How to approach and prevent interview no shows with your candidates?

How many No Shows do you get when you arrange interviews with your candidates? Too many? As an employer trying to find a successful placement in the shortest period of time, this can be frustrating, and you might be tempted to just move on and look for other candidates. However this might mean missing out on the chance to find well qualified candidates. After all there are many valid reasons why a candidate did not show up to an interview and deserve a second chance. Would you want to miss out on a potential perfect candidate just because something came up that day? In the best interest of everyone involved in the hiring process, put in place a system for approaching these candidates again. Given the time and resources spent to attract each candidate, you want to interview and assess every person to find the right fit for your company. For candidates it gives them another chance to present themselves in the best light possible. Here are a few ways to approach candidates who did not show up to interviews and restart the hiring process. In addition to that, we also have a few tips for you on preventing Interview No Shows to improve your hiring efficiency.

Approaching No Shows

Be Understanding

Listen to candidates and their reasons for cancelling, not showing up or being late. If you feel that their response is reasonable consider giving them a second chance so that you do not lose out on interviewing this candidate.

Send a short Email

Another option is to send the candidate an email. Not all candidates are born communicators and some need to be handled differently. Some may be uncomfortable with contacting you again since they know it is their fault. This gives them an opportunity to reply to you at their convenience while also creating a safe and comfortable space for the candidate.

Send a polite rejection

Not all candidates are suitable, so if some candidates are not reachable and you no longer want to consider them you can always send a quick templates polite rejection email tweaked to be more personalized and friendly.

Preventing No Shows

Flexible Interview time-slots

Respect your candidate’s time, they may not be available at your requested time-slot because of work or other obligations. Consider offering different interview time slots to accommodate the candidate’s schedule to make it more convenient for the them.

Respect candidate’s privacy

Only ask for the required information from candidates for the interview. Companies may be turning away candidates by asking for personal details such as family information or medical history which may not be relevant to the interview process or even the job at hand. If necessary, this can be requested during other phases of the hiring process.

Conduct a survey

Hiring teams could send out surveys to candidates even to those who did not show up. While there might only be a small amount of replies, the feedback received could highlight flaws in the hiring process that may be turning candidates away.