Making sure your candidates feel the love

By Kate Maunder, consultant at TPP Not for Profit

The job market tends to be cyclical – lots of job openings tend to result in candidate shortages and candidates are plentiful when jobs are in short supply.  The recent economic downturn has kept the market stable for longer than normal – high levels of redundancy and unemployment have created huge pools of labour while cautious employers have been recruiting less.

However, all the signs indicate that we are now at a tipping point as the market recovers and unemployment drops.  According to the latest REC report on jobs, vacancy numbers are continuing to rise at a rapid pace but candidate availability is falling.  Commenting on these results, Bernard Brown, Head of Business Services at KPMG, said:  “Demand for staff may be up, but the number of individuals putting themselves on the market has dropped for the fifth consecutive month. Perhaps the pay on offer has to rise to encourage staff to ‘make the move’. If it doesn’t we could be about to witness a growing gap between what the employers need and what employees are prepared to do.”

At TPP, as well as a general increase in the number of vacancies in the not for profit sector, we have also noticed a general increase in candidates declining offers that have been made to them.  There are some skill sets that have always been in short supply, such as income generation, but other areas are now starting to see skill shortages, such as digital marketing.  The demand for candidates in general is increasing, which means they can be much more choosey.  Not for profit organisations should be placing more emphasis on candidate care and making sure they are kept happy and engaged throughout the recruitment process.

Below are TPP’s top tips to ensure your candidates feel loved:

1.    Ensure the offer package is right

Obviously you need to make sure your salary is as competitive as possible, which means you need to know what similar organisations are offering.  Salary is not the only thing to consider though, particularly for charity candidates, who are often looking for a better work-life balance.  Make sure you mention benefits and opportunities for flexible working, as these are often really powerful draws.

Some useful links:
Salary surveys
How to offer the right salary
Five ‘hidden’ employer benefits of flexible working

2.    Ensure there is potential for development

Candidates are often thinking about the long term when moving roles, and the opportunities for development are likely to play an important part in their decision.  Almost all roles offer employees the potential to learn and grow their abilities, even if they do not have a direct route for promotion.  The trick is to find the ways in which candidates would be able to make the most of the role and themselves and to make sure they are aware of them in the interview.

In these days of slashed training budgets, any promises of CPD you can offer are a great way to make your organisation stand out.  Remember, TPP give all fundraisers placed through us a £100 voucher to spend with the IoF on CPD.

3.    Don’t take too long to make a decision

This is probably the most common reason why organisations lose good candidates.  If they have great skills and experience, it’s likely that other organisations will want them as much as you do and candidates will not wait around if they receive another offer.  While we appreciate it can be hard to make decisions quickly in non-profit organisations, particularly if Trustees have to be involved, waiting for an offer can be a really negative recruitment experience for the candidate.

4.    Offer constant feedback and communication

On similar lines, one of the most common frustrations for candidates is a lack of communication and feedback.  Even if you are rejecting them, every candidate deserves to know they are not being taken forward and given a reason for that decision wherever possible.

Remember, the large crossover between potential employees, volunteers, advocates and donors make it especially important for charities to take good care of candidates.

Some useful links:
How to reject candidates without turning them off your brand
Lack of interview feedback can damage your donations


At TPP, we know that managing the offer process starts when we first meet the candidate.   We take the time to really understand why they are leaving their current job and their motivations and requirements for a new role.  We drill down into their key criteria, which is often very different to a candidate's stated motivations, to maximise the chances of a satisfactory recruitment process for all parties.

The perils of purple squirrels

On average, employers take 5 weeks and 6 days to recruit a new employee, and even longer for senior or specialist roles.  This is nearly twice as long as the average time taken to recruit in 2008.

High unemployment has led to a candidate-heavy job market.  With so many jobseekers out there eager for work, why are organisations taking such a long time to fill their vacancies?  

Even seeing lots of excellent candidates doesn't help employers to make a decision, as it encourages them to believe there’s someone even better out there.

So why are there delays?

Recruiting can be an expensive business, and the costs of hiring the wrong person are extremely high.  Although the economy appears to be picking up, not for profit organisations still fear that there may be further turmoil ahead and remain cautious about hiring.

With the glut of candidates to choose from, employers feel they can wait to find their perfect candidate; one who has all of the ‘desired’ points on the job description, as well as those ‘required’.  Even interviewing lots of excellent candidates can encourage employers to wait, as they believe there must be someone even better out there.

