Why do candidates reject job offers and what can you do about it?

Having unfilled roles within your business can be stressful, and when you find that perfect candidate to fill a position, you want to be sure to lock them in! 

Have you ever felt good about a candidate you thought was a perfect match and couldn’t wait to have them on your team? You made your absolute best offer, only to have them turn it down? This may have led you to settling for your second, third, or even fourth choice candidate, or even worse, having to “go back out to market” to start the process all over again! Meanwhile, the impact (financial and otherwise) to your business of not having someone in the post, continues to rack up…

You might find yourself wondering, what makes someone go through the trouble of applying, interviewing, etc., only to say no once the job is offered? 

In a recent pulse survey conducted by Recruitment Best Practice to determine what active job seekers want to see from potential employers during the hiring process, more than half of candidates reported that they turn down job offers due to poor candidate experience. This means the solution for hiring more of those “got to have” candidates, is improving their experience with you from the job advert to the offer process and beyond. 

Let’s dive into the top 3 specific problems that occur during the hiring process that keep candidates from accepting an offer, and how you as a business owner or hiring manager can address these problems and make the right hires. 

Reasons candidates turn down job offers. 

We found that a whopping 59% of candidates said they’ve declined a job offer because of a poor experience with a potential employer during the hiring process. 

The best candidates will always have the benefit of being selective about where they work. Plus, recent changes in the labour market have been favourable for job seekers, giving them more leverage than ever before. 

Many other factors will influence a candidate’s final choice. So, what are the most significant factors of the candidate experience that contribute to the decision?

Survey overall results - 08/2023

Negative experience(s) with people in the interview process.

A significant majority of candidates reported that they have declined a job offer because of a negative experience with one or more people in the interview process. 

Interviews are, in most hiring scenarios, your only chance to get to know a candidate, but it’s also important for employers to keep in mind that candidates are evaluating them too. The people conducting interviews need to leave candidates with a great impression of themselves as well as the company. If not, there’s a good chance that an offer later in the hiring process will be declined. 

The solution: Creating a positive experience for all candidates is attainable for any business. Train hiring managers and interviewers to conduct great interviews and hold them accountable for it. Put in place a system that ensures they are thoroughly prepared for interviews, have ​​standardised sets of questions ready for each type of role and routines and strategies to ensure they stay present throughout the interview, whether in-person or virtual.

Compensation and benefits that don’t meet candidates’ expectations.

One of the biggest reasons that candidates reported turning down a job offer was because of the compensation and benefits not meeting their expectations. This can be frustrating for both parties, but is something that you, as a business owner, can address and avoid. 

The solution: we encourage transparency from the start. Candidate experience starts with an effective job advert. We suggest doing your research to know what the current market rate is for the role within your industry and location, as well as any typical benefits that are offered.  Putting compensation and benefits into the job advertising so that job seekers know before applying whether it is a match, is also beneficial. Ultimately this will save you time and help you avoid interviewing applicants that are looking for something different from what you can offer. 

Roles and/or responsibilities that were different from candidates’ expectations.

Another top reason that candidates turned down a job is that the role and responsibilities weren’t quite what they expected. An interested candidate that finds out late in the interview process that the job isn’t what they thought will feel like you wasted their time. 

The solution: Once again the solution lies within a good job advert and adequate pre-interview screening. Take the time to think about the role and write a job description and subsequent advert that describes it accurately. Job seekers use the job advert as a guidepost when trying to decide whether they want to work for your company. 

Laying out both the compensation and expectations for the role from the beginning might decrease your number of applicants, but it will enable candidates that aren’t a good fit to self-select out of the process. Additionally, by having a pre-screening stage in your recruitment process, you can be assured that candidates that make it to the interview process are already aware and satisfied with what you have to offer and the responsibilities of the role. 

More things to consider: 

The importance of the candidate experience may vary from industry to industry. 57% of job seekers in the financial services industry and 63% of job seekers in health care industry reported that they have declined a job offer due to a poor experience in the hiring process. 

Job seekers in the automotive and insurance services and pharmaceutical industries reported the lowest rates of poor candidate experiences. 55% of automotive candidates and 62% of those in pharmaceutical industries, said they have not declined an offer due to poor candidate experience this year. 

Clearly, there are variations across different industries, and plenty of other factors that might affect a candidate’s decision, including a better offer elsewhere or the job not aligning with the candidate’s career goals. 

However, it’s worth restating that based on our research, no matter how many hours you put into the hiring process or how good your final offer is, if you are creating a negative candidate experience, your offers are more likely to be rejected. 

The impact of a positive candidate experience

The answer is clear, to get more candidates hired, you must improve your candidate experience. No matter what experience a candidate has with your company, you should assume they are going to tell others about it. As that experience compounds, your company builds a reputation, and your employment brand is influenced for better or worse.

When you communicate openly with candidates throughout the hiring process and provide a professional, streamlined and pleasant experience, they’re more likely to speak positively about your company, whether they’re hired or not.

Based on our research, 87% of candidates said a positive candidate experience influenced their decision to accept an offer. 

As much hiring can be stressful from an employer’s perspective, looking for a job can be stressful for candidates too. Have empathy for your candidates and show them that you value and appreciate their time and effort. Take action to improve your overall candidate experience to ensure more candidates are excited to say yes to your job offer.

The good news is that this effort will pay off! 

Contact us now to discuss how we can help you ensure your hiring managers are trained to provide a great candidate experience throughout your recruitment process.