According to Avature, the typical drop-off rate during an application process is 80%. Almost all organizations experience candidate dropoff in coding assessments. Even the selected candidates reject offers.

When candidates apply for a job, they apply to multiple organizations. For instance, a candidate is selected for a job role in your organization. In the meantime, if they get a better offer than yours, then it’s obvious that the candidate will opt for a better opportunity.

The drop-off rate is mostly high in startups – as candidates expect more benefits and attractive packages which a new company fails to offer. To reduce the candidate dropout rates, you must understand its reasons and rework your hiring process. These dropout rates can be minimized when you follow the right recruiting strategies.

Here we will discuss some of the best tips and strategies you can apply to your existing hiring process to reduce the candidate dropout rates.

Your Application Process Is Too Complex And Lengthy

First of all, you don’t want to create a negative candidate experience during the first interaction. Most candidates step out of the process when job forms aren’t clear and provide irrelevant information. 8 out of 10 candidates step out of the process because they found a complex application process.

To reduce the drop-out rate of the candidates, you must focus on enhancing the candidate experience at the beginning of the process. You can do it by improving your website speed, provide all the relevant information, and make the hiring process simple.

Write Clear Job Descriptions

A job description is the first thing that candidates interact with, and you don’t want to turn them off during the first interaction. Writing a compelling job description must include your business’s requirements, but most importantly, you should clearly mention whether the pre-employment assessments are conducted or not.

For example, suppose you’re hiring a technical team for your organization. In that case, you must clearly mention the coding assessments, which are essential to assess the candidate’s technical skills.

In short, you must be clear about the job role and mention the purpose of each assessment you include in your hiring process.

Communicate Better

Let your candidates know what they should expect from your coding assessment and the communication method.

Also, your words matter a lot. When a candidate applies for a particular job role, instead of simply writing “Thank you for your application,” you can write, “Thank you for your time. The recruiter will contact you if interested in moving forward with your application.” This is the professional way to address the candidates, and they will feel more interested and valued.

The other way to reduce candidate dropoff in coding assessments is by providing an email address to contact you if they didn’t get a response from your side within the time frame.

Use A Simple Coding Assessment Tool

As a recruiter, you might have conducted hundreds and thousands of coding assessments. Some candidates aren’t familiar with such modern coding assessment tools. So, to avoid dropouts, you must leverage a simple and easy-to-use tool that makes things work smoothly for both parties.

These coding assessment tools use an auto-grading system that eliminates unqualified candidates. As a result, it saves time, money, and effort towards interviewing the wrong candidates. Also, these tools help you get a clear picture of the candidate, and you can assess them beyond their resumes.

Give Feedback

Most candidates say that “we didn’t get any response from the organization after an interview.” This can result in a bad candidate experience and can hurt your employer brand. Candidates won’t wait for weeks or months to get a response from your side – they’ll move on to other great opportunities.

So, it’s always a good practice to follow up with the candidates and give feedback on their application status. Also, you can provide them with a reason why they aren’t selected in your organization and give some preparation tips for future interviews or assessments. In this way, you’ll make sure they hold a good perception of you and don’t encourage other candidates to drop off from the coding assessments and interviews.

Developing a positive employer can be easy when you provide a great candidate experience. According to Glassdoor, a strong employer brand can reduce the cost per hire by 50%, whereas a negative brand reputation can cost you 10% more per hire.

Shorten Your Recruitment Process

Candidates will lose interest in your recruiting process if it's too long and complicated. It’s essential to make the recruitment process short, which doesn’t mean eliminating the crucial recruitment rounds. It’s more about automation – such as using video interviews, conducting online coding assessments, etc.

Video interviewing can help you feel how a candidate will present without spending your time meeting your longlist. For some particular job roles, sending pre-recorded video interviews can help to speed up the process rather than in-person interviews.

Ensure Your Website Is Working Smoothly and Up-To-Date

Your career page is the first thing that a candidate will first interact with. So, it’s up to date and easy to navigate. Additionally, if your website is slow, work on all the technical aspects to quickly load and provide all the relevant information.

Due to the high competition in the candidate market, it is challenging for recruiters to hire the right talent for their organization.

Drop-offs are one of the main issues that every recruiter faces. By addressing the main reasons behind the drop-offs, you can keep candidates engaged and increase your number of accepted offers.

Keeping in mind the above-mentioned points will help you to get a deep insight into which areas of your recruiting process need improvement and which should be eliminated. Once you get a clear idea, you can easily streamline your recruitment process and reduce the drop-offs.