There are times when you only have one opening but have interviewed multiple outstanding candidates. A decision has to be made and you’ll only be able to hire one. So what do you do with the candidates that you don’t choose? How do you make them feel good about your company, so that they consider you again in the future? This blog will outline the steps to take to make sure you don’t lose them.

Maintain Professionalism

An interested candidate never wants to hear that they didn’t get the job, but if you word it correctly, you can leave them feeling good about their prospects and open to future opportunities.

When it comes to breaking the news to candidates, you should call them letting them know the exact reasons they didn’t get the job, the things you were impressed and the interest that you have in future communication.

Your goal should be to leave a good impression of your company and if you think the person is a good fit to make it known.

Create a Continuous Experience

The best way to keep a strong candidate interested in your company is to proactively engage with them.

Emails where you check in are great for nurturing candidates. You can also call or text, asking how everything is going. The goal is to be memorable for the right reasons and these methods of contact are a great way to do that. But remember, you don’t want to cross the line of bothering them, you just want to be a reference or point of contact for the company. That way, you are fresh in the candidate’s mind.

A few other ideas for staying in touch with a candidate include sending them a company newsletter or inviting them to a company open house. Of course, you’ll also want to make them aware of any job openings that come up, even if it isn’t the one you originally interviewed them for.

The purpose of this is to not let them know that they were your runner-up, but rather that you found their skills and experience impressive and want them to join your team in a different capacity.

Establish Timeframe

If you know the timeline for when a new budget might come in, or when a role fitting their experience and skills may open, make sure to share that with them.

It’s understandable to want to keep a candidate on deck, but if you’re interacting with them consistently and don’t know when a relevant position will open, let them know. You don’t want to lead the candidates on and give them false hope because once they figure it out, their opinion of you and the company will drop and there’s a good chance you’ll never get them back.

With that being said, as long as you’re open about what the candidate can expect, there’s nothing wrong with engaging with them as long as they’re still interested.

There are always future opportunities and you should look to maintain the good relationships that you build. The key to keeping applicants interested is sincerity and transparency. Remember to be thoughtful about your interactions and don’t promise anything you can’t actually deliver.

Struggling to get those excellent candidates? Read our blog on how to attract the right candidates for your business!