9 in 10 jobseekers to reject stale offers

They believe recruitment processes should only last at most four weeks.

Nine in ten, or 91%, of Singaporean applicants will reject a job offer if the recruitment process took longer than four weeks, Randstad Singapore revealed.

According to a survey, job seekers in Singapore were the least willing to wait out the recruitment process, compared to their peers in Hong Kong and Malaysia.

About 9% of respondents will reject a job offer if the recruitment takes longer than two to four weeks, whilst 19% said four to six weeks.

About 25% said they will reject the offer if recruitment is longer than six to eight weeks. Meanwhile, the largest percentage of 47% said they will reject the offer if the process takes longer than eight weeks.

As a result, 72% said the ideal recruitment process should only take two to four weeks, whilst 22% said four to six weeks.

Only 5% said the process should take six to eight weeks, whilst 1% said the process should last over eight weeks.

Randstad Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia managing director Michael Smith said, "Automation helps improve efficiency in many ways along the recruitment process for a value-added experience. However, we need to be both flexible and balanced in the way we engage with the candidates to meet their expectations for a more personal experience. When it comes to human resources, personalisation is the key to success."