A big area of risk in recruitment is when you think the job’s done.

You’ve put a verbal offer out, the candidate has said yes, sounds great, can you send me a formal offer document before I resign my current role?

And then it’s over to HR to generate the paperwork, while you get back to work.

Perhaps you think nothing further of your new employee until their start date.

And if they do start as you expected, you might be forgiven for thinking all was well with your recruitment process.

Yet, the things you didn’t do, because they didn’t seem important, are also the things that could have made a difference before that candidate unexpectedly pulled out.

Here are a few things to think about that may reduce your risk of having to start recruitment again from scratch:

- Is your salary and package one you got away with, or are you offering the best package you can? The thrill of receiving an offer can quickly be subverted by below par financials
- What is the time frame from making a verbal offer to acceptable documentation that enables candidates to resign from their current role? If you have an unavoidably slow process, at least you can manage expectations and not create concern where none should exist
- Do you check in with candidates during the offer process to see if they have any questions or concerns about their offer? Little niggles that may otherwise grow when untended
- How do they feel about resigning? It’s stressful at the best of times
- During their notice period do you invite them to get involved with any team building activities, or things they should be aware of to help them get up to speed suitably?
- What else can you do to make them feel part of the team?
- Do you contact them the week before to check if they have any questions, what you can do to help or simply to wish them luck?
- Is all your equipment and new starter materials ready for when they start? Nothing like sitting around on day one with nothing to do because the company isn’t ready for their new employee
- How are you treating the candidates that were unsuccessful, especially if they are genuine close calls you might want to employ someday, if say your chosen candidate withdrew?

Of course, you don’t need to do any of these things.

While in some situations it may come across as micro-management.

But if you are genuinely keen to have your new team member on board, you should do what it takes to make their transition to your employment as easy as possible.

And with the benefit of reducing your risk comes the benefit of improving their experience.

The preboarding and onboarding phases are critical parts of your new employee life cycle.

It’s no coincidence that across this part of the recruitment process candidate experience and employee experience are precisely the same thing.