6 Reasons You Aren’t Getting Any Candidates

By Adam Robinson,
August 8, 2013

You finally get to hire a new employee for your business or location and you announce the new job opening everywhere. You even clear out an entire folder on your computer (or heaven forbid an actual manila folder) for all the resumes that are going to flood in!

After a day of an empty inbox you think maybe the candidates haven’t seen your listing yet… Then another day goes by, and then another one. Finally after a few weeks pass you realize your candidate flow is comparable to a drippy faucet, bummer.

Sound familiar? Here are 6 reasons why you aren’t getting any candidates:

1. Your job title sucks

Sorry to be harsh but companies sometimes assume cute names for positions like “Software Ninja” or “Sprinkler of Sunshine” makes them trendy. Cute names are fine for internal use, but when hiring for a position, you can’t expect candidates will search for “Software Ninja” when they are on a job board.

Instead use a title that contains keywords in which candidates will search for. For example, if I am hiring a marketing intern I call it a “Marketing and Sales Intern,” to capture the marketing and sales students interested in internships.

2. Your job description sucks

Again, sorry for the tough love but if you aren’t getting a good candidate flow, your job description might be similiar to reading the dictionary outloud. Instead, liven up your description with pictures of team members, the awesome benefits you provide, or fun facts about the culture of your business.

Download our Job Descriptions 101 ebook for more job description love.

3. You aren’t posting your job anywhere

Sometimes you have to spend a little cheddar to attract the mouse. Horrible analogy, but it’s true. Hireology users see an average of 55% more candidates when they pay-to-post to a job board such as Indeed, LinkedIn, and Snagajob.

Many of these job boards allow you to sponsor your job which pins it to the top page of the search results. This feature increases applicants and overall awareness of the position.

4. You aren’t enlisting help

Asking your network to advertise your job for you is totally fair. Start asking your employees, business contacts, and networks to advertise your job on their social media sites. People like to apply to jobs where they know someone who has worked there or feels familiar with the owners.

One of the best places to attract candidates is through an industry specific LinkedIn page, association website, or company Facebook page.

5. You have bad reviews

The first thing a candidate does when they want to apply for a job is Google your company name. This results in your Yelp review, Glassdoor review, and every other reviewing website to pop up in the search results. If you have pretty low reviews (even for things like food and service!) a candidate is less likely to continue their application. This is due to the most basic reason: No one wants to work for a crappy company.

Ever checked your Glassdoor reviews? Glassdoor is a website where former and current employees can review the company they work for. They can rate Work/Life balance, Culture, Senior Management, and more! Check your Glassdoor review here by searching for your company.

6. All of the resumes are sent to your email

Ever heard of the resume black hole? It’s where resumes are sent to die. Candidates know that when a company has applicants send their resume to an email address, they will probably never hear back from that company again.

Usually the hiring manager whose email is being used to collect resumes is either bombarded with candidates resumes or unknowingly collecting resumes in spam, or not paying attention to emails at all. This results in the black hole.

Do yourself a favor and invest in some hiring technology, which can help you with all 6 of the above issues. 

Take a course on crafting the perfect job description below:

About the Author

Adam co-founded Hireology with the mission to help growing companies make better hiring decisions through data and better technology. Adam is passionate about entrepreneurship, donating time to a number of organizations that support the entrepreneurial cause. Adam completed his undergraduate study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and received his MBA from DePaul University in Chicago, IL.
