By Adam Bevan, Delivery Optimisation Specialist, Globe 24-7
As a job candidate, the silence after an interview can be excruciating. For job hunters, especially those between jobs or keen on a particular role, this lack of communication creates doubt. Each slow reply, unclear email, or forgotten follow-up makes them question the company they’re dealing with.
When recruiting, most businesses underestimate how important this is. Everyone who applies for your jobs should leave with a good impression of your company, whether you hire them or not.
But the reality is that most hiring teams aren’t trained recruiters—they’re busy workers who handle recruitment on top of their normal jobs. When hiring becomes just another task, the process becomes patchy and rushed, leaving candidates in the dark.
Recently, I’ve looked at where hiring processes typically fall apart for mining companies and shared practical fixes that don’t eat up too much time. The solution boils down to better planning.
Here’s 11 things you should consider as an internal HR team and a short video to go with each:
1. The candidate journey needs to be planned
Like a holiday, if the taxi’s late or the transfer doesn’t turn up, the whole trip feels off. Recruitment is the same. Plan the full journey from day one — how many stages, who’s involved, how long each step takes — and build that into your diary before the role is even live.
Most companies think the hiring journey starts with them. It doesn’t. It starts with the candidate. From the moment they apply, they’re evaluating you just as much as you’re evaluating them. And in industries like mining — where skilled candidates are scarce — that’s a risk you can’t afford.
Recruitment needs a plan. Every stage should be mapped out, clear, and timely.
2. The journey starts before we think it does
The candidate’s journey starts at the application, not the first interview. That means every stage after that: emails, calls and delays, shapes how candidates see your business.
It’s the one thing that is massively undervalued in the hiring process. A great candidate experience doesn’t happen by accident. It’s planned.
If the process is clunky (delays, unclear next steps, or last-minute changes) candidates notice. And just like a bad travel experience, it sticks with them. That’s why mapping out the journey before sign-off is crucial. How many stages? Who’s involved? What’s the timeline?
A structured, predictable process leads to better hires… and a stronger employer brand.
3. Expectation setting isn’t optional anymore
Candidates want to know what’s next. When will they hear back? What are the stages? It’s not hard to provide, and it builds trust and credibility immediately.
Expectation setting is key for getting good candidates. The best hiring processes are transparent from the start. Most tech companies do this well. They list their full interview process in job ads, giving candidates clear timelines.
Mining companies should do this. But most of them don’t.
In mining, skilled candidates are hard to find. A structured process isn’t just efficient—it’s a competitive advantage. It signals that your business is organised, reliable, and worth working for. In this video, I explore why clear communication and follow-through can be the reason a great candidate chooses you over someone else.
4. Your screening call says everything
This is the first real human touchpoint. It sets the tone. If it’s one-sided, unprepared, or rushed – that’s what your business now feels like to the candidate.
Candidate experience can be your key competitive advantage to get the mining candidates that you want. Why? Because changing jobs is a big life decision and it’s not just about money. It’s about better opportunities, security, and stability.
Here I discuss how a candidate’s experience in your hiring process can be the deciding factor between choosing you or your competitor.
5. Culture isn’t a buzzword anymore.
People want to feel like they’re joining something real – not just collecting a wage. If your team can’t talk honestly about what it’s like to work there, people pick up on that.
That’s why it’s important to recognise that your screening call isn’t just an interview, it’s a first impression. Candidates are assessing you just as much as you’re assessing them.
Is there a clunky process? Radio silence? A surprise phone call? That’s a red flag. And in a skills-short market, that’s how you lose great talent. In this video, I break down how to make your screening calls a competitive advantage.
6. Overselling is the fastest way to lose people
Overselling a role is a recipe for disaster. When reality doesn’t match expectations, disappointment sets in — sometimes in week 1, sometimes in week 52. Either way, the damage is done. So how do you strike the balance between selling the opportunity and being honest about the challenges?
If the role is painted as perfect and it’s not, people will leave. That’s day-one disappointment. Honesty, with a bit of tact, is better than short-term ‘sell’.
In this video, I break down the right way to set expectations without scaring candidates away.
7. Speed wins (if it’s structured)
Dragging out a process loses good people. You don’t need six stages across two months. If the process is clear, efficient, and consistent, you’ll have committed candidates.
We all know that slow hiring loses great candidates. But how can you do that in practice? A well-structured process means candidates always know what’s next – and you can move fast.
It comes down to three interview stages. No duplication. The right people making decisions.
If your competitors take months and you take weeks, who do you think wins?
8. The best interviews feel like conversations
Mining companies… your interview process scaring away top talent. Interview style matters more than you think. Rigid question-answer formats create uncomfortable candidate experiences.
This isn’t 1980. Closed, robotic questions don’t show you who someone is. Let them talk, ask smart follow-ups, and actually engage – you’re going to be working with the person you hire!
The best interviewers transform interrogations into natural conversations, uncover deeper insights about the candidate while presenting your company culture in the best light. In this video, I talk about why traditional competency questions fail and how to weave assessment seamlessly into genuine dialogue.
9. Don’t forget post-interview clarity
The post-interview phase is where great candidates are won or lost. You need a measurement system. It doesn’t need to be rigid, but it should help you benchmark and evaluate fairly, this also helps decide your next steps.
Without structured scoring systems tied to your business values, selection becomes subjective and inconsistent. But even more damaging? The limbo between final interview and formal offer.
In this video, I explain why candidate engagement doesn’t end at offer acceptance and why those important weeks during notice periods determine whether your new hire arrives confident or full of doubt.
10. Post-offer is when things get shaky
Once the offer’s made, people are resigning, negotiating, and often doubting. This is when you stay close — check in regularly, answer questions, and make them feel wanted.
When candidates feel ambushed or left hanging without clear next steps, they form lasting negative impressions of your company. Ending calls without clear next steps damages your employer brand, even when you reject candidates.
I discuss a practical framework for scheduling and conducting screening calls that leaves every candidate wanting to work for your company… whether you hire them or not.
11. Onboarding isn’t the end – you’re still at the beginning
Once they start, keep talking. The first few months shape how people feel about the job and the business. If we want people to stick, we can’t just disappear after day one.
That is recruitment’s job to take candidates all the way through to get them started. After the start, any good recruitment team will also keep in touch with the candidates. There can be post-hire nerves. It cannot be quite what people said. That’s where there’s a real benefit of using an RPO supplier or a mining recruitment agency. It means that the team can handle all of it for you and be the go-between.
At Globe 24-7, we’re focused on following best practices for mining recruitment across the world. We’ve built structure around every part of this and we help businesses implement these processes within their own internal HR teams.
The goal is simple: make sure every candidate finishes the process thinking that’s a business I’d want to work for. Whether they are successful or not.
Need some advice for your business? Get in touch and one of our Delivery Specialists would be happy to discuss your unique recruitment challenges and provide some advice.
About Adam Bevan
Adam is an experienced recruitment professional with a background in internal agency and RPO practices across the UK and internationally. He has extensive experience in both volume and specialist recruitment, with hands-on leadership and management expertise. At Globe, he implements recruitment strategies that focus on candidate attraction, employer value proposition (EVP), and operational efficiency with the goal to make recruitment quicker, easier, and higher quality.
