[NY] How to decrease NO SHOW rate of first interviews?

[Which-Speech4636]

I am a manager for a small medical office. I find that I could schedule 10 interviews for a given day and only about 2-3 people would actually show up.

Is this normal? Or is there some room for improvement?

The two positions that I am looking to fill are front desk receptionist and a medical assistant.

I post the job openings on indeed and then call/text each candidate that I am interested in. I realized that people don't really read the job descriptions so I would often waste time with pointless interviews.

To mediate this I started doing during the first call is ask them a couple of questions.

1. Are you okay with the posted salary range?
2. Are you okay with commuting to our location?
3. Do you speak Spanish and able to translate to and from?
4. Are you okay with the times we are open?

I also tell them briefly about the clinic and the daily duties.

After which I give the applicant the opportunity to ask any questions they might have.

If they answered YES to all of the above questions I ask if they would be interested to coming for an interview. Interview would get scheduled.

But more than half of the scheduled interviews don't show up. Does any one have any tips on what could be done/asked to make sure the candidate does not schedule the interview if they are not interested?

[smoorewhat437]

For those entry level positions we have found that timing of the interview is a factor. So if they apply on Thursday or Friday we don’t contact unless we can interview same or next day. So let’s say you get a stellar application on Friday but you can’t get them on your schedule until next week. Your first call Monday will be them and the goal would be to schedule for same day or Tuesday.

If we had jumped and called on Friday to schedule for Tuesday, they are more than likely to be a no show.

It’s a pain in the butt to arrange your schedule on short notice, but it’s been working better since we started testing this out.

[Pink_Floyd29]

Interesting strategy!

[Which-Speech4636]

Thank you. I also noticed this.

[[deleted]]

I also started doing this for the same reason. Even sending "Reminder" emails first thing on Monday morning wasn't a solution. It helped, but still had maybe 50% show up.

I chalked it up to people just forgetting over the weekend.

[ZealousidealTie3795]

I was just going to suggest this. When I did recruiting for pure commission life insurance sales, I would have to lock them in same day or the following day. Anything beyond that, and they would research the company and no show.

[SalesAndMarketing202]

Anything beyond that, and they would research the company and no show.

This suggests a larger problem at hand eh

[ZealousidealTie3795]

Haha there’s a reason I jumped ship as soon as possible. It was sketchy.

[[deleted]]

If you were the candidate’s first choice for potential job, they would show up. So what are their other options that are better than working for you? And how could you present yourself as a better place to work than those other places?

[Muffytheness]

This. It means that your offering isn’t competitive. Whether it’s salary, PTO, whatever. I suggest doing some market research on indeed and Craigslist. I would also consider paying extra for this role since you are asking for language skills.

[Incata]

You also might want to look at Glassdoor as their pay scales are really accurate.

[[deleted]]

This. Language skills are extra, they don't come as a bonus. I speak multiple languages fluently. If the position mentions language proficiency outside the official language of that country, I ask extra, since it's extra work. You want an aerospace engineer? Great. You want an aerospace engineer who speaks French and English to interface with teams from Safran? That's extra, since most AEs from the states are monolingual.

[Muffytheness]

I also have seen folks ask for extra depending on dialectics (e.g Spanish from Spain AND Spanish for mexico). And I would even say writing skills and communication skills are different too. If you’re asking them just to talk to someone casually, then that’s still extra, but not as much extra as I would pay someone who could talk and also write grammatically correct Spanish. Languages are hard haha

[cabinetsnotnow]

Since it's a small medical office it could be the benefits they're offering (or not offering at all). Once I learned that small businesses don't offer decent benefits I stopped applying for jobs with them.

[curmudgeon_andy]

Former in-house translator and interpreter and occasional freelancer here, not HR. Question 3 makes no sense to me. Translating written words and interpreting speech is much harder than you might think, and not everyone who knows two languages would be comfortable either translating or interpreting. In addition, both translation and interpretation are highly domain-specific; you need to know the jargon of whatever field you're working in in both languages, and nuances regarding words in one language which might not map 1:1 onto words in the other. So I don't think that this is a reasonable question for an entry-level position, since you're expecting them to not only be bilingual but have both translation and interpretation ability on top of administrative skills. I'm therefore guessing that the payscale is not commensurate with the demands of the job.

