Sarah Peiker is CEO of Orion Talent, a company with a strong reputation in military and diversity hiring, as well as RPO.
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You're desperately trying to fill an open position on your team. After interviewing many candidates in multiple rounds with folks across several departments, you finally find the one. So you make an offer, and they accept. Then their start date arrives... but they never do. What happened?
The labor market is tight. U.S. unemployment remains low, currently sitting around 4%, and the labor force participation rate has risen to 62.7%. Yet a 2023 Gartner study found that 50% of candidates who accepted a job offer would ghost their employer before their start date. A key contributor to this is a lack of pre-employment engagement.
Too many companies receive the candidate’s acceptance, then wait until the first day to reengage with them. But that silence can cause workers to become disengaged and move on to other opportunities. Employers must ensure they're nurturing candidates and employees to both attract and retain them. It starts with the first candidate contact, continues to day one and extends well beyond that.
Why New Hires Are Still On The Market
The question of the moment is "If a candidate receives a solid job offer and accepts it, why would they still be looking for a new job?" But there are actually several reasons.
• They're seeking more money. While several trends have changed how we prioritize the importance of certain job perks, such as work-life balance and flexible work arrangements, salary remains a top motivating factor when looking for a new position. If your compensation offer doesn’t quite meet the candidate’s standards, they’ll keep looking for a job that does.
• They're leveraging your offer. If a candidate is entertaining several offers, yours could give them an edge to negotiate better terms with other potential employers because it shows they're a desirable hire.
• They change their mind about your company. Sometimes, a candidate may have excitedly accepted your offer before they've fully vetted your company. So they may continue to conduct research and find out more about your company, both the good and the bad. This information could be the reason they have a change of heart.
• They can still find another—or better—job fairly easily. Good talent is still hard to come by. Despite many companies slowing hiring, the labor market is so tight that they're still competing to snatch up qualified talent. This gives candidates a lot of employment options.
While any of these factors can sway a worker to back out, the chances of that decline steeply if there's an established connection between you and your new hire. Engagement needs to start as early as possible, so you must commit to the concept that onboarding starts as soon as the employee accepts the offer.
How To Actively Engage In Early Onboarding
To ensure you can get new hires to show up on day one and beyond, follow these steps.
• Have a process in place before the offer is made. This includes utilizing technology to help with the efficiency of onboarding. For example, there are HRIS systems that deploy pre-employment sequences, and they're complete with assigned roles, feedback loops and ways to capture progress.
• Include all relevant parties in your outreach. Onboarding isn't just up to you and your HR team, and everyone who plays a part in it should know what their roles are. New hires should also hear from the C-suite, their manager and new team members. This could be through a series of videos, email content and even a select few automated text messages.
• Make contact within 24 hours of the verbal offer's acceptance. Reach out with a formal written offer, and provide the agreed-upon start date, benefits package, office location, expectations, where to go on their first day of work and any background or drug screening consent forms and instructions. Include contact information for additional support as needed, such as an assigned mentor, veteran resources or employee resource groups.
• Set expectations. As soon as they accept the offer, tell your new hires what they should expect next from the company. Cover the time frame between the offer and day one, the first week on the job and any major milestones of the first 90 days. Communicate when they should expect to receive materials, equipment and tools needed to complete their job, whether they're expected to purchase any supplies and what their training will entail.
• Start integrating your new hire within the first week of the job acceptance. Educate them about your company culture, and be clear and upfront about your core values, mission and vision. While these should have been explained and discussed during the interview process, reiterate them in the days and weeks leading up to the employee's start date. Be sure to encourage them to ask any questions they have.
• Ensure they feel included. An inclusive onboarding experience sets the tone for your workplace, so it should convey that you're open, welcoming and affirming of all individuals, regardless of their background or identity. These early experiences create a culture of respect and acceptance in the workplace, leading to higher employee engagement, better productivity and less turnover.
Early Engagement Leads To More Successful Hires
The cost of bad hires and job vacancies can be astronomical—up to five times an employee’s salary. So your new hires need to stay excited about their new job opportunity. With so many distractions and competing offers coming in, give them a reason to stay interested and inspired about their next career step with your organization.
This happens when onboarding starts early and is strategic and intentional. A successful process gets new employees well beyond day one. It prepares them to hit the ground running and increases the likelihood they’ll be a productive member of your team for months and years to come.
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