Recruiters and hiring managers looking to attract and retain the best candidates do their best to optimize every phase in the applicant journey: from application, through to the interview, offer, pre-boarding and onboarding. 

But this typical view of the applicant journey overlooks a phase that, while short in duration, represents a powerful opportunity to both increase your close rate on new hires and demonstrate your team’s culture. This is the Post-Offer, Pre-Acceptance (“POPA”) period, or the period that falls after an organization makes an offer to a candidate, but before the candidate accepts it. 

Fortunately, there is a simple but highly effective social onboarding activity that any team can do to capitalize on the POPA period and ensure you best foot forward to new candidates: the Group Hug. 

What is a Group Hug?

The Group Hug is an activity whereby all of the team members involved in interviewing a candidate email the candidate shortly after the recruiter formally makes the offer. These emails are short, informal and enthusiastic emails, which convey the following points:

1. Congratulations on securing the offer
2. Enthusiasm on the prospect of working together - ideally referencing something specific from the interview 
3. Offer to chat to answer any questions 

The experience of receiving a coveted job offer, followed shortly afterwards by a burst of welcoming emails from everyone on the interview circuit, generates a positive rush of emotions for the candidate: excitement around clinching the offer, surprise at the outpouring of excitement from the interviewers, and comfort from the immediate sense of belonging on the team. It also sends a strong message out of the gate about the social support structure of your organization, as it is clear to the candidate that this is a team that values and supports each other, recognizes a new recruit’s unique skills and abilities, and is excited to welcome new joiners to the organization. For a candidate who cares about culture and connectedness, and is debating between multiple offers or opportunities, this strong social impression can often tip the scales in your team’s favour. 

Even for a recruit who decides not to join, this simple exercise is one that gets them referring friends and colleagues to your organization, because “the people were so awesome.”

How to Implement a Group Hug

One of the best parts about the Group Hug exercise is that it requires no special tools and entails no additional costs - just a commitment from the interview team to reach out in a timely manner and engage thoughtfully with the new recruit. Here is a quick breakdown of how to implement the exercise into your recruiting process:

Step 1: Interview lead messages the group

After formally making an offer to a candidate, the interview lead - usually the hiring manager or recruiter - contacts everyone on the interview circuit via a group message on Slack, Teams or email.

In this message, the interview lead confirms the offer has been made, shares the candidate’s personal email address, and asks the group to reach out individually with a “group hug” email. 

The interview lead’s message to the team should contain:

1. A reminder of what to include in the Group Hug message (see above)
2. Deadline of when to send the message. 2 to 3 hours maximum from the time the offer was initially made is ideal. This limited time window ensures the group hug messages come in a burst (vs. dripping out over time), maximizing the positive emotional impact of the exercise. 

‍Pro-tip: make the Group Hug an all-team activity. The Group Hug should ideally be an activity completed by the entire interview team. If it isn’t, and a candidate receives emails from, say, only 3 of the 4 interviewers, the activity can have the opposite of its desired effect, signaling to candidates that some of the interviewers are not excited about their joining the company. Ensuring everyone on the circuit completes the exercise is important to make sure it doesn’t backfire. 

Step 2: Interviewers individually message the new recruit

Once the interview circuit receives this notice, each member must send an email by the deadline shared by the interview lead. 

Here’s a sample email to illustrate what a Group Hug message could look like:

‍Subject: Congrats on the offer! 

‍Hey Rachel,

‍Just wanted to say congrats on securing the job offer! It was awesome to meet you yesterday -  I was super impressed by your marketing skills, and frankly am excited to have another “dog mom” on the team.

‍I know this is a big decision, so if you have any questions or want to chat about anything, feel free to reach out. Really hope you’ll join us!

‍Cheers,

‍Rebecca

Step 3: Team is available for follow ups

If a new recruit is still considering whether or not to accept the job, expect that they will likely take the interviewers up on their offers to chat and answer questions. If this is the case, interviewers should aim to be highly responsive to these requests. Being there to support the new recruit during their evaluation will show that the Group Hug wasn’t just window dressing, and that they are joining a team that actually cares about its people.

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