How Keeping In Touch with Candidates Makes Them More Likely to Start

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<h2>Key Takeaways</h2>
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<li>Keep in touch with candidates after they’ve accepted your offer.</li>
<li>This helps you prepare them for starting and anticipate any problems that may prevent them from doing so.</li>
<li>Stay in contact by inviting them to social events, asking a senior person to call them, giving them any further information they need about the role, and liaising with them about arrangements to smooth their transition such as car parking and booking upcoming leave.</li>
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One of the worst things that can happen when you’re recruiting is finding a great candidate who accepts your job offer but never starts. You have to go back to the beginning and start the whole process again. To lower the risk of this, one of my SECRETS is to stay in contact with the candidate after they accept your job offer. This helps prepare them for starting work with you, as well as helping you anticipate any problems that might come up.

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Candidates Might Not Start a New Job!

A candidate might accept your job offer with genuine intent to start, but there are various reasons why they might not start:

• Their current employer may have come up with a last-ditch counteroffer that persuades them to stay.
• The candidate may have seen a better opportunity somewhere else, or been approached by someone if they forgot to remove their details from a CV database.
• While serving out their notice period, the candidate could simply have a change of heart and decide to stay where they are.

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Reasons to Keep In Touch

Immediately after a candidate accepts your job offer, you’ll need to be in touch with them to confirm the Reference Call with their current employer, check their right to work and agree terms of contract. It’s important to maintain engagement even after these tasks are completed to ensure they are ready and excited to start. Here are a few ways of doing this:

• Post-resignation check-in: After the candidate resigns from their current job, call them to see how it went.
• Social integration: Invite them to parties and social events or specially arrange a dinner for them with a few of their colleagues. This will help them build relationships with colleagues who might then keep in touch.
• Management introduction: Ask a senior member of staff to call the candidate to welcome them to the company.
• Buddy system: A workplace buddy is a colleague assigned to a new employee to help them settle into their role quicker. They can call the candidate to introduce themselves and answer any questions the candidate may have. This strategy is explained more in our guide, Simple Steps to Enhance Employee Retention & Reduce Turnover.
• Role preparation (but not homework!): Give them any information they need about your organisation and their new job to help prepare them for starting with you.
• Planning for the first days: Carefully plan their first few days in their new job. Ask them what areas are most important to them and make sure you cover these.
• Annual leave: Ask them if there are holidays, birthdays or anniversaries that they’d like to have put into the annual leave schedule.
• Parking: If they need a car parking pass, get their details so that you have one ready for them when they start.‍
• Uniform details: If they’ll be wearing a uniform, ask what size they’d like.

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<span class="purple-callout"><p>Friendly reminder – if you need help or advice, I'm available to chat. Please get your free consultation.</p><p>Plus, my best-selling recruiting book could be a valuable resource for you.</p><p>For just £199, I can help post a job on all the top UK job boards.</p></span>

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Additional Resources

• Recruiting Book; The Secrets of Great Recruitment: How to Recruit Great Employees.
• Downloadable PDF guide; Don't Lose Your New Hire: Ensure They Are Ready & Excited to Start.
• Article; Keep In Touch With Candidates: The Crucial Recruitment Step You Might Be Missing!