Candidates and clients leave if a response takes too long. Especially in the rejection journey it's observed that this happens. For one in five Dutch applicants silence is longer than 2 weeks before an answer arrives. Do you want to know how to solve this?
How to follow up every lead within 24h?
The problem is speed, not the silence itself
Dutch employers react more often than ever: at big organisations 15,5% of leads remain unanswered, the lowest percentage in 20 years. For 20% of the responses this takes longer than 2 weeks. And that's where you lose people, most often the best ones.
Although the market is less stressful than a few years ago, recruiters are still swamped in work. In the third quarter of 2026 there were 92 vacancies per 100 job searchers. Coming from 95 the quarter before. That means that more people will apply per vacancy, creating more work, not less.
40% of the Dutch recruitment teams didn't meet their own reaction time, mystery visits of Digitaal Werven concluded. A year before that was 25%.
How fast does your team respond?
Why you want to fix this
Candidates expect the same treatment during job search as with online shopping. Continuous communication and instant updates when relevant.
When an applicant applies, their enthusiasm for your organisation is at its peak. Keeping that up will boost your employer brand and maintain the best candidates.
60% of people doesn't like to be in an AI only flow, so it's important to design a flow with a human visibly in the loop.
40% of Dutch organisations doesn't meet its own reaction time, that was 25% the year before.
What to do
01Direct: send a confirmation within 5 minutes after the application and explain next steps in the process.
02Within a few hours: follow up with a chat outreach for additional profile enrichment. Especially to your best candidates.
03Within a day: plan an appointment, preferably one that the candidate can plan itself in the recruiters agenda.
04Continuous: send updates for every crucial step in the process in the ATS.
Ready to take your follow-up more serious?
Ready when you are.
