many times in the recent past, please check if there are adverse comments about your company on the internet or if some former staff members had complaints against your company. You may also find these comments by searching on Google. Additionally, consider that the points mentioned by various members are also important. On a lighter note, perhaps you are offering letters to the best candidates in the market, and they may have received better offers from other companies. I hope this time you won't encounter this problem.

Wishing you all the best.