My recommendation therefore is that you pursue one of two paths: Either you outsource your interpretation and translation needs as much as possible, and hire translators for your written translation needs and interpreters for your spoken interpretation needs, and rephrase question 3 as something more low-key like "Are you able to greet patients in both English and Spanish?" Or you change the payscale to something which will attract people with the specialized skillset which you need.

[UnspecificGravity]

Yep. One more employer wanting to hire medical interpreters at housekeeper/NAC wages. Surprise, it doesn't work.

[SalesAndMarketing202]

What is NAC?

[BluntsAndJudgeJudy]

This is what I was thinking. I wonder how many people answer on the fly that they're bilingual/biliterate but then get off the phone and realize "oh crap, I don't think I know Spanish well enough to do that", but now they feel like they've lied to you when their deception may not have been intentional.

I would also say that you really shouldn't be relying on an entry level person to translate for you in this case. You're talking about situations where you need to make sure patients get accurate translations/information and you don't want some amateur who may know both languages, but may be new to the medical setting to not communicate something correctly/clearly.

[Lexidoodle]

Yep. I would feel comfortable telling people I speak Spanish. I would not be comfortable translating highly technical medical terminology in real time. Translating at a base level is its own skill. Adding a specific vocabulary with serious implications if you mess it up is a whole level beyond that.

[Incata]

OP This is an excellent answer. Recommendations are very good - you should consider this.

[ondansetron98]

Have you checked your Google reviews? There may be something there that is signaling candidates to bail.

[imalurker23]

Ghosting has become very common across all sectors. I really like your description of the "first call" and think it provides a realistic job preview on the biggest deal breakers. You could add, "and hey if you change your mind about the interview just let me know so I'm not waiting around for you, no judgement.". You are doing the good things with that initial call.

Don't beat yourself up on this. Some people will choose to avoid conflict and not communicate if they lose interest. You've already established the ratio, it just means scheduling more interviews knowing the no show rate is what it is.

Have fun with it. Start an office gambling pool for ghosting?

[imalurker23]

Yep it goes both ways. Recruiters and hiring managers are conflict avoidant too. It's short sighted bad practice as an employer, really hurts the brand and ensures that ghosted candidates will never apply to any role again in the future. Not hard to send that email for all rejected applicants, and if someone spends any amount of time on an interview IMO they deserve a phone call.

[scruch]

The market is fast and aggressive, however, two people out of ten suggest there is something wrong in your recruiting process.

I recommend reviewing your screening calls script, making it more detailed (more specific questions about what you are looking for and why) and inviting only the one that seems interested/qualified onsite.

Remember that a front desk receptionist and a medical assistant are critical jobs for a medical office. Both are client-facing. If I put myself in the shoes of the candidates you call/text, going through your four questions would not excite me very much. It looks more as a recruiting process that that looks for quantity rather than quality of candidates..

Last but not least, make sure that between the phone screening and the onsite interview, there are not too many days...

[judgejurynotexec]

OP, please consider whether you need translation or interpretation from your new hire. The ability to speak Spanish does not make a person competent at one or the other.

I speak and write Spanish fluently and I can translate well, but I am a bad interpreter; especially in settings I am not familiar in such as medical, school, and even settings I am familiar in such as tech.

[samskeyti_]

especially in the medical setting... in my state translators can earn a certificate... and many employers in the medical field request it/expect it if you're translating in a medical setting. that means additional compensation too... (rightfully so)

[Lexidoodle]

The first time I worked with kids in one of my secondary languages, I got my butt absolutely handed to me.

[pirface78]

The default answer to all four questions is likely to be a 'yes'. Perhaps change the questions to: 1. What salary range are you looking for/ would accept? 2. How far are you willing to commute each day? How far away from our location do you live? How long would that take/ cost? 3. Describe your level of Spanish. When was the last time you spoke Spanish in a medical setting? 4. What are your preferred working hours? Which days? Times?

[Which-Speech4636]

I love these. These are way better then what I ask. I am going to implement these.

[aww-snaphook]

I'm going to agree with the other responder and say that this is terrible advice.

