How to Follow Up on Candidates in Your Pipeline

As a recruiter, you need to master the art of ‘follow up’; otherwise, your efforts will never follow through. Dealing with people with busy lives, most having to juggle family and work, it’s very easy for them to forget an application they had made or something they were to take care of. In our case, serving a country with a culture of working more than one job, it’s paramount to perfect the art of following up on your pipeline. If one does not follow up on their pipeline, they will realize that they have been putting in too much effort, but the end results are nothing to show, they are not a reflection of their efforts.

For instance, you can get around 15 applicants for a certain position who, in most cases, may not respond upon first contact. Therefore, as a smart recruiter, you have to remind them.

“Hey, you applied for a position; kindly spare some time to work on the onboarding documents.”

A recruiter’s bigger role is that of a salesperson. You have to keep reminding your pipeline of your existence; don’t leave them rotting in a corner lest they get other options and slide away from you.

Here are some tips you can apply to successfully follow up on your pipeline:

1. Contact your candidates immediately after they apply for a position or immediately after they express interest in an assignment. Do not procrastinate on sending them job details and acknowledging them. The first few minutes of their application rolling in are when they are likely to respond immediately, as in most cases, they are still online. So do not delay or sleep on an applicant, acknowledge their application immediately after you receive that notification that they have applied.
2. Organize your pipeline on a Google Sheet. Google Sheets are very useful as they are online and automatically save information. They can also be manipulated to utilize other features, such as sending reminders, leaving or updating notes, etc. With this spreadsheet, in case a candidate says they are not available at the moment but they will be available later, you can note that down and refer to it later when mining or sourcing for candidates for active jobs. In most cases, you just remind them that they mentioned that they would be available for another assignment at that particular time. Make sure all the relevant notes and contact details are organized with specialties for ease of sorting. Similarly, it helps you keep track of your people.
3. Use the three means of contacting candidates when following up: Call candidates to see if they answer or not. Leave a voice message and follow up with a text and an email introducing yourself and your reason for reaching out to them. In some cases, you can go ahead and email them or text them the details of the job that you are selling. They can refer to that later and get back to you, or they can even opt to refer another person who might be interested. So do not just stop at ‘I called them and nobody picked up, so I will park them or forget about them.”
4. Follow up at different times of the day: When following up with a candidate, I try to make sure, I have contacted them in the morning, at lunchtime, and later in the evening. The idea is to try and catch them, maybe just before they leave for their regular jobs, when they break for lunch, or when they leave work in the evening for their homes. However, be tactical about it and mention why you are following up. Also, depending on the urgency, you may increase the frequency of the follow-ups.
5. For general follow-ups, make sure you are frequent; for example, send them available assignments weekly, maybe for those scouting for something better. You can develop a follow-up template for calling, leaving a voice message, texting, and emailing, so as not to keep drafting a new message every time, just edit accordingly.
6. Always make sure people in your pipeline are aware of any hot jobs and what’s hot in the market. You don’t want to be beaten by competition at this point. Strive to be the first one to notify them of the latest opening and check if they would consider it.
7. Once you have activated them, another hurdle comes when they are required to work on pre-onboarding paperwork. Just the same way I have mentioned above, use all three means of communication and a tactical frequency to remind them of the pending paperwork and also offer to help in case they are stuck at any point. This will show them that you care.
8. Once they have been submitted to the client for consideration, give them frequent updates, even just letting them know that the client has not responded yet but that you are checking in for updates for them. Before following up with the client after a certain period, always check with the candidate to see if they are still available for the assignment. This is because they might be actively searching for other jobs, and you don’t want to disappoint the client with an offer decline, even if the delay was from their end, just because you were not keeping tabs with your candidate to know of their availability.
9. Once offered the position, keep checking with the other departments—compliance, payroll, and staffing—and help them follow up to make sure the process is efficient for your placement. You are the link between your candidates and the rest of the organization.
10. Once they start working, keep checking with them to see how their assignments are coming along, and whether they are doing well. Wish them and their families well.
11. Follow up on their performance, In our case, towards the end of the contract, you can send them or our client coordinator a performance evaluation form to see how they are faring.
12. Don’t forget their special occasions; birthdays and any other important holidays. Some will mention other life celebrations, wish them well and empathize with them where necessary. This is important even for those who are still inactive in your pipeline. It will help you, as a recruiter, build a rapport that will get you to return customers and referrals.
13. Referrals: When checking in with your pipeline or when contacting them, follow up to see if they can refer their friends to you. Most employees trust employers or agencies with whom their friends have worked.
14. Thank them for choosing to work with you, and let them know that you would like to continue working with them for future assignments. Most return customers do so because of the way they were treated.

In summary, following up as a recruiter is a daily task; it makes people working with you feel needed and comfortable that there is someone out there looking out for them. It is also a smart recruitment practice, as it helps you stay remembered or present in your candidate’s memory and ensures that your efforts pay off.

Take care of the bird in your hand even as you look out there for more birds in the bush.