This has become an important strategic issue for recruiters worldwide, as it raises many important questions. Exactly why is the candidate's decision not to run for your interview? Is it part of a global trend, a specific trend in the labor market, or is a reflection on our organization and our way of doing business? What are the long-term consequences for our organization, if the trend continues? What can we do to increase attendance at the meeting in the future?
Many recruiters plant the blame for the interview which is not brought in front firmly at the feet of the candidate. The fault is yours. After all, in this modern world of electronic communication, what excuse is there for a candidate not to inform the employer that he or she will not attend? Surely it is just rude and lazy not to. In fact, some employers actually see in the interview not presented as a blessing in disguise. At day's end, do you really want to hire someone who is so inconsiderate?
Although in the past can not be an element of justification for this view, labor markets in the relatively low unemployment, it is also fair to say that this view today is somewhat naive and narrow minded. In these sectors, employers are in competition with each other for the best people, and if the best people are choosing not to attend the interviews, please go somewhere else, then instead of criticizing candidates this must be concern. To address the issue, it must try to understand why the interview did not show will be presented in such high numbers, even if it means coming to terms with some hard truths about their own organization.
There is a major cause of the growing trend of non-attendance in the interview. The trend caused by a combination of different factors and these may be different for each organization based on the market and the geographic location in which they operate. Obviously, disease and the inevitable emergencies that contribute to the problem, but essentially this increase is partly indicative of how society and behavior has evolved in the past for two or three decades, and partly an indication that candidates view of an organization as an employer of choice. Interviews are stressful and tense nerve for candidates.
At times of low unemployment, the best candidates can have a wide range of career opportunities and organizations that have procurement procedures that are time consuming, uncomfortable or hostile user may be subject to higher levels of non-interview with the participation of competitors from more innovative recruitment ideas. The recruitment process is often the first contact of a person will have with a potential employer, and form their impressions of the entire organization. Inefficient procedures and lack of respect for the candidates will make it easier for candidates to decide to pursue their careers elsewhere. Compounding the problem for employers is the impersonal way we communicate these days. It is an electronic age in which, we communicate through machines. There is often no voice or face to personalize the communication, and so there is no sense of responsibility or guilt when you miss a meeting without notice.
So if your organization is subject to high levels of failure to attend the interview, what can you do? Well, the best way to find out why people decided not to attend the interview is to ask them. Write to the candidates and ask them to complete a questionnaire designed to obtain direct information. Questions should be designed not only to find out why a person chooses not to attend a scheduled interview, but also for their views on the procurement procedures of the organization and its reputation as an employer of choice. Once the response has been received, recommendations can be made to enable the organization to exploit its potential source of a much more efficient method and thus reduce the interview to no-show rates in the future.