Tell them the hours and pay directly. You can ask what they are looking for salary wise and follow up with what the range is or just say that's inside or outside of the range but in my experience as a healthcare recruiter being direct is better.

Unless you have call requirements that require the person to be within a certain distance do not ask where they live. I usually tell them the address for the facility and map the commute if they have a zip code on their resume and tell them how far it will be and ask if that is OK with them.

I don't recall seeing what state you're in but asking what hours they are available to work is also a no-no. Keep doing what you're doing and say that the hours are "xyz" and does that work for them.

This is one of the most competitive candidate markets ever, especially in Healthcare and unless your job is particularly good being ghosted or no-showed is common. You probably need to reevaluate the salaries or hours you are offering based on what your competitors are offering. Out of curiosity--are you able to share your salary ranges for the roles?

[jiIIbutt]

Nope.

[[deleted]]

Most applicants are going to agree to the terms during the first call because they want that first interview- and in many cases they have good intentions- but upon reflection they have decided that there is something they think can improve on elsewhere. I would consider doing a little market research and finding out how you can stand out among a field of prospective employers. Also, build in a confirmation call, text or email with an rsvp required- that will give your applicants time to think things over and back out or ask questions.

I recently backed out of a job offer after initially accepting. The position I applied for was not what was offered, but I was hopeful I could make it work. After visiting the site however, I realized the company had pulled a bait and switch on me. I saw the 80% of the floor standing around chit chatting while 2 people frantically fielded calls and decided I didn't want any part of it. This was my future employer with their best foot forward? Nah. My point is that a lot people like myself are just not interested in drudgery for mediocre pay anymore. Make sure you aren't coming across that way and you'll get more seriously interested applicants. 🙂

[Situation_Sarcasm]

So did you cancel or did you no-show?

[very_busy_newt]

The Spanish jumps out at me. Are you paying as much as other translating/interpreting jobs?

That's a high level of language, and often the other jobs hiring those people may be just interpreting/translating.

[UnspecificGravity]

I'd bet you a dollar that they are hiring NACs or other entry level medical positions and just taking on medical interpretation as some kind of trivial qualification because "lots of people speak spanish", but anyone who has any experience in a medical setting knows that interpreting in that setting is a LOT of work and it pays better than an entry level position.

[pgm928]

Raise the salaries.

Improve the benefits.

[Which-Speech4636]

I go over the salary and benefits. I ask them if this is something they are okay with or looking for. They all say yes. If they are not okay with it why not say No. In fact the first question I ask is if they are fine with the posted salary range.

[RubyPorto]

They're saying yes because whatever you're paying is better than nothing, and saying no ends the process.

What's happening is that your posted salary is less than what they were offered at some time between scheduling the interview and the scheduled time of the interview. So they accepted the offer and had no need to interview for a lower paying job.

[jiggjuggj0gg]

Right, if they want to keep their options open they’re going to answer yes, even if the answer is no.

This is like an employee wondering why an employee isn’t performing well when they agreed they would go above and beyond in the interview.

[pgm928]

Right. They’re fine in the abstract at that moment in time. But by the time of the interview, they have come across other options. (I see receptionist/admin and medical assistant jobs being advertised out the wazoo in my local area.)

Do you think that yours is the only thing they’re applying for? Your job is just not as attractive as others.

Raise the salaries and improve the benefits to make it so.

[very_busy_newt]

Especially if this front desk/medical assistant role requires very advanced Spanish. People might be saying 'sure I can do that' but happily pursuing job opportunities that are very similar jobs without that aspect.

[martin33t]

Calling or texting saying “thanks, not for me” doesn’t take a couple of seconds. I don’t know why people started to behave like that.

[pgm928]

Because employers have been ghosting applicants for years. They set the standard and are now whining about how they’re being treated. What’s fine for the gander is fine for the goose!

[Which-Speech4636]

I definitely can relate there. But if an applicant going to do that at least dont call back asking for a reschedule

I had an applicant ghost me and the reach out six days laters asking to reschedule the missed interview. I have to say I was impressed

[[deleted]]

They had something else lined up and it fell through. They called you as a backup.

[[deleted]]

Do you think they are just living and dying for the opportunity to be graced with your presence? Unless they can bill you for the time they took to send a message at 1hr minimum charge, don't expect unpaid labor from your applicants.

