You only get one chance to make a first impression. What impression does your organization make with new hires?
What’s the impression you want to make?

Imagine this: You post a knowledge worker role. Days and weeks go by… responses and interest are limited at best.

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Some candidates are on a fishing expedition, tossing a line out and seeing what bites…
Other candidates do the “post and pray”, applying regardless of if their background fits the role.

You are ready to abandon hope.

Then, out of nowhere, a friend of a friend, of a relative of a friend, provides a referral…

At first glance, you think it’s too good to be true. The elusive purple unicorn with the pink horn. Working with your recruitment team, you make an initial connection. That leads to additional virtual interviews and finally an in-person round. It looks like the stars are aligned. You craft an epic offer and extend it. You wait… and then…

They accept!!!!

Working with your recruitment team, you get the “on-boarding” process started and get a start date in the calendar. They needed 3 weeks to wrap up their current role and wanted a little time between ending one role and starting the next.

Although, you seem to take it for granted that everything is progressing with the administrative part of “on-boarding” … background check, drug test, etc.

Some time passes… then, the Wednesday before they are supposed to start, you receive a call from the recruiter. You listen with dread. You stammer and stumble your way through a response, including a few comments you later regret, such as placing blame on the recruiter. The conversation ends and you put your phone down.

The candidate had a competing offer, not from their current company, but from another company that was recruiting them, too. The candidate was candid enough to share why they chose the other company.

They said it was because they felt more cared for.

After you extended the offer, other than the administrative part, you ignored the candidate. You assumed you had them the moment they accepted the offer. That they would just start on command. Yet, you find out from your recruiter, that the company they chose instead made them feel appreciated, valued, and respected.

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In addition to the same administrative steps they went through with you, they received regular check-ins from the other company. More than just an offer letter, they received a whole welcome package. This included periodic text messages expressing genuine excitement about their start. The information provided great clarity about what, when, where, and who leading up to their start date. They also received a video from the company CEO welcoming them, and to top it all off, the base salary was actually less than what you offered…

Has this ever happened to you?