Can onboarding boost hiring success for Recruiters?
Guest Blog by
An inefficient onboarding process can be disheartening for a recruitment agency, especially after all of the initial hard work that goes into finding the right person for a role.
From identifying the candidate, building up a rapport, getting them enthused about the company and accepting the role. After all of this, it can all be so easily be undone when a candidate transitions from recruitment to the onboarding stage of the hiring cycle. Typically, this is when responsibility shifts to the client’s HR or hiring team. And it’s during this phase that dropouts are most likely to occur.
Why do candidates drop out?
Candidates often have minimal contact with the prospective employer during onboarding. The process can often take weeks to complete with contracts needing to be posted or emailed, signed and returned by candidates.
It’s during this time that anxieties and second thoughts can start to build about their decision. The longer a candidate is left waiting, the more likely they are to start exploring alternative job options.
The 2019 Welcome Aboard survey by Webonboarding found that 46% of employees have had negative onboarding experiences, resulting in 11% having backed out of agreed roles.
The cost of ineffective onboarding
This is a problem in which everyone loses.
The candidate misses out on the job they wanted, and the employer is left counting the costs of wasted HR time and resources; as well as a position that remains unfilled.
The financial consequences for a recruitment agency will depend on agreements made but it often causes long-term damage to relationships with a client company. Recruiters may even find themselves blamed for having put forward the candidate.
Benefits of bridging the gap
It’s for all these reasons that it makes good business sense for recruitment agencies to take a more active role in the onboarding process.
This is made possible by remote onboarding management tools that allow for a more collaborative approach that helps to bridge the gap between HR and recruitment.
Employee onboarding covers all of the tasks that need to be completed before a successful candidate can start working in the role. This starts with contracts and offer letters but also covers a wide range of tasks such as reference checks and compliance agreements.
Joined-up and remote onboarding
When an onboarding process is managed remotely using cloud-based management, tasks are tracked in real-time with alerts and notifications to make sure each job gets done.
It’s a flexible and remote-friendly way of working that allows HR and recruitment agencies to work together, ensuring a seamless transition that reduces the risks of candidates dropping out.
It allows recruiters to take some of the administrative strain away from clients by handling some of the onboarding tasks traditionally carried out by HR teams. Examples of this could include tracking key new starter forms and documents like contracts and offer letters. Candidates can communicate and digitally sign for a smooth transition to a role.
It’s an additional service that adds value to the recruitment process and helps to build stronger links with client companies. It’s a subject that Webonboarding General Manager, Simon Connell, explored in a recent webinar. He said:
“By helping your clients to deliver a better process, you not only protect your fees and reputation, but you also add value to the customers that you serve. This will help to retain them for longer and to attract bigger and better clients too.”
To find out more about Webonboarding and how it can help support your recruitment processes call 0800 170 0800 or email contact.us@webonboarding.com
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