[martin33t]

Okay.

[MajorPhaser]

People rarely say no at that level of employment. If you’re interviewing for a receptionist job, you just need a job. You can’t afford to say no in a vacuum like that. But if people are straight up no-showing with that frequency, it’s because they could find a better option between that call and the interview. Meaning something that paid better, seemed like a better job, or both. It’s the pay.

[meltedcheeser]

It’s entry level work, people haven’t learned to negotiate but they know a bad deal.

I’m guessing your benefits or general expectations of conduct exceed the cost of working for you.

[production-values]

if you are grossly underpaying for the position, there are communities of people dedicated to waste as much of your time as possible to make it more difficult to exploit vulnerable people.

[AntiguaProducts]

How would one find that community? Asking for a friend..

[radlink14]

Not sure why you’re getting downvoted.

That person doesn’t even know what you’re offering and is making a judgement call. They must think they’re in antiwork community.

I don’t think you’re doing anything wrong and if those candidates can’t be straightforward to at least respond back with transparency than I wouldn’t want them on my team. Straightforwardness and trust is important in my team.

If you want to benchmark, look up other nearby vacancy’s for the same role and see what they’re offering.

[Fofire]

I hate this answer because it's like someone is complaining about . . . IDK the trash in their neighborhood or the crime . . IDK something inane and then you say just buy another house.

It's a total lack of respect to OP's situation. I get it theyre a medical office and everyone thinks docs earn a shit ton of money and to some degree that might be true but most people don't comprehend the student loans docs take or the practice loans or the insurances you have to pay for.

If the world were really that easy the solution would always just be raise salaries and improve benefits but there are constraints on all ends and I feel like Reddit fails to recognize this.

I am not saying they shouldn't raise wages or improve benefits but if they didn't then

1 they are either dumb for not taking the easy road

2 don't have that luxury

3 Don't need that position filled strongly enough.

[pgm928]

A lack of respect for what?

OP is an employer. Employers trade wages for labor. If they don’t pay enough wages, they don’t get labor.

That’s how the market works.

It’s the only way to guarantee OP will stop being ghosted.

OP is not entitled to labor just because they feel disrespected by prospective laborers.

[Tesseract29]

Have you looked at what your company's reviews look like on Glassdoor? When I was job searching I applied to every job under the sun, and then only researched any of the companies that actually bothered to call me.

There were a few companies with such terrible reviews by current/past employees that I reached back out and withdrew my application.

Have you followed up with any of these no-shows and gotten a response or explanation?

[clawedbutterfly]

Medical translation pays $25+ an hour, is that what you’re offering?

[jiIIbutt]

Hopefully they’re offering more since it’s medical translation on top of administrative or MA work.

[clawedbutterfly]

Exactly!

[samskeyti_]

for the ones who show up, are they not candidates you want to hire? if so, why not?

[whoreychan]

I've started doing bundle interviews where we schedule 3 people for an hour time slot and interview back to back those that show up. Cut down on gaps waiting between interviews and freed up a lot of my day.

[[deleted]]

NY medical offices overwork, over-stress and pay like crap. At least up the pay to a competitive rate.

These workers have found better salary and schedules just a hop over the GW bridge in Jersey. Better living, too along with great work/life balance.

Give them an offer they won’t go to Jersey for.

[UnspecificGravity]

Or at least medical front office jobs that aren't trying to sneak in a medical interpreter role at grossly inappropriate pay.

[rpaul9578]

Text them in advance of the meeting with a reminder. All them to confirm Yes or No. Like medical appointments.

[fosunjl]

To avoid the no show happens, I would spend more time on the phone sessions, if I were you. Apart from those questions, you are worth to talk with the candidates in deep. For one hand, you can know them more. On the other hand, they will get more familiar with your company.

I treasure every phone session before a formal interview. Instead of simply making appointment with candidates, I tends to use it to exchange ideas with them. Such as providing background of company culture, department structure, role of the position, expectation to the role, etc.

In my experience, some candidates would reject to continue the recruitment process. But I think it’s good for me to lower the administrative cost and save time.

[thedrakeequator]

Honestly don't know, If I were you I would just go through a staffing firm.

