The job of a recruiter and a sports agent is somewhat similar. If you have seen any sports movies, you will see how sports agents and coaches try to convince athletes to join a particular team. Along with the best pay package, they try and promise to provide incentives to sweeten the deal. 

As a recruiter, converting a candidate into an employee is somewhat similar.

You must offer the best salary package and incentives and show them they are part of a good employer brand. However, not every candidate is swayed. Even after accepting an offer letter, they end up being no-shows. 

This is what puts the candidate conversion rate into the spotlight.

A candidate conversion rate measures the number of potential candidates who applied for a position after seeing its advertisement and how many were converted into candidates and finally into employees.

This ratio can highlight how efficient or inefficient your recruiting process is. This can bring forth the problems and strengths of your process.

8 Ways to Instantly Improve Your Candidate Conversion Rate

#1 Prioritize Candidate Experience

A candidate comes into direct contact with your organization for the first time through the hiring process. They carry this ‘first impression’ with them, regardless of whether they are hired. 

• First impressions matter: Top talent will always have multiple offers. They will quickly move away from a slow and tedious hiring process. With better and more accessible options available, candidates no longer have the patience to suffer a ‘careers page’ that does not display correctly on their mobile device and asks them to fill out lengthy online forms. Mandatory registration to view the open positions in the organization is a strict no-no.
• Simplify the process: Automate as many processes and steps within those processes as possible. The fewer the number of ‘clicks’ a candidate has to go through, the better. The onboarding process should make a new hire feel welcome and wanted. Anticipate and provide all the resources and amenities that a new employee may need. If possible, provide a mentor for the initial hand-holding period.
• Candidates’ engagement is a must: Many employees resign within the first three months of joining, citing bad ‘candidate’ and ‘new employee’ experience. On the other hand, happy employees – even rejected candidates – will refer more candidates and encourage them to join the organization.
• ‘Post-offer candidate engagement’ assumes importance. An important point to think about is candidate engagement. It tends to increase candidate conversion and, at the same time, reduce dropouts.
  
  Post-offer candidate engagement comes into play after extending a formal offer to the candidate. This is the intentional and creative candidate engagement strategy that significantly improves the chances of them joining the company. It could be achieved through various methods like calls, texts, emails, newsletters, or even in-person interactions.  It enables the candidates to understand and imbibe the company culture early on via information on company culture, events, and updates, while also giving the recruiters a sense of the candidate’s experience so far and their intent to join.
  
  The post-offer solution offered by Hyreo achieves all this and more. It helps the hiring team create an engagement plan spanning the notice period of the selected candidate, which could range from 30 to 90 or even 180 days in some cases. A lot could change over such a long notice period. Hence the necessity to keep the candidate engaged. 
  
  Hyreo’s post-offer solution automates 60% of the recurring and non-strategic recruiter activities like follow-ups, alerts, documentation & query resolution.
  
  This has led to a massive 30% improvement in offer conversion on the current rate via improved candidate engagement, predictive analytics & issue management.

#2 Automate, Automate, and Automate!

Every single aspect of the recruiting process can be automated in today’s day and age. Before recruiting employees, recruit software and AI tools for screening and shortlisting, scheduling interviews, candidate assessment, and communication tools. 

Provide candidates with the resources to schedule their own interviews and assessment. This will increase the chances of them sticking with the process and finishing it.

No more multiple phone calls and text messages, no more to and fro emails just to schedule an interview. Besides being more efficient, this will also reduce the hiring cycle time. 

AI tools serve one other function – that of being an unbiased judge. Human errors and biases are eliminated to a large extent, ensuring candidate satisfaction. This will also potentially improve the quality of hires.

Hyreo’s post-offer solution increases automated candidate touchpoints via digital channels by 300%. This enables organizations to push their content and brand story more effectively.

#3 AI Chatbots

Adding chatbots to your careers page is a great idea. A huge amount of time will be saved on both sides. Candidates can interact with the organization’s ‘representative’ 24/7 and get their queries answered in real time. These chatbots can also match the candidates to suitable open positions. They can send reminders and alert messages. Further, the data collected by these bots can help in improving the entire process.

This one small addition alone can drastically improve the candidate conversion rate.

Read – 10 Ways HR Chatbots can transform HR Department

#4 Your ‘Social’ Face 

Ignore social media at your peril.

Today both candidates and employers rely more on each other’s social profiles than traditional sources like resumes and websites. 

Besides branding themselves as an ‘Employer of Choice,’ organizations must also manage their social image on third-party review websites, HR forums, employee forums, etc.

Post testimonials from current and former employees on your and third-party websites and on your social media pages. Advertise your company culture. Be and project yourself as a DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) enabling organization.

Promote an ‘Employee Value Proposition that will excite your target candidates.

All of your social media should also be linked to your career pages.

Read – Social Media Recruitment – A Detailed Guide

#5 Cast your Sourcing Net Wide

Many organizations target and recruit candidates only from certain premier educational institutes. Others insist on candidates having work experience of a certain number of years.

At times hiring managers have insisted on candidates having experience working with organizations that have grown beyond a specific size or have an annual turnover of more than a certain number.

You should have solid reasons for putting up such restrictive conditions as they have a multifold effect. They

• make you lose out on promising talent;
• increase your cost and time per hire;
• reflect poorly on your organization’s culture

Automated tools discussed above can reduce these barriers while also helping to achieve hiring objectives. As always, employee referrals are an excellent source for increasing candidate conversion rates. 

When company leaders and top management participate in conferences, or sponsor industry and social events, it increases the credibility and visibility of the organization. Arranging webinars and seminars is another tried and tested way of attracting more candidates to apply, thus increasing conversion rates.

#6 Stir the ‘Passive’ Pool

Passive candidates are happy in their current positions and aren’t looking for a change. However, they are always open to discussions when approached.

They would be willing to take up a new role if the offer matches their expectations/demands.

Search your databases for past applicants who may not have gone through the entire hiring process or may have been rejected for a particular role.

The advantage is that these people have already shown interest in your organization. You don’t have to start from scratch with them—the chances of a successful conversion increase manifold here.

Next, incentivize your current employees to refer suitable candidates. Encourage them to look within their personal and professional circles for passive candidates.

Tap your industry bodies and professional forums for recommendations. Also, consider popular, skilled teachers and trainers from educational and training institutes. 

#7 Data-based Iterations and Improvements

Automated systems and chatbots generate much data from interactions with internal and external users. Use this data to analyze what worked and what didn’t.

Identify the bottlenecks and pain points. What insights can you glean from the data? Make changes and improvements wherever needed.

This step has become all the more critical because most of the hiring is done remotely.

Check – Data-Driven Recruitment – A Guide

#8 Interview Past Candidates

Speak to candidates who applied to your organization but were not hired. Understand what they liked and what disappointed them about the hiring process.

Ask them if they would recommend other candidates to apply to your organization after the experience that they went through. If possible, do this exercise while ensuring the anonymity of the candidates. This will increase the chances of getting more honest responses.

Their first-hand experience is the best test of your systems. After implementing the learnings from this, get ready to see your candidate conversion rates shoot up.

Wrap Up

When it comes to people, there are no guarantees. But Professionalism begets Professionalism, and Trust begets Trust.

Treat your potential candidates, and employees, with respect and transparency, communicate with them regularly, and make them feel valued. This will build a positive ‘Employer Brand,’ an active ingredient for increasing candidate conversion rates.

FAQs on Candidate Conversion Rate