YOUR CANDIDATES DON’T RETURN OUR CALLS
By: Ken Levinson – President

In doing client follow ups, Harry Gross (our Senior Vice President) always tells me that this is the single biggest complaint he hears from clients regarding our service. We understand how our clients feel. We are constantly chasing candidates who often don't return our calls, even though they called or e-mailed us requesting our assistance. At the same time, this problem is not just limited to candidates. Job seekers often complain to us that employers often don't return their calls. That's why they often call us to begin with! We also understand how they feel, as employers (including clients) often don’t return our calls either.

Am I complaining? Yes and No!

"Yes", because I know how much easier my life, the lives of our staff members, and the lives of our clients would be if people simply had the courtesy to return phone calls. In fact, this is my # 1 pet peeve in business. Therefore, I make it my business to promptly return every phone call I receive. For those clients who do the same, I sincerely "THANK YOU".

"No", because I have come to accept that this is the way it is. Do I like it? No! Do I accept it and work around the problem? Yes!

I don't know why people don't return calls when they are looking for a job, and someone calls to discuss one. It doesn't make sense to me! It's not just our candidates that don't return calls. We get a great deal of our response from print and Internet advertising, just like many of you do. Therefore, we must assume that many of you experience the same things we do, even with your direct response. We contact every response that we receive. Sometimes it takes 2, 3, or 4 tries to reach a candidate. Sometimes we never reach a candidate. We leave messages every time, and a number of messages returned is almost always disappointing. We don't worry about it. We accept it and keep calling the candidates until we either reach them personally, or we choose to give up. How quickly we give up is in direct proportion to how much we need to profile that candidate to maintain our corporate goals. We usually get more response than we can handle, so giving up on someone is often not that big a deal. Our clients on the other hand may need to try harder.

Though I said that I don't know why candidates don't return calls, I do have a couple of clues. The types of candidates we work with are usually in demand. Therefore, they have not experienced normal job market conditions and a normal job search. They are used to being pursued and are probably a bit spoiled by the process. Secondly, candidates using our service are much better to call than making a cold call from a licensing list, etc… However, even though they are expecting calls, they are not expecting your specific call. They are also not under any obligation to pursue, or even learn about any options that they don't care to and they are not restricted to just utilizing our firm in their job search. If the candidate has gotten some irons in the fire by the time you call, they may not call you back unless your message motivates them to do so, even if you may have the best opportunity of the bunch. However, our clients that understand this and work through the process get many additional hires that they wouldn't have gotten otherwise.

Let’s discuss some tips for reaching more candidates and getting a higher percentage of them to return your calls.

1. Candidates often do not get messages, and when they do, companies often only leave a daytime number that a candidate might have a tough time calling from work, school, or a clinical. Leave daytime and evening phone numbers, and try to call a candidate a reasonable number of times until you reach them personally. Don’t just assume a candidate is not interested in your opportunity, if they don't return your call. I can't tell you how many candidates tell me "I'm sorry I didn't call you back, I really wanted to talk with you, but I was so--o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o busy".
   
   
2. Some of our clients want to do all of their recruiting during the day. We'd like that too, but it's just not practical. Most candidates are at work, school or a clinical during the day, and can't take calls. Each profile provides the best times a candidate tells us they can be reached. I’ve been involved in recruiting for over 20 years, and I know for a fact that if I call candidates at the times that they tell us are best, I will reach an average of 50% of them on any given night. If you reach 50%, you only need to leave messages for 50%. Therefore, you've solved 50% of this problem.
   
   
3. Sunday night is the best night of the week to reach candidates. The nights that I’ve always called candidates is Sunday night through Thursday night. Without question, Sunday night is the night where I find the highest percentage of candidates home.
   
   
4. Early in the morning is the best time to reach candidates, period! If a candidate says that they can be called early in the morning, go for it. At night, people go out and do things. In the morning before they leave for work, school, etc.., they're almost always home. If they're rushed and can't spend much time with you, try to set up an appointment to talk at a mutually agreeable time. This works when you call someone at work, and they are busy as well. Anytime I can't reach a candidate at night, I'll always try them early in the morning (if they said I could), before I give up. More often than not, I'll reach them.
   
   
5. Get 800 numbers at work and at home. An 800 number at home can be billed to your employer and you don't need to add any phone lines. As anyone in telemarketing will tell you, you'll increase your callbacks dramatically with an 800 number, and you'll save your employer a small fortune versus collect calls.
   
   
6. If you're leaving a voicemail/answering machine message and your location and/or opportunity is a candidate's first choice, make sure you say so and it will increase your odds of a callback. If your location and/or opportunity is a secondary choice, try keeping it a mystery, rather than leaving that information in your message. By doing so, the candidate's curiosity for more information will increase your odds of a callback. Using an 800 number is also a good mystery maker. Leave a positive and upbeat message, as people like to talk with positive and upbeat people. If your message makes you sound like someone the candidate would enjoy talking with, it will increase your odds of a callback.
   
   
7. If leaving a message with a person, follow the guidelines listed in #6 (if possible), but before you leave your message, ask the person "do you have a pen and paper handy". You'll be amazed how often someone is going to take your message, but they don't have anything to write it down with/on. How many of those messages do you think the candidates get?

Ken Levinson, President
Call 24 Hours 800-863-8314 or
Email: ken@careeroptions.com

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