Follow Up Without Frustration: How to Keep French Candidates Interested Without Being Pushy

Recruiting in France, especially in high-demand sectors such as engineering, IT, and healthcare, requires a delicate balance. Top candidates in these fields are often flooded with offers, making it essential to keep them engaged without overwhelming them. For American companies hiring in France, the challenge lies in being persistent enough to stay on their radar while respecting their personal boundaries. So, how can you find this balance and ensure that your follow-ups are effective without crossing the line into harassment? This article explores best practices for communicating with French candidates and how to manage follow-ups in a way that maximizes engagement and minimizes frustration.

In recruitment, follow-ups play a critical role in keeping top candidates engaged. In France, where work-life balance is highly valued, follow-ups are particularly important at two key stages:

Initial contact with passive candidates: If you're sourcing candidates in France, chances are you’re reaching out to passive candidates—professionals who aren’t actively seeking a job but may be open to the right opportunity.

" A single message rarely grabs their attention. However, a well-crafted follow-up shows that you're serious about the opportunity and interested in building a relationship."

Lea Orellana-Negrin
Recruiter
Eurojob-Consulting

During the selection process: Candidates may take longer to respond, and sometimes they go silent. In a competitive market like France’s, it’s vital to keep them engaged. Regular, well-timed follow-ups help ensure they stay involved in the process. With ghosting (when a candidate stops responding altogether) on the rise, timely follow-ups are more important than ever to maintain momentum.

A successful follow-up hinges on three essential factors:

The right communication channel

In France, the choice of communication channel can make or break your follow-up. Some candidates may prefer LinkedIn messages, while others may favor email as a more formal medium. Phone calls can be perceived as too personal or intrusive, especially early in the recruitment process, so it’s important to gauge the candidate's comfort level.

Timing

When you send follow-ups is just as important as how often. In France, where personal time is highly respected, it’s essential to avoid sending follow-ups during evenings, weekends, or national holidays. The ideal times for follow-ups are during lunch hours or early afternoon, when candidates are more likely to check their messages. Spacing out your follow-ups with a few days in between shows persistence without becoming overbearing.

The message content

French candidates appreciate direct and concise communication. Your follow-up should be clear, concise, and to the point. Avoid long-winded messages, and instead focus on the essentials: Why are you contacting them again, and what’s the next step? Personalizing the message to reflect the candidate’s profile or previous interactions adds a human touch and increases the likelihood of a response.

Striking the right balance between being persistent and annoying can be tricky, but it’s crucial for building a positive candidate experience in France. Here’s how to manage it effectively:

1. Ask for preferences early on: When you first make contact with a candidate, ask how they prefer to be reached and how often they’re comfortable receiving updates. This shows respect for their time and allows you to follow up appropriately.

2. Be transparent: Provide candidates with a clear understanding of the recruitment process from the start. If they know the timeline and what’s expected, they’re less likely to feel anxious or overwhelmed by follow-up messages.

3. Know when to let go: If a candidate has gone silent after several follow-ups, it’s probably time to move on. In France, where professionalism is highly valued, chasing after an unresponsive candidate for too long can damage your company’s reputation. Recognize the signs that a candidate is no longer interested, and respectfully close the conversation.

Always consider the candidate experience. The goal is to keep candidates engaged, not to pressure them. A respectful and balanced follow-up approach is key to ensuring that candidates remain interested in your opportunities without feeling overwhelmed.

To ensure your follow-ups are effective and don’t slip through the cracks, you need the right tools. Especially when managing multiple candidates for different positions, having a streamlined process is essential. Here are a few tools that can help:

• Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS): An ATS allows you to track all interactions with candidates, so you know exactly when you last reached out and when to follow up next.
• Automated reminders: These reminders can help you stay on top of your follow-ups, ensuring that no candidate gets left behind.
• Message templates: Having customizable templates for follow-up messages saves time while still allowing you to personalize the communication to each candidate.

These tools help you stay organized, ensure timely communication, and keep your follow-ups professional and respectful—critical factors for succeeding in the French job market.

Mastering the art of follow-ups is crucial for any American company recruiting in France. By choosing the right communication channels, timing your follow-ups strategically, and crafting clear, personalized messages, you can engage French candidates effectively. The key is to strike a balance between persistence and respect, ensuring that your follow-ups are seen as professional and thoughtful, not intrusive. With the right approach, you’ll not only keep top talent engaged, but also build a strong reputation as an employer in the competitive French job market.

For more great tips :

• The importance of a talent pool for recruiting in France and Germany
• Engage French professionals: Best practices for increasing response rates in recruitment
• Boost your hiring success: How leadership culture can enhance recruitment in France

Jérôme Lecot