To see how messages, notes and the interview can sit on one candidate record that the whole team sees, take a look at the Radius ATS.
On this page: What should you tell candidates between hiring steps? · What do candidate communication templates look like for each step? · How often should you update a candidate? · Does keeping candidates informed make a difference? · Which candidate communication mistakes should you avoid? · What do four quiet days look like to a candidate? · How Radius helps · FAQ
What should you tell candidates between hiring steps?
Three things, every time:
- What just happened. "Your interview went well." "We received your documents."
- Who has your file now. A name, not a department.
- When you will hear next. A day, not "soon".
Radius Hire's 2026 research paper on frontline hiring handoffs makes this one of its six rules for better handoffs: at every step, tell the candidate what happened, who has their file and when they will hear next.
What do candidate communication templates look like for each step?
Here is one message for each step of a frontline hire through a staffing agency, including the message for a candidate who was not selected. The names, days and times are examples; use your own.
| Step | Example message |
|---|---|
| After the screening call | "Thanks for your time today. I've passed your details to the site for an interview. I'll send you the time by Wednesday." |
| After the client interview | "The interview went well. Your file is now with Anna, our planner. She plans shifts on Mondays and will call you on Monday to agree your shifts and start date." |
| Something is missing | "We still need your bank details for your contract. Please send them by Friday. Tom checks documents every weekday morning." |
| Waiting for approval | "Your file is with the site manager for approval. We expect an answer by Thursday. I'll message you on Thursday either way." |
| Contract sent | "Your contract is ready to sign. It includes the site address and your first shift: Monday at 06:00. I'll send you the details for the first day on Friday." |
| The day before the first shift | "Tomorrow at 05:45, report to the security desk and ask for Sanne. Bring your original passport or ID card (not a driving licence) for the check at the gate, and your safety shoes. If anything changes, call me on this number." |
| Not selected | "I'm sorry: the site has decided not to go ahead with your application for this job. Thank you for your time and for coming to the interview." |
Illustration built for this post, not client data.
The contract and first-day messages matter more than they look. In the paper's example hire, the contract went out without a site address or start time, and the candidate had to call to ask where to go. On day one, the security desk had no list, and she waited at the gate. What the agency sends the client the day before is covered in the first day checklist for agency workers. Being open about the job itself counts too: tell candidates about the 05:30 start before they commit.
The ID line is there for a reason. Dutch government guidance (Rijksoverheid) says a company that hires an agency worker must check the worker's original identity document itself before work starts, and that a driving licence does not count for this check. Which checks can happen earlier is covered in Verifying Frontline Candidates: Which Identity, Right to Work and Certificate Checks Can Happen Before the Offer?
How often should you update a candidate?
At every handoff, and on any day you promised to be in touch. Whether it goes as a WhatsApp message or an application status update email, tie updates to events and promises, not to a fixed schedule. Two moments are easy to miss:
- Before a weekend. If a step ends on a Friday and nothing will happen until Monday, say so on Friday: who has the file, and which day they will call.
- When the file changes hands. The message that says who has the file now is the easiest to skip, because each person can assume the other one sent it.
Does keeping candidates informed make a difference?
To how candidates see you, the research suggests it can. Walker and colleagues (2013) found, across three studies, that when candidates saw the contacts after applying as fair, they found the organisation more attractive. Part of the reason was that they felt surer about how they would be treated once they joined. The studies measured attraction, not drop-out or staying in the job.
Candidates who apply through Radius can read the Radius candidate FAQ, which answers questions such as how they know where they stand.
Get one practical email a week. Radius Signal is a weekly email on frontline hiring in the Netherlands, sent every Thursday: sign up for Radius Signal.
Which candidate communication mistakes should you avoid?
"We'll be in touch soon." Fix: give a day. "I'll message you on Wednesday afternoon either way" is a complete update.
Naming a team instead of a person. Fix: name the person who has the file, and how they will contact the candidate.
Going quiet when there is no news. Fix: send the update anyway. "No decision yet. The site manager is back on Wednesday. I'll message you on Wednesday afternoon either way." If you promised a day and still have nothing, send the message on that day. A missed promise makes the next one harder to believe.
Promising what someone else decides. A recruiter who says "you'll start on Monday" before the site has approved has made a promise for someone else. Fix: say what you know, who decides the rest, and when.
Two senders, or none. At the move from agency to client, each side assumes the other sent the message. Fix: the person who owns the candidate at that moment sends it. The paper's first rule is one named owner at every moment (see why candidates drop off between hiring steps), someone who can answer: "Where is this candidate, and what happens next?" Agree with the client in advance who tells the candidate what.
What do four quiet days look like to a candidate?
On Thursday, Marta's interview at the distribution centre goes well. She is told the planner will be in touch about shifts.
On Friday, nothing. Over the weekend she checks her phone more often than she would like to admit. Did she say something wrong? On Sunday evening she starts looking at other vacancies.
On Monday morning the planner calls, ready to plan her shifts. Nothing had gone wrong. The planner works through her list on Mondays. Nobody had told Marta that.
This scene is a composite, not a documented case.
One message on Thursday would have done it: "Your file is now with Anna, our planner. She will call you on Monday."
How Radius helps
Radius Hire is an AI hiring platform for frontline roles, built in Amsterdam for staffing agencies and employers who hire for the work floor. The Radius ATS is built to keep WhatsApp and email threads, notes and the interview on one candidate record, so whoever owns the candidate can see what she was last told. With the AI Interviewer, every applicant gets a structured voice interview as soon as they apply, and is told they are talking to an AI interviewer; a person decides every hire.