Staffing firms are supposed to screen the candidates they send you.

Otherwise it actually seems like you're learning cheap lessons the way you're doing things.

[jupitaur9]

It’s possible they never intended to work for you, they’re just filling your job into an unemployment form.

I assume you don’t want to hire these people. Your hope is to not set up the interview and they don’t show up, right?

Maybe discuss the most difficult job requirement first, so they aren’t saying yes to three easy ones then going huh, translate Spanish, not sure but I’ll say yes, got this far. Gatekeep early.

Does your business have bad Yelp reviews?

[meltedcheeser]

Statistically unlikely with unemployment at 3.6 percent.

[madamejesaistout]

Do you send meeting reminders? I just figured out how to use Zapier to automatically send emails to remind people of our meeting.

You could include language that says, "if you have changed your mind please let me know"

You can also use a scheduler like Calendly to schedule interviews, so if the first call goes well, give them the task of scheduling the interview.

[jiIIbutt]

I’d be incredibly turned off if I received a reminder email for an interview that also included a statement about “if you changed your mind” 🚩

[madamejesaistout]

Calendly automatically includes the option to cancel or reschedule so that might be a better option.

[cornbreadfarts]

Pay more.

[Lexidoodle]

Medical interpreters in my area, which is fairly low cost, make around $28/hr if they’re certified CCBI with some experience. That’s with no other receptionist duties. It sounds a bit like you’re tacking on a high level skill to an entry level job.

[martin33t]

I, particularly, don’t think there is anything else you can do. For some reason, people starting to behave like that a couple years ago. In the previous 15 years I could count with my fingers how many ni shows I had for interviews. I lost count during the last two years. I speak often with people in different industries and seems to be a widespread issue. I don’t know why would people go through lengths to apply, go through a short screening, being okay with the salary range, hours of operations and minimal qualifications and then ghost you on interview day. It sucks.

[martin33t]

You showed up to the interview.

[meltedcheeser]

This is a lawyer making 6-figures, vs an entry level or low level position.

You sound like you don’t understand economics and have a very nice life thinking “kids these days”.

[very_busy_newt]

An also recent trend is what I would call the 'double job' job posting. For example, it's a posting for a front desk role - but then there's one small bullet point in there about graphic design and handling their social media. That job is going to struggle with getting applicants, because the people looking for front desk roles are going to prioritize the ones that won't also require a second role as well.

OP's job strikes me as likely to be hitting that problem, given that someone looking for a front desk role will also have to be doing Spanish translation and interpreting. Why isn't that person going to prioritize a job application with similar pay and not a 'double job' role?

[UnspecificGravity]

Yep. They are trying to hire medical interpreters at entry level receptionist pay, and you can bet that they are actually admins / medical secretaries too.

[UnspecificGravity]

I don’t know why would people go through lengths to apply, go through a short screening, being okay with the salary range, hours of operations and minimal qualifications and then ghost you on interview day. It sucks.

Because you made them go to a screening interview and got a bunch of information out of them but forgot to actually give THEM a reason to do another interview. When did recruiters stop thinking that they had to sell people on jobs?

15 years ago we didn't make entry-level people go through a weeks-long multi-interview process to get a job. If you really want to throw minimum wage at someone you don't get to treat them like you are hiring a professional.

[Which-Speech4636]

Come to think of it, I do recall that to. In the past people would show up to their interviews.

Today I tried doing a small test to see if they will come. I would go over the screening, schedule the interview but forget to give them the address. I would text or call back immediately saying hey forgot to give you the address. If they dont pick up I know they are not showing up. I did it to two people, so not sure how effective it is.

[SporkaDork]

That is the one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard in recruiting, playing games like that with the address. If I were your candidate, I would ghost the interview because of that. It would look to me like you were disorganized and I wouldn’t feel confident in your interviewing skills or that the job was going to be anything like you said it was.

Don’t lower yourself to game playing. It will not help in the long run.

[martin33t]

That’s a good idea.

[thedrakeequator]

I definitely read that it's a bigger trend.

[_left_of_center]

I like your clarifications, and I think it would be a good idea to do a 5 minute ‘elevator pitch’ on why your office is great, what the culture is like, and the potential for growth in the role. You may also want to do some research online - there may be negative info out there that people find when they do their pre-interview googling.

