One of the most important elements of being a recruiter is being able to build a successful relationship with your candidates. This involves trust and honesty which have the potential to make or break your relationship as well as put your placement in danger. Your candidates rely on you to communicate sensitive information, so you need to have a degree of trust with them in order for you to do so. However, building trust isn’t always the easiest task so here are a handful of ways you can work on establishing it with your candidates.
Be transparent
It’s not asking for a lot for you to be open and honest with your candidates about the hiring and interview processes. Tell them how it is when it comes to anything from salaries to the downsides of a position as managing their expectations along with complete transparency will go a long way. Your candidates will naturally start to trust you when they know you’re not keeping any vital information from them and you’re on their side!
Call them when you say you will
If you’ve agreed to calling your candidate at a specific time, then just do it! There are so many recruiters who fail to do this despite it being such a simple and easy task. All you need to do is set a reminder in your recruitment CRM to avoid letting them down. Your candidates will then be able to rely on you, thus building trust in the communication department.
Give them honest feedback
Giving feedback is such a crucial part of the candidate experience and an area where you are able to build trust. Nobody wants to hear that they’re perfect for every job yet never gets offered a position so make sure you are 100% honest with them in a bid to establish trust in your relationship. If they didn’t secure the role because of their lack of manners during in an interview, then tell them that so they can improve. They’ll appreciate that you have their best interests in mind!
Testimonials
Your candidate’s thoughts and feelings on how you perform as a recruiter are just as important as you securing them a job. To start building trust with potential candidates, you can publish testimonials on your website for them to see. They can then start forming their own opinions about you based on previous candidate’s positive experiences on your website or reviewing sites such as Trustpilot and Rated Recruitment.
Building trust with your candidates will enable you to develop your relationship, increase referrals and improve candidate experience which is such an important element of your recruitment strategy. Just remember that it’s all about them!
