Finding new employees during a time when there just aren’t many available is tough. Don’t make it any harder on yourself by doing things that will lead candidates somewhere else. There are many things a company can do from the initial job description through the interview that can set alarms off for job seekers. Not sure what you’re doing wrong? This blog will identify a few common behaviors from employers that will frustrate and scare candidates away.

Poor Job Description

The job description is the first impression that many job seekers will get from your company. If you don’t provide the basic information about the position, you’ll lose them right away. The items included in every job posting should be a relevant job title, location, responsibilities and requirements. If it’s available, you should add in salary too. By being honest and having this information out there, you’ll be set up to receive candidates that are more likely to make it through the entire process, since they’ll know these important facts up front.

However, don’t settle for just having broad and generic information listed. Be specific about what the job entails and what skills are needed to do it successfully. By listing too many or not enough responsibilities and requirements, you’ll either be restricting your candidate pool or leaving applicants in the dark.

The way the information in your job description is presented is crucial as well. Don’t have your posting consist of long paragraphs with bad spelling and not enough spacing. A sloppy posting, from the job seeker’s perspective, reflects a company that is equally as disorganized.

Limited Preparation

Once you find a candidate of interest, one of the quickest ways to turn them off is to not be prepared during the initial interview. Before either taking a call for the phone interview or inviting them to the office, make sure that all the people involved in the process read over the applicant’s resume and have relevant questions ready for them. If you have someone that briefly glances at it for the first time before the meeting, it will give the candidate an impression that the interview isn’t important. When the applicant isn’t respected during a time where initial interactions are especially important, it will leave them wondering if it is indicative of the company as a whole.

The questions you prepare for the interview shouldn’t be standard or robotic. Based on their resume, they should be based on a candidate’s experience and skills. During the interview, you will also need to come up with some new ones to maintain a conversational feel. This will not only be a better experience for the candidate, but it will also help you better determine their fit with the company.

Bad Hiring Process

From the initial application until the final interview, the hiring process that you put a candidate through will impact the actions they take. If you move them through the process too quickly it can pressure them to make a quick decision when they aren’t ready. On the other hand, if you have a long application and multiple interviews with periods of waiting in between, it can lead the job seeker to question if they will ever get hired. Ideally, you’ll want your recruitment process to be somewhere in the middle of those two experiences. With a quality process in place, you’ll limit the number of applicants that drop off and maintain a good reputation among job seekers.

With a good job description, solid hiring process and preparation you will ensure that you’re attracting the right candidates and not scaring them away.