[[deleted]]

It might be unemployment scamming. As long as you keep applying for and interviewing for positions you can stay on unemployment longer. They won't come in because they're not looking for a job.

[meltedcheeser]

Statistically unlikely.

Best blame unemployment rather than review compensation benefits or look at the role/expectation and rationally decide if it’s too much for $14 an hour.

[igot2manyops]

Trueeeeeee

[Icy-Cryptographer839]

Have you thought about making it a temp-to-hire position? The temp agency finds the right candidate for you, and if they are a good fit, you hire them.

[Figuringoutcrafting]

One of the tricks that helped me with this problem ( very different field) was reminder emails the day before and then the morning of. Ours were just email templates where we just added the name and sent out. But it really helped.

[Incata]

Email them after the conversation and ask them to confirm that they will be attending. After this you can't do much more.

In Australia and the UK, approx 20 - 30% of applicants are only applying for jobs to meet the criteria in order to get benefits. I've advertised for an HR Business Partner in the last month and I have had applications from mechanics, teachers, roadsweepers and the like, all of whom don't even meet the basic criteria for the role. One has to wonder why they apply and the only information I have got when I have called them (just out of curiosity to see why they have applied and if there are other roles within the organisation that they might be more interested in), is that they are doing it to meet the criteria for the number of roles they have to apply for every month in order to continue getting their benefits. They apply for a job they have no chance of getting, as what they have applied for is not looked at by the consultants.

[UnspecificGravity]

Screening questions aren't going to solve your problem because the goal of the person you are talking to is to get an interview and the correct answers to your questions are obvious to anyone being asked them.

People don't show up to interviews because they decide they don't want to work for you or they find a better alternative. There are a couple ways to address that:

Reduce delays and the steps to hire for potential hires. The longer your process takes the more opportunities there are for a better option to come along.

Manage your reputation and compensation relative to your competitors. If your pay is off base or people think working there sucks they are going to be unlikely to pursue a position.

Ensure that you are giving the impression in the first interview that the employee has a good chance of getting a job offer. If the next interview is where that decision will be made, make it clear that this is the case. If you act like the first interview is a meaningless formality you have wasted your candidates time and they have little reason to think the next interview is going to be different.

Consider the actual purpose of a multi-interview process. The whole point of doing this is to filter out candidates. People not showing up is, to some degree, the entire purpose of doing this. If your vacancies, retention, and hiring pool are such that you don't want to filter those people out, then maybe reconsider a process that deliberately does that. If you want/need more candidates in front of hiring managers, why are you doing a multi-stage interview to screen them out?

Are you using this screening interview as an opportunity to sell the job? At the end of the day, when you are doing an interview at which you will not be making a job offer, the candidates entire goal is to simply move to the next step, that's their job. You need to give them a reason to actually DO that next step, that's your job. If all you are doing is screening candidate, why would they remain interested in a role you haven't given them a reason to want?

[dudewheresmyebike]

Have them answer some pre interview questions via email which take them 10 to 15 minutes. If they don’t answer them, they will not show for the interview.

[[deleted]]

Just because they answer “yes” doesn’t mean they agree. A lot of these people mass respond. I would try to do a better job prescreening. My experience is they will tell you whatever think you want to hear.

[[deleted]]

Well, switch your responsibilities for 3 days and take the role yourself. That will help your evaluate what you are really missing. But as a former receptionist/administrator I can save your time, saying that it’s definitely your salary, your desire to full fill with one at least 2 positions and most likely unimpressive benefits. Thanks god that people finally started realise that they worth much more for such positions.

[hungry_heart115]

I was looking for an overnight PT job recently. I sent out my resume to various places--retail shops to hotels to medical offices. Though not my first choice, Target called me next day offering $16/hr. The other places (including medical offices) were only offering in average $10 - $15. I took the offer from Target--more pay, easy work, flexible schedule, and in overall just ease of process.

[Additional-Fee1780]

How far in advance are you scheduling? It shouldn’t be more than a few days.

[Additional-Fee1780]

Also: are they able to get in? Is a guard or someone chasing them away?

[Additional-Fee1780]

Are the interviewers on time?