Engaging candidates on your recruitment platform is critical, especially for early-career hires. But what happens when they don’t engage? It’s a common problem—candidates register but stop interacting with the platform, leaving hiring managers bewildered. Disengagement derails the entire recruitment process, leading to wasted time, lost resources, and missed opportunities.
This issue, commonly known as “ghosting,” isn’t one-sided—while 28% of candidates admit to disengaging without notice, 77% report being ghosted by employers. Both are a problem, and both lead to disengagement. This is not only frustrating but also costly. Let’s explore why this happens and what you can do to prevent it.
So, let’s start with the most frequent causes.
Common Reasons for Non-Engagement
Studies indicate that 76% of employees cite a positive hiring experience as a significant factor in their decision to accept a job offer. Conversely, a poor experience can have serious consequences, harming your company’s reputation and making it harder to attract top talent. Addressing these early is the first step to improving engagement and keeping candidates invested.
1. Unclear or Ineffective Communication
One of the most common reasons candidates disengage is a lack of clear communication. If instructions come in multiple emails or the information is unclear, candidates may not understand what to do. This is especially true for Gen Z , who expect instant, straightforward communication.
2. Perceived Platform Complexity
If your platform is hard to navigate, candidates may perceive it as more work than it’s worth. Gen Zers, in particular, are digital natives used to seamless, intuitive interfaces. They expect platforms to be easy to use, and when they aren’t, they switch off.
3. Lack of Immediate Value
Candidates need to understand the value of engaging with your platform. They may simply stop interacting if they don’t see an immediate benefit—whether it’s real-time updates, career insights, or personalized resources.
On the employer’s side, failing to provide feedback or communicate the next steps after interviews makes candidates feel undervalued, leading to disengagement. Ghosting candidates by neglecting to inform them of the hiring timeline or the status of their application is a major reason candidates drop off.
So, how can you make candidates more invested?
Strategies to Increase Engagement
Here are several strategies that will help keep candidates active and connected throughout the hiring process.
1. Simplify Communication
Clear, concise communication is critical. From the moment a candidate registers on your platform, they should know exactly why, what, and when they need to complete each step of the process. Avoid long, complex emails and instead focus on short, actionable messages. Use platform notifications and automated reminders to ensure candidates stay on track.
Streamlining communication and unambiguous language can reduce confusion and keep candidates engaged from day one.
2. Personalize the Onboarding Experience
One-size-fits-all approaches don’t work, especially for early-career hires. Personalizing the onboarding journey helps candidates feel more connected and valued. Provide resources tailored to their role, interests, or career goals. This can include custom tasks, targeted training materials, or access to mentors in their field.
Personalized onboarding is crucial in keeping candidates invested.
3. Highlight the Value of Engaging Early
Show candidates the immediate benefits of engaging with your platform. This could mean highlighting career progression tools, offering insights into company culture, or providing access to exclusive resources. Be upfront about how staying engaged will help them land the job and succeed.
4. Automate Reminders and Updates
Candidates often balance multiple applications and deadlines, so it’s easy for tasks on your platform to be overlooked. Automating reminders for pending tasks, upcoming deadlines, or essential updates ensures candidates stay on track without manual intervention from hiring managers.
This simple step can dramatically increase engagement, ensuring candidates don’t forget critical pre-hire tasks.
Although these strategies are effective, you may still encounter some problems.
Overcoming the Challenges
Boosting engagement can be challenging, but with the right tools and approach, you can tackle these common obstacles. Early-career hiring managers should focus on simplifying the process, creating a sense of community, and using data to track and intervene when necessary.
1. Remove Complexity
Make sure your platform is easy to navigate. Avoid overwhelming candidates with too many features or unnecessary steps. Ensure they can complete tasks, access resources, and connect with the right people quickly and effortlessly.
Removing unnecessary complexity can reduce candidate drop-off and increase task completion.
2. Create a Sense of Belonging
Build a sense of community within your platform to engage candidates. Introduce them to their future team, share company culture insights, and encourage networking. Gen Z, in particular, values community and connection. By encouraging this early on, you can keep them engaged throughout.
3. Use Data to Track Engagement
Finally, keep an eye on candidate engagement through data tracking. Monitor how often they log in, which tasks they’ve completed, and how they interact with your platform. This will help you identify disengaged candidates early and intervene before they drop off entirely.
Conclusion
Engaging candidates with your recruitment platform is a challenge, but you can overcome it with the right strategies. Simplify communication, personalize the onboarding process, automate reminders, and highlight the value of engagement from the start.
By addressing these issues head-on, you’ll reduce disengagement and create a smoother, more positive candidate experience that turns early-career hires into long-term team members.
Schedule a demo with Abode today and explore how we can help your team create an engaging candidate experience from day one.
