What should I do to make the expected candidate come to the interview?



Every recruiter has faced a situation where an applicant for a position has not come to the interview. It is a pity if an interesting candidate, whose resume is so appealing, whose experience meets the requirements of the vacancy, is not at the appointed time for an interview in the office of the company. Unfortunately, such superficial attitude of candidates is becoming more common.

What is the reason, and most importantly what to do in such cases?

Usually, candidates miss interviews for the following reasons:
  • Forgotten. If you agreed a few days ago, by the time of the interview, the candidate may have simply forgotten that they have a scheduled meeting.
  • Agreed to a more beneficial offer. People who are actively looking for a job regularly go to interviews, sometimes even several times a day. Therefore, if you have agreed on an interview in advance, there is a possibility that the candidate has already taken an offer from another company and has forgotten about other scheduled interviews.
  • Mixed up the address, office, and time. It is not always possible for an applicant to write down contact information and time during a telephone conversation. For example, they may be on the street or on public transport. Perhaps, they have not heard the information correctly, and now he can not find the location of the interview. 
  • Changed his mind about coming. The most frequent situation is when a candidate has made an appointment with the recruiter, then decided to clarify the details of the vacancy or find out more about the company, and found the information they are not satisfied with. For example, inconvenient office location, inappropriate working conditions or bad reputation of the company. But ,for some reason, candidate doesn’t consider necessary to give the notice to the company about the cancellation. 
  • Force majeure. Of course, it is impossible to be insured against a sudden illness, injury, as well as other reasons that could prevent the applicant to come and report any changes.

What should a recruiter do if candidates do not reach the interview?

  • Remind the candidate about the meeting. If you have made an appointment in advance, be sure to call the candidate to confirm the interview, or send a message asking if everything is still valid a few hours before the interview. Saying “I can’t” is much easier than picking up the phone and calling. And this is a time saving for you.
  • Don’t waste time: if the applicant didn’t come on time, the best you can do is to take up current tasks, rather than to be nervous while waiting for the candidate. Can you further rely on an employee who did not consider it necessary to warn you about being late? I don’t think so.
  • When negotiating an interview, you can mention that the head of department, director or other top manager will be present at the meeting. This fact adds importance and makes candidates take the interview responsibly.
  • Remember to indicate in the job description that your company offers the best working conditions among competitors. Describe the advantages; the main condition is the truthfulness of these advantages.

What else can help?

  1. Appoint the interview quickly and do not delay the approval of the candidate, otherwise someone will simply headhunt a good specialist earlier.
  2. Be flexible. Let candidates reschedule job-interview if they request it in advance.
  3. Try to schedule interviews in the morning as statistically, this is the best time.
  4. Describe the way to your location in as much detail as possible, and make sure the candidate clearly got the information about the time and place of the interview.
  5. Mark the type of job-interview. Make sure you understand what stage this is, who will attend it, and what the purpose of the interview is.
The most important thing is not to despair. Yes, not all applicants come to you, but there is a rational reason. If you find it out, it will be much easier to prevent. Our expert team with successful experience in numerous recruitment projects will help you analyze the situation and find the best way to solve it. Don’t hesitate! Contact us now!