The length of the recruitment process and the personality of the person conducting the interview have been found to be the biggest influences over job-seekers opinions of a potential employer.
The survey of 800 professionals by recruitment consultancy Robert Walters, found 79 percent of job seekers were turned off by a lengthy recruitment process, while 47 percent of respondents have withdrawn their candidature because recruitment was taking too long.
Additionally, 77 percent of job-seekers said the personality of the interviewers strongly influenced their perspectives of their potential employers, and 45 percent have withdrawn from the process because they didn’t like the interviewer.
Furthermore, 77 percent believe that a full recruitment process should take under a month and 71 percent of respondents believe they should only have to do two interviews before receiving a job offer.
According to Robert Walter’s Managing Director James Nicholson, skills shortages across a range of industries mean quality candidates have multiple jobs to choose from – so employers must move faster to secure the best employees.
“We’ve consistently seen that the organizations that are slow to make decisions or fail to properly sell the employment promise find it impacts their ability to attract the best talent available,” he said.
“It is critical that employers examine their recruitment processes to ensure they are streamlined and clearly defined, and that the people involved in the process are best equipped to represent the organisation in a positive light.”
These survey results form the basis of the upcoming whitepaper, Managing your employer brand throughout the recruitment process.