How to Learn from Negative Reviews Without Taking a PR Hit

Would you believe it if we told you that negative reviews could be an asset to your recruiting strategy? 

While they are often perceived as a disadvantage because they can be detrimental to your reputation, they also happen to be a great chance to showcase the human side of your brand. So even though it is true that negative reviews come with challenges, you still hold the power to turn a setback into a setup for success.  

It’s all about how you choose to respond. Ignorance and complacency will turn negative reviews into a liability, but demonstrating teachability and authenticity can turn them into leverage that can make you more attractive to candidates. 

At the end of the day, it’s how you handle negative reviews that will determine the impact on your brand reputation. 

WHY YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION TO NEGATIVE REVIEWS 

It’s no secret that candidates conduct their due diligence in getting to know staffing firms. So, when candidates want to understand your recruitment dynamics and candidate experience better, they turn to the source they trust the most: their fellow candidates.  

That’s why it comes as no surprise that a Glassdoor report indicated that over 86% of candidates would take the time to check out your ratings and reviews first before even applying to your job ads.¹ Considering this, you should seriously think of having a game plan for using negative reviews as a strategic tool rather than an inconvenience. 

Because, believe it or not, negative reviews are critical in helping boost your recruitment marketing strategies in more ways than one:  

• They add to your credibility. Interestingly, 95% of candidates will trust reviews more when they see a combination of negative and positive reviews.² This is because no business is perfect, and candidates know that. When you show negative reviews, it demonstrates transparency and authenticity. It shows that the reviews are real. More importantly, it communicates that you have nothing to hide — that’s a very powerful thing in boosting brand reputation. 
• They provide more ways to engage candidates. Most if not all candidates (like 96% of many consumers) will take the time to read your replies to negative feedback.³ This means that’s how much chance you have in letting your transparency and authenticity come through with every reader who sees your response. When they know that you can respectfully take a negative review with a grain of salt, it can communicate that you will listen when they have a terrible experience, too. 

• They offer opportunities to strengthen relationships. Not because they had a bad experience, the relationship has to be severed. When a candidate leaves a negative review, it gives you a chance to make amends and show them that you value them enough to do something about it. In fact, 62% of job seekers say that their perception of a staffing firm improves when they respond to a review.⁴ 

This goes to show that the candidate may have started the narrative, but you determine how it ends. All you need is a combination of effort and the proper disposition to have the winning formula for making the most out of the situation. 

HOW YOU CAN USE NEGATIVE REVIEWS TO IMPROVE YOUR RECRUITMENT STRATEGY 

The thing is, you can’t learn from your negative reviews unless you know where to find them in the first place. Online review platforms are good to have on your list, but it leaves room for potentially missed entries if you don’t have a proper notification system in place. So, to regain control over your reviews, you must get ahead of the game and proactively capture candidate reviews yourself. 

The best way to do this is through online reputation management tools like Great Recruiters, which are specifically made to help you use any type of review to your advantage. With Great Recruiters, you can effectively protect your recruitment brand reputation by: 

• Minimizing negative reviews 

Negative reviews are essentially the result of recruiter mistakes, inefficiencies in the hiring process, or miscommunication during the candidate journey. With over a dozen possible reasons for a bad experience, having your finger on the pulse of every candidate experience is a huge advantage. 

When your recruiters have access to reviews in real-time, they can immediately spot mistakes and recalibrate. Having the ability to course correct is invaluable in redeeming a tarnished impression or redeeming a relationship with a candidate. But, more importantly, this helps prevent the problem from escalating into something bigger and saves your recruitment agency the trouble of having to do significant damage control to salvage your reputation. 

Great Recruiters understand the difference that having the right information at the right time can make. That’s why it doesn’t just capture feedback at the end of the candidate journey but during the most important stages in the recruitment process.  

Even better, this software isn’t just designed to capture feedback at every touchpoint efficiently. It can also flag negative feedback and automatically forward it to customer support, allowing you to respond promptly and implement redemptive actions. This way, no stone is left unturned, no error escapes your attention, and no relationship is permanently severed. 

• Boosting your reputation 

Of course, reviews won’t always be about bad feedback. As negative reviews decrease, positive reviews naturally increase. This is equally as important in boosting your reputation. 

If negative reviews are great for highlighting authenticity and transparency, positive reviews are perfect for showcasing your strengths. Candidates want to know what you can do for them, too. In your pursuit of being a recruiter of choice, it’s essential that you also provide proof for the quality of service you advertise — positive testimonials are perfect for this. 

With Great Recruiters being an online reputation management platform that can integrate into your website and social media accounts, you can easily convert positive reviews into testimonials. When candidates see that you have testimonials to show how you fulfill your promises, they will most likely trust you. 

• Creating learning opportunities 

Perhaps one best thing about negative reviews is that they help foster a culture of accountability. When your attention is called for errors, you also have the chance to identify which aspects of your recruitment process need improvement. Guesswork becomes a thing of the past when you can determine what’s working or not, using data-driven strategies. 

Great Recruiters can help you with that. Its algorithm is smart enough to differentiate the positive reviews from the negative ones. And because it can flag bad feedback, recruiters will be instantly made aware of any opportunities to turn the tides. Thus, ineffective practices can be immediately stopped and best practices replicated. 

The software features a dashboard that lets you access insights with one click of a finger. All that is to know about every aspect of the candidate journey is consolidated in an easy-to-read format. Better still, negative reviews can glean insights into how well your recruiters are doing. Through our built-in leaderboard, you can identify who needs training and who’s up for promotion. 

This only shows that when negative reviews in staffing firms are used strategically, they can be instrumental in unlocking your team’s potential. 

TURN YOUR NEGATIVE REVIEWS INTO AN ADVANTAGE 

The growth opportunities are multiplied when you can easily access a goldmine of information straight from the candidates’ perspective. With Great Recruiters, you can equip your team with the tools they need to leverage negative reviews and ultimately protect your recruitment brand.  

Request a demo today.