How to react when a candidate declines your job offer?
Being an HR is a job of great responsibility and there are many different experiences that they face during their career. Sometimes, when they lose a perfect candidate, it upsets the Hiring managers. There can be any reason for them to not pursue their career with your company however; you can take the following steps, if you are a hiring manager or HR Personnel and you are in such a situation where the perfect candidate declines your job offer:
Reply graciously: It is quite frustrating to waste time and energy on a candidate and when they decline your job offer, it is indeed a frustrating feeling, however, you must respond to them graciously. Your anger and frustration can ruin the name of the company if they give you a bad review. So for the sake of the company you must act with grace. Be it a telephonic conversation, over the email or in person. Don’t lose your temper and be graceful.
Try to find the reason behind the decline:
If you have not received the reason for which the candidate is declining the job offer, try to find it out. The reason given by the candidate will help you in recruiting the same candidate in future. Make sure to add the details of the candidate and reason of decline in your recruitment software. There are common reasons for which candidates reject job offers. These reasons can be, low work fee for the position, delay in making the offer from client’s side, other clients offering better options and many more.
Depending on the candidate’s reason for turning down the job, your client might be able to craft a better offer that will hook the candidate. For example, if the candidate turned down the job because the salary was too low, the client might try offering more money. In any such situation, you must act calm and try not to force the candidate to join your company.
Never delete the candidate out of your data:
Your candidate has rejected the job offer but that doesn’t mean you should delete their data from your database. Forget the frustration and keep their profile in the recruitment software. Right now, the candidate might not be interested in the job, but in future they might be open for some other position. So, you must save their information.
Move on to other eligible candidate:
After the candidate rejects your job offer, you must move on to the other candidates who are equally eligible. You must focus on finding the other candidates with similar experiences and qualifications. Broaden your search criteria and with a better idea of the job profile, start the new search.
Examine the factors of decline:
If you are frequently getting rejections by the eligible candidates, make sure to find the factors of decline. Find out the reason behind the decline of each of the candidates. You must check the process of handling the interaction with the candidate and also take a look at the process of recruitment. When you identify the factors that can be the major reasons for the candidate rejections, you can easily modify your own methodologies and deliver better solutions.
Extend your helping hand:
If the candidate states that they cannot join the job because of some personal reasons, make sure to be calm and composed. Also extend your helping hand if you can. Changing a career is a complex situation and many candidates hesitate to change their company because they want to avoid the challenges and issues related to shifting jobs. In such situations, you must ask them and encourage them for their future.
Have the communications open with the candidates:
It is not acceptable when a candidate doesn’t show up in the new job, and for a recruiting manager it can be a stressful situation. In such a condition, you must make the effort of contacting the candidate and give them open space for communications. They should be in a comfortable situation of having a conversation with you regarding the job. Most of the time the candidate will not initiate the conversation, they might not answer your calls or emails, you must understand that they are avoiding your job offer. Also, this is the time when you must start looking for new candidates.
Be flexible when you receive rejections:
There are times when you get the perfect candidate for the job however they turn the offer down and reject the job offer. In any such case, you must talk to them about the aspirations they have regarding their career and you must ask them if they are ready for any other job opportunity that is near to their dream career. Also, you can talk about the various factors we have shared above. You must act normal and try to improve your own skills and process.