Red tape and overly complicated processes can also delay an organisation’s hiring process and the saving on overheads made by not recruiting can feel like an incentive to keep a vacancy unfilled.

But keeping a job open for months on end or spending extra effort recruiting doesn't actually address the core reasons why it is so hard to find the perfect candidate.  One of those reasons is that perfect candidates are too rare to bank on – they are ‘purple squirrels’.

What is a purple squirrel?

A purple squirrel is a term recruiters and hiring managers use to define an ultra-rare candidate who is perfect for the role, down to the last detail.  A purple squirrel will have all the skills and experience required, fit perfectly into your organisation’s culture, live in the right area and, crucially, will work for the salary offered.

These candidates do come along occasionally, but too rarely to build a recruitment strategy on.  Purple squirrels are not a product of successful recruiting, but more often simply due to luck.

The impact of delays on recruitment

Maintaining the momentum of your recruitment process is important to keep candidates motivated about the role, and delaying could be a crucial factor if they are deciding between two jobs.  Even though the market is candidate-heavy, the best candidates are still in high demand, and they won’t hang around while you wait to see if someone even better turns up.  They will go to more decisive organisations, and their negative recruitment experience could reflect badly on your employer brand.

A recruitment campaign only lasts so long.  If your possible candidates have found jobs elsewhere, you may have to start the process again from scratch - using up your valuable time and wasting money.  As the economy starts to recover and hiring increases, the demand for good candidates is just going to increase even more.

Positions left unfilled for a long time also become less attractive to potential candidates, like houses that remain unsold – everyone thinks there must be something wrong with the role.  In fact, Britons believe that job vacancies that remain unfilled for more than 72 days are roles that nobody wants.  This means that the longer you wait, the less likely you are to find a really good employee to fill the role.

And the impact on your organisation

Obviously, organisations cannot function without employees.  Unless you reorganise to absorb duties elsewhere, you are eventually going to have to fill a vacancy.  While a job is not being done, productivity in that department drops, and the longer you leave it, the harder it is to build up momentum again.

Taking a long time to recruit also puts unfair amounts of pressure on your other employees, who will have to cover the essential duties of that role.  This may affect productivity and ultimately retention, as overworked and disgruntled employees are less likely to remain loyal and motivated.

Remember the perfect candidate may not be the best one

In the long term, it is more important to find a candidate who fits the culture of your organisation.  When recruiting, you should prioritise ‘hard to learn’ requirements like people skills over specific skills that can be learnt on the job.  Employees who are trained up to do a role have more incentive to succeed and tend to stay longer in a role.  Rather than waiting to find the perfect candidate, why not invest that time in training up a good one to become perfect in the role.

Another area to consider is the opportunities for flexible working.  Again, this can lead to a more loyal and motivated employee.  Being flexible in one area may also mean that you can negotiate with the salary offered.

The ‘perfect’ candidate that an organisation is looking for can often be one that is exactly like the hiring manager or the departed employee.  While they may be able to pick up the ropes quickly, a candidate like this will not bring in new ideas or fresh viewpoints to your organisation.  It is generally accepted that a more diverse workforce is a more effective and resilient workforce.

The view from TPP

At TPP, we’ve represented our share of purple squirrel candidates, and we know how very rare and in demand these employees are.  When we work with you to fill a vacancy, we use a combination of job advertising, social media, our own database of contacts and search and selection to find both active and passive candidates we might be suitable.  We then interview them, face-to-face wherever possible, before sending over their details, to go through their CV and to check how well their personality will mesh with your organisation’s culture.  We will only put a candidate forward for a role if we are confident that they can develop into your perfect employee.

If you're not sure...

If you are undecided about whether to hire a candidate you've interviewed right now, or to wait and see if there is a better candidate out there, why not consider offering the position as a temporary or contract assignment?  This allows you to save on overheads, gives you some coverage for the role until you hire permanently, and lets you try out candidates in a real working environment.  Based on their performance, you can then offer them the role on a permanent basis, or keep recruiting.  But bear in mind that your temporary employee may also continue to look elsewhere!

Ultimately, if you are adamant you need a candidate that fulfils every requirement, you are going to have to wait for them to appear and it is highly likely that you will have to increase your offered salary to secure them.  We believe that it is more cost-effective to concentrate on the best person you find for the job, rather than the best person out there.