strategy Archives | Catalina Consultants

Think about the last person you turned down for a job. What would they say about your business?

Even though they might have been disappointed, they may still have been impressed by the people they met. Or perhaps they’re wondering what really happened, when the interview seemed to go well but their next communication from you was a rejection letter.

Now imagine those candidates describing their experience to someone you’d love to hire. Would they make your workplace sound like one people would actually want to join?

Your hiring process is a preview of your workplace

You know what it’s like to work in your business, but candidates don’t. The only glimpses they’re likely to get are the job advertisement, perhaps a recommendation from someone they know and the interactions they have with you during the recruitment process.

Based on that alone, they’re likely to form an impression about everyday working life. On this front, an interviewer who has read their application and can explain the role properly gives a very different impression from one who arrives unprepared. Two managers offering conflicting accounts of the position could leave them wondering whose expectations they would need to meet.

The research reinforces that candidate experience is not a nice-to-have extra. A meta analysis covering 86 samples and 48,750 participants found that positive perceptions about the selection process were associated with more favourable views of the employer, along with stronger intentions to accept an offer and recommend the organisation to others.

Put simply, while you’re assessing candidates, they’re assessing you. So, if you want potential employees to perceive your organisation as respectful, collaborative and well organised, recruitment is an important place to demonstrate it.

Better hiring starts with a clearer brief

A good recruitment process begins before you advertise. Everyone involved should understand what the person will actually do, what success looks like and which capabilities they’ll need to bring to achieve it.

That sounds straightforward, but a vacancy can expose differences you haven’t properly resolved – or perhaps even thought about – internally. Those differences matter because candidates may experience them as moving goalposts, inconsistent feedback or unclear expectations.

For instance, one manager might want an experienced operator who can take responsibility immediately. Another might be looking for someone they can develop. Unless they agree, candidates could be assessed against different expectations or find the requirements changing as they progress.

When you’re making these calls, be sure to distinguish what’s essential from what’s desirable, including any skills or capabilities someone could reasonably learn once they join. This helps you write a more useful job advertisement and gives candidates a clearer basis for deciding whether to apply in the first place.

Also agree who will assess the candidates against which criteria, who makes the final decision and who keeps candidates informed. A shared brief gives your team a consistent basis for selection and helps prevent candidates becoming caught in an internal debate about what you need.

Give candidates structure so they can show what they can do

Once you know what you’re looking for, the next question is how you’ll recognise it.

Often employers engage candidates in unstructured conversation that leaves everyone feeling positive but gives little insight into their ability to do the job.

A 2022 reassessment of recruitment research ranked structured interviews highest among the selection methods examined for predicting job performance. The researchers also found that the predictive power of many selection methods – including cognitive ability tests, work-sample tests and unstructured interviews – had previously been overstated.

A structured interview uses consistent core questions linked to the role’s requirements, with an agreed approach to assessing answers. You can still ask follow-up questions and let the conversation develop but the structure gives you a common basis for comparison.

For example, if managing competing deadlines is essential, ask each candidate to describe a situation where they had to prioritise conflicting demands. Assess how they made decisions, communicated with others and handled the outcome.

Ask interviewers to record their assessments before discussing candidates together. This gives everyone’s observations a chance to be considered before a confident or senior colleague shapes the conversation.

A short, relevant practical task can also help potential employees demonstrate their capabilities. Explain what it assesses and how long it should take, and keep the demands proportionate to the role.

Every stage should help answer a question about suitability. Adding more interviews or a lengthy assignment without a clear purpose creates extra work for everyone and can tell candidates something you didn’t intend to about how your business operates.

Keep people informed even when there’s no decision yet

A recruitment delay might be easy to explain from your side: a manager is away, interviews need rescheduling or you’re waiting for approval. From the candidate’s side, however, silence can undermine their confidence in you.

They don’t know whether they’re still being considered, whether the role has changed or whether they should move on. That’s especially damaging if they’re also weighing another opportunity.

Set expectations early. Explain the stages, who candidates will meet, any assessment tasks and when they should expect to hear from you. Give them a contact for questions and make someone responsible for providing updates.

If you miss a promised deadline, acknowledge it. A brief message explaining the delay and giving a realistic date for the next update helps candidates plan, even if you honestly can’t yet give them a decision.

Automated acknowledgements and reminders can help you stay organised. Just be sure to keep them to the initial phases. Once someone has invested time in interviews or an assessment, a personal update shows that you recognise that effort.

Reliable communication also gives candidates a practical example of how you handle expectations when things don’t go to plan.

A rejection doesn’t have to end the relationship

Most candidates won’t get the job.

That means much of your reputation as an employer will be shaped by people you turn down.

Research published in 2025 examined rejection timing across two studies involving 264 and 259 candidates. Faster communication improved the candidates’ perceptions of fairness and satisfaction, along with candidates’ intentions to reapply and recommend the employer to others. The comparisons included rejection notifications sent after seven versus fourteen days.

The practical lesson is to close the loop promptly once you’ve made a decision. Leaving someone waiting doesn’t soften the disappointment.

How you communicate should also reflect how far they’ve progressed. An applicant rejected at the initial screening stage may need a straightforward notification. Someone who’s attended several interviews and completed an assessment deserves a more personal response.

For finalists, useful feedback can explain the decision against the role’s requirements. For example, saying that the successful candidate demonstrated more experience managing a team gives someone more to work with than a vague reference to “fit”.

That said, you will never make every candidate happy with the outcome. But you can help them leave knowing their application was considered seriously and their time was respected.

That leaves the door open for a future opportunity, even when this one hasn’t worked out.

Treat the process as part of your recruitment strategy

It’s easy to judge a recruitment campaign by whether you filled the vacancy. But it’s also worth asking how you reached that decision and what candidates experienced along the way.

Did everyone involved understand the role? Did your assessments give candidates a fair opportunity to demonstrate their capabilities? Were timelines realistic, updates reliable and decisions explained respectfully?

You can ask candidates for feedback, too – including those you didn’t hire. Their answers might just reveal problems your team couldn’t see, such as repeated questions across interviews or unclear instructions for an assessment.

For the person who joins, the process has already begun setting expectations about working with you. They’ve seen how you prepare, communicate and make decisions. Following through on that experience once they start helps turn early confidence into an ongoing working relationship.

And for those you turn down, a thoughtful process gives them a reason to consider you again… or recommend you to someone else.

Want more?

Catalina Consultants can review your recruitment approach, clarify what you need from a role, and then build a process that supports both sound hiring decisions and a positive candidate experience.