How to engage new hires before they step through the door

After going through, sometimes a lengthy hiring process, you have finally found your dream candidate – only to be met with a new hire no show and having to start it all over again. In 2021, employers reported 7% of candidates who had accepted a role not showing up on their first day. And in the post-pandemic era, with so many choices available to professionals, new hire ghosting has become even more common. Similarly according to Forbes 46% of candidates snubbed their interviews and didn’t turn up in 2021.

To prevent them from ‘playing the field’ and instead committing to their journey with your company, don’t wait until the first day to engage with new employees. Here are our top tips to prevent new hire no shows.

Onboarding is the key to successful recruitment

Your onboarding process should start as early as the candidate accepting your role. How you choose to onboard depends on your company size but merely putting them onto a digital platform to do the work isn’t going to solve all of those engagement issues. Think about how to incorporate some human interaction as well. Below we cover common successful onboarding strategies to support ensuring that new hires come on board.

Send a personalised welcome package to engage your new hires

Small gestures make all the difference, and this is common practice among large tech companies for a reason. Sending personalised merchandise, a gift basket or hamper, or a houseplant is a great way to keep your new hire excited about the role and make them feel appreciated and included. Your gift of choice will depend on how you want to represent your company, just make sure it feels personal and furthers your employer brand.

Gifts may not always be a possibility for everyone, however, even a personalised card or a welcome email serve as lovely gestures and let the candidate know you are looking forward to working with them.

Recording a congratulations video and something along the lines of welcoming them to the team, is a great way to build engagement with your future hire.

Manage their expectations to prevent new hire no shows due to uncertainty

New hire no shows often happen due to anxiety of not knowing what to expect. If your candidate is moving to a higher-level role with more responsibility, this may also be coupled with imposter syndrome.

Get in touch with them ahead of the first day to explain exactly what’s going to happen and reassure your new employee that you are excited to have them onboard. They will walk into their new workplace excited and self-assured rather than ghosting because they suddenly got cold feet.

Get feedback on your hiring process

While you are waiting on your new hire to get started, this is the perfect time for you to get some feedback on your hiring process. This shows them you are a company that empowers and cares about their employees and values their feedback. Their opinions will help to form a closer relationship between you and the candidate, while providing you with valuable insight on how to improve your future recruitment process.

Introduce them to your team

Again, this is an excellent way to clear up any on-boarding anxieties. Organise an informal team meetup so your new candidate can meet their colleagues and start forming a connection with them. This will give them a positive first impression of working within your team and being a part of your company.

If a team meeting isn’t an option, you could try alternatives such as a Zoom party or even adding them to your internal communications ahead of time and introducing the candidate that way. Which brings us to our final point…

Get a head-start on important tasks

Adding your new candidate to your productivity and communications channels like Slack, Asana, Zendesk etc will make them feel included before they even start. Of course, such admin tasks are not mandatory to complete before their start date, so do assure your new hire that they don’t have to do extra work outside of their schedule. However, most candidates will be curious about the role, the people they’ll be working with and would rather come prepared than be kept in the dark.

You can also send them any on-boarding documents and contracts they need to sign, so their first day with you is much smoother and they can get on with more enjoyable tasks. Ensure that you don’t overload them with too many documents and digital requests, they are not yet working with your business.

There is a fine balance to achieve to ensure you encourage them to be engaged in joining your business and excited about their future career starting with your company. You don’t want to overload your prospective employee but you do want them to feel welcomed. By engaging with your Auxeris recruitment partner, they will support you in the onboarding process - helping to keep that conversation going and ensuring that your future employee doesn’t go cold. They will already have had the conversation about the ‘stay interview’ or counter offer and will be ready to ensure that this is successfully navigated. They will have already understood that employee’s reasons and motivations to move roles.

Partner with a specialist recruiter

By using a recruiter who acts as an extension of your business, you can ensure that you are gaining help to successfully onboard your new hire into your business. Find out how working with Auxeris can help you experience successful hiring.