There is a very valid reason for the question “can we give your details on record for future vacancies?” It’s not just to make the candidate feel better about not being accepted. When a vacancy does come up in your company, you may well remember that perfect tech candidate who meets the requirements. But how are you going to encourage this candidate after you have already rejected them?

Those candidates who you had previously interviewed may not have had the skills for that job, but do for the latest vacancies. Perhaps you received too many excellent applications and only had one position to fill. If you have successfully kept in contact with these people, there is hope for a second interview.

So the question is, how do you remain in contact and what can you do to entice someone back in the door after rejecting them beforehand? Let’s go through some useful advice to optimize your chances.

Keep Records of all of your Communication

It’s a no brainer really but with all of the things we have to, this can easily be forgotten about.

Imagine yourself as a candidate. You have already been through an extensive interview process and informed the company of your work history and all of your skills. The great effort you made didn’t lead you to a job so do you really want to go through the process again? Your candidates are probably going to feel the same way.

Having a record of the candidate’s information and the conversations or emails you have sent will allow you to get straight to the point. This provides a great positive candidate experience and it will help towards developing a solid relationship.

Make The Interview Shorter

If you have already conducted an interview with this candidate, there is no need for you to go through the same stages as the previous interview. You should already know that they are qualified. When re-interviewing, your attention should only be focused on what has changed since the last meeting you had.

Here are some questions to consider before inviting a candidate back to be re-interviewed:

• How long has it been since the last interview?

If the answer is less than 12 months, you can probably skip phone screening and assessments regarding culture fit.

• What were the results of their coding test?

If they are on the list to be re-interviewed, it implies they handled the test well. It would be senseless to give them the same one. Think of an alternative way to carry out a code test, for example, live coding.

• Why were they not accepted the first time around?

If the person’s skills didn’t meet the requirements, you will want to retest them. However, if they had the right skill set, you could probably skip many of the interview stages and begin by selling your company.

With a tight labor market and a limited pool of available talent, it has become more difficult and more expensive to find new employees. For these reasons, there are many benefits of working with a staffing agency. The right staffing agency will ensure you are making the best hiring decisions. It can help you find the best talent available for even the most challenging job opportunities.