How to Get Candidates to Show Up for Job Interviews

You put time and effort into finding the best employees because you know your business needs them. But a common problem is plaguing businesses like yours.

No shows

When people don’t show up for appointments and don’t bother to cancel ahead of time, it costs your business time and money:

• There has likely been time spent on correspondence with this person, reviewing applications, and maybe evaluating a test sample.
• Someone on your team has spent time preparing for the interview, reviewing the resume, and thinking about items to explore further.
• At least one person is then waiting for the candidate to show up, maybe even trying to track them down to see if they need a few extra minutes.
• Maybe you’re even paying a service to find you these candidates, so your cost per hire is increasing exponentially every time someone forgets to cancel the interview.
• And worst of all, maybe you’re going to lose the next qualified candidate in line because you’ve scheduled the first interview with someone who isn’t even going to show up.

Whether a candidate is sick, has accepted another job, or simply forgot about the appointment, no shows are frustrating, inefficient, and costly. So naturally, it’s in your best interest to do whatever you can to minimize the frequency of this expensive and frustrating situation. 

5 Strategies to Decrease Interview No Shows

GoReminders helps you book virtual interviews and meetings with ease. Simply insert your Zoom link into your reminders and see your clients show up.

Here are 5 strategies to help you take action to drive efficiency and “control what you can control” in your hiring process. 

Strategy #1: Vet candidates properly

Be sure that your hiring workflow makes sense. An in-person interview should happen once you’ve vetted the candidate sufficiently and are satisfied that he or she is qualified for the position.

Earlier in the process, due diligence will play a key role in ensuring that you eliminate candidates who are unlikely to follow through with an interview. Online tests that require thought and effort help to weed out candidates testing the hiring waters and blanketing every job opportunity with little intention of following through. 

Strategy #2: Get qualified candidates on the calendar asap

Once you’re sure you’ve got a qualified candidate in the pipeline, get that interview scheduled.

In today’s market, hiring happens quickly and competition is fierce. Keep in mind that the best and brightest candidates have several opportunities and are likely in talks with other potential employers. So establishing rapport throughout the interview scheduling process is critical.

In many cases, the best candidates seek employment while still employed, so be flexible with scheduling the interview. If possible, accommodate requests to interview outside of your normal working hours. Some employers even let candidates know it’s fine to reschedule with advance notice. 

These seemingly small gestures go a long way in establishing rapport. By letting the candidate know you’re interested, you’ll minimize the likelihood that the candidate will cancel the appointment without letting you know.

Strategy #3: Clarify your expectations

When making the decision to move forward with interviewing a candidate, a really important step to take is to clarify your expectations about the interview.

Let the candidate know you and your business take interviews seriously and that you put a lot of thought and effort into each one. Some companies even go as far as creating and communicating a policy of eliminating no show candidates from consideration.

Strategy #4: Confirm the interview more than once

After you schedule the interview, be sure to send out a confirmation that reminds the candidate where to go if the interview is in person, or which link to use if the interview is virtual. Include the time and any other pertinent information.

You’ve probably got that step covered, especially if you’ve automated your interview invitation and follow up process.

But here’s where businesses get it wrong. They don’t communicate with the candidate again until it’s too late. Whether this is the day before or after the candidate doesn’t show up, it’s this kind of reactive rather than proactive behavior that can get you in trouble.

If you’re periodically sending out recurring reminders, and all the candidate has to do is reply with “C” to confirm, you have the peace of mind knowing that the interview is all set. 

On the other hand, if you’re not seeing that kind of responsiveness, you know you might be losing this candidate and you can take the appropriate next steps. With the right software, this kind of effective feedback insight can be generated with easy set up that can be highly customized and done in as little as 10 seconds.

Strategy #5: Adopt a proactive attitude about interview attendance 

Companies that are consistently looking ahead and improving their processes are the winners in the end. These companies aren’t left asking “what happened”? They are anticipating problems in the hiring process and taking action to prevent those problems.

Consider becoming one of the many businesses that has chosen to automate their appointment scheduling and confirmation process. The benefits of this automation extend well beyond the hiring process and will drive efficiency and productivity for your teams across all departments.

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By reminding candidates about upcoming interviews via automated text message or email, small businesses can drive efficiency and productivity.

To improve your show ratios, give some of the suggestions above a try. Soon you’ll be focusing more and more of your time and energy on the candidates that do show up.

GoReminders simplifies appointment management for small businesses, saving time and increasing positive hiring outcomes. 

The interface is entirely mobile-friendly since small businesses are often run entirely on a tablet or smartphone. GoReminders can be used on any device – smartphone, Windows or Mac desktop and has native iPhone, iPad and Android apps to make your life easier.

The best way to get a good feel for GoReminders is to create a free reminder!