The High-Risk Pre-Start Date Zone

What are you doing between your new hire’s offer acceptance and start date?

If you employ staff, engage contractors, or rely on people to help deliver your products or services, then you know that sometimes there’s a gap between the acceptance of an offer and your new hire’s start date.

This is what we in HR call the High-Risk Pre-Start Date Zone.

What exactly is the high-risk pre-start date zone?

It’s the period of time between when you extend an offer of employment and your applicant accepts, and their actual start date.

This period of time will vary from applicant to applicant, and a trend that is growing is applicants taking an extended period of leave, up to six weeks, added to their typical four weeks’ notice period at their current place of employment before they get started with you. While not every applicant will take almost three months to begin work, it does happen.

During this zone of time, typical behaviours can be an email the night before they’re due to start saying they’ve decided to take another job. Maybe they simply say they can’t be there on their start date. Worse yet, perhaps they’ve ghosted you completely.

Just when you thought you found the perfect candidate to add to your team and invested your time and energy into preparing paperwork and onboarding, negotiating salaries, and preparing your existing team, it feels like they pull the rug out from under you.

Whatever the reason for their pulling the plug, it leaves you in a hiring pickle. No matter the lead time between contracts being signed and official start dates, there are a few key things that you can do to ensure your preferred candidate does turn up on their start date – and spot early-warning signs before they waste your time.

Why is the time between the offer and start date a high-risk zone?

One of the reasons that this is a high-risk zone for employers is because you will be investing a lot of time, energy and resources to onboarding your new hire, despite how long this zone of time may be. You might be ordering computers, and desks, setting up logins and making sure that your business is ready to start your new hire on Day 1.

To go through that effort, only to find out at the eleventh hour that this candidate you’ve invested in isn’t going to follow through can be devastating, frustrating and downright annoying. A hard truth for employees is that the candidate may not know you’ve gone to all these lengths.

From the applicant's perspective, an email here or there during this zone of time might indicate a lack of interest in them, maybe they start second-guessing themselves and think you’re not actually as invested as you are. After all, they did go to the efforts of applying, interviewing, accepting the offer and signing on but large gaps in communication aren’t very reassuring even to the most robust of candidates.

Worst case scenario, they might still be interviewing because it’s highly likely that they applied for a few roles including yours or perhaps their existing place of work have counter offered. It’s not unusual for other employers and agencies to be talent scouting and stealing talent from right under your nose.

Knowing this, what are you doing to ensure that you are the best option for your candidate to keep them from straying before they’ve even started?

This is a gap in understanding the communication game during this high-risk pre-start zone. Businesses often have no or very little structure around how they engage their new hires during this period which decreases this risk significantly.

What can you do to ensure your new hire turns up on Day 1?

While we can’t control other people, we can lay frameworks that allow connection and communication to flow with ease during this time that can help influence their decision to stick with you after they’ve accepted your offer.

Understanding behavioural patterns can alert you to red flags early on in your hiring process and a great communication plan can help you keep them engaged during this high-risk pre-start zone. It’s also about building a relationship with your candidate so they feel connected to you and your business before they’ve even stepped foot through the door.

If you’re recruiting graduates in September who won’t start till February that’s a long runway, so you want to ensure that there are regular real-time touch points and even some pre-onboarding activities and material being shared with them. Don’t forget to ask questions and demonstrate that you are interested and value them in their role. Questions like “We’re getting your laptop ready – do you have a preference for Mac or PC?” or “We’re getting your desk ready, here are the options, do you have a preference?”

If your new hire is starting in a couple of weeks, that’s still a great opportunity to have a few touchpoints with them in the weeks leading up to their start date. Even something as simple as, “We’ll be doing a morning tea to welcome you on board, do you have dietary requirements? We usually do pastries or a cake of some kind.” demonstrates to your new hire that you care about them and their input, and that not just you but your team are ready to welcome them.

Key takeaways for what to do between the offer and start date for your new hire:

So, when it comes to the high-risk pre-start zone, remember that it’s a competitive market and you don’t have time to rest on your laurels. If you really want a candidate, make sure that it’s a no-brainer that they commit to you once they’ve accepted your offer.

Things to remember:

• Have a communication plan for your new hires. Create and maintain a connection with them – especially with the person they will report to.
• Have an engagement plan. Ask questions, have a reason to contact them, get input, keep informed, help them feel part of the team and culture, and invite them to social or team meetings as appropriate.
• Demonstrate that you are excited for them to join your team. Create excitement and anticipation that shows them they are valued. Little things like “We’re excited for your first day and are just checking what your coffee order is?” Think about the things that they told you were important to them during the interview and in subsequent conversations and bring them up at appropriate times.

An Invitation to join a thriving business community

If you have questions about strategies you can use during this high risk period of time, I’d love for you to join us inside our free Facebook Group where you can connect with other like-minded business owners, leaders and managers to discuss all things HR: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hrsupportaustralia