If you’re only understanding towards candidates when you desperately need them, you won’t have goodwill or trust in any of your relationships. The employee/employer trust relationship begins in the hiring process, so it’s important to ensure candidates trust you, particularly in today’s competitive hiring market. Recruiter profile views on the Cleared Network were up 83 percent year-over-year as we entered 2016. That demonstrates just how important transparency and trustworthiness are to applicants – they want to know who you are before they apply for your positions.
It’s important to pay attention to your reputation. Take the time to earn a candidate’s trust with these five steps:
1. Don’t waste their time.
No one likes to jump through hoops in the hiring process, but creating great candidate relationships begins long before an applicant even considers becoming an applicant. Yes, it’s a good idea to build your pipeline by reaching out to candidate’s before you need them. But make that contact worthwhile for both of you. Invite the candidate to an industry event or share a relevant news item. ‘Just checking in’ is great, but it probably won’t do anything to build your trust factor.
2. Make it personal.
Genuinely caring for candidates creates goodwill and trust. You may not have time to hear their personal stories, but whenever possible, take some time to get personal with your candidates. Ask follow up questions about their personal stories. People know when you actually care about them.
3. Check current employee feedback.
Companies that care about their employees are trustworthy. Ask questions that matter and follow up on the feedback. Employees are often part of the interview process, and their input can go a long way to encourage a potential candidate to join the team.
4. Be as open as possible about your company and the position.
Even if candidates don’t like the information you give (ex. potential restructuring later in the year), they will trust your openness with them. And employees who wind up doing a job that they weren’t told about in the interview process feel hosed. Most expect to have to be flexible, but there’s a difference between being flexible and being stuck doing work that is not conducive to a preferred career path.
5. Spend some time and money on your marketing materials.
Hire a photographer to take accurate pictures for your profile picture. Create some video profiles and testimonies that give candidates a glimpse of the company that feels genuine and trustworthy. Companies that spend time creating messages to reach out to candidates show that they care about more than the bottom line. Marketing materials are an investment in future employees.
Creating trust takes time, effort, and some extra money. The good news is that a trusting relationship in the candidate process leads to a better employer/employee relationship. The process may take time, but the payoff is worth it in the end.
