There’s been a lot of a buzz about the shortage of qualified people to fill an estimated 600,000 open jobs in manufacturing. But it’s more important than ever to be cautious in how you handle the candidates you don’t hire.
The last thing you need is disgruntled job applicants spreading the word about how they felt they were treated poorly, why they’d never work there anyway and other claims — true or not.
In today’s age of social media those words can travel fast — especially when it’s not good.
A new survey from CareerBuilder tallies the damage an alienated applicant can create:
- 78% of people said they’d tell family and friends if they thought they had a negative experience
- 17% said they’d put up a post on a social media website if they felt they were treated poorly, and
- 6% said they’d write about it in a blog.
Some manufacturing managers and supervisors might shrug off these stats, saying they likely originate with people who were unhappy with pay or had another axe to grind.
Those people are mistaken in their assumptions.
The No. 1 reason 45% of the people who apply for a job with you is not the money — it’s location, location, location.
No. 2? 33% of applicants came to you because they wanted to work in your specific industry.
A company’s reputation ranked next; then interesting assignments, advancement opportunity, and — at No. 6 — competitive compensation.
Fortunately, successful companies have developed a game plan for making sure people walk away satisfied and thinking they were given a fair shot, if they didn’t get the job.
Four strategies offered by the Wall Street Journal:
- Try out your company’s recruiting/application process, or better yet, line up a “mystery shopper” to do it. What kind of frustrations arise?
- Ask applicants for feedback on how the interview process was conducted. It can even be a survey you send home with them.
- Be straightforward and honest if the applicant asks the “hard” questions, and have your answers ready. Example: “Why did the person who had this job before quit?”
- Don’t fudge on the easy stuff — if you tell someone you’ll get back to them in a certain amount of time, follow through. If you tell people your online application takes two minutes and someone will contact them during the next three business days, make sure that’s the case.
