5 Things About Recruiters That Frustrate the Job Seekers

We live in an age where people value experiences more than anything. This holds true in all areas ranging from shopping and travel to more internal organizational events such as recruitment. Yes, you heard it right. Recruitment is no longer just an activity that is aligned solely with what an organization demands from the market. Today, potential candidates expect a satisfactory recruitment experience to be made available to them and this is considered to be a curtain-raiser to an incredible work culture that they can enjoy once on board. 

In fact, studies show that an organization may lose out on hiring 89% of potential candidates owing to delays in the recruitment process. The focus shifts to candidate experience and with the internet opening new avenues for the best talent to pick up job offers from anywhere in the world, organizations need to focus on delivering a better recruitment experience while hunting for new talent.

While creating new experiences in recruitment that will engage potential candidates more are welcome in any industry, companies need to ensure that they do not commit grave mistakes that frustrate job seekers. Let us examine the top five things about recruiters that often drive away valuable talent to competitors:

Lack of effective resume screening

For every job application, it is likely that recruiters have hundreds if not thousands of resumes at their disposal. These may have come in from candidates themselves through direct company portals or emails, sourced from popular job boards or social media, supplied by recruitment vendors or agencies, or from employee referrals. The frustrating part here for candidates is that a recruiter might get in touch with them for a possible vacancy without studying their resumes. They may even be called up for a face-to-face discussion or asked to perform a test exercise only to be later rejected owing to any unmatching skillsets or conditions that the candidate had clearly mentioned in his or her resume.

Incorrect or Incomplete Information

From a candidate’s perspective, the recruiter is the person responsible for providing a detailed explanation of the job role, the specific skill sets that the role requires and any specific conditions the company would prefer to be satisfied by the candidate before being hired. There are situations where recruiters might miss out on specifying a crucial job requirement such as, for example, the need for a particular certification or visa eligibility or proficiency in a particular foreign language, etc. The candidate might get to know about this requirement only at a later stage at times which will result in possible abandonment of his or her candidature resulting in the wastage of precious time for both the candidate as well as other people involved in interviews.

Lapses in Follow-ups

Did you know that 52% of all candidates do not receive any communication for two or three months after applying? A candidate may have applied through the corporate website of an organization through online forms, or their information might have been passed around in talent forums where it was picked up for the first round of discussions by a recruiter. Getting that first call after resumes were accepted is a great thing. However, as the stats show, more than half of the candidates are not informed at the right time. Even if they are selected, there are times when candidates are left in the dark while waiting for the recruiter to get back with feedback on how they performed in different rounds. In most cases, recruiters do not bother to inform candidates who have been deemed unfit for further evaluation. This can be a really frustrating experience for job seekers, and they may feel that the organization never values people.

Lack of Scheduling

It is highly possible that candidates applying for a job role have another full-time or part-time employment. Any sudden interview calls or meetings getting scheduled without proper intimidation earlier will put the candidate in a tight spot as he or she may have to get out of their workplace or office to attend the interview. This is not a very favorable and desirable experience for candidates.

Clarity in Communication

Be it voice clarity or improper usage of official languages, there are instances where the organization’s communication and branding guidelines may not reflect during a recruiter’s interactions. This can create confusion for candidates as they may find it difficult to follow instructions or guidelines issued throughout the interaction which happens via direct phone calls in most cases.

As the focus shifts more towards delivering a holistic candidate experience, recruiters need to focus on eliminating any frustrating events that can create hassles for potential candidates. Leveraging smart and intelligent technology platforms can be the answer to overcoming the frustrating challenges that job seekers face from recruiters. Be it in intelligent profile matching for initial screening to advanced voice-based autonomous filtering of candidates, technology can create more wonders in this space.