Overview

Recruitment teams spend significant effort getting candidates through screening, interviews, selection and offer acceptance.

But what happens after the offer is accepted?

For a leading NBFC, this was where a significant part of the problem was hiding.

Candidates could have anywhere from 7 to 90 days between accepting an offer and joining. During this period, engagement with the company was often limited and in many cases, there was no conversation at all between the candidate, recruiter and hiring manager.

Meanwhile, candidates continued exploring other opportunities.

They were comparing offers, interviewing elsewhere and reassessing their decision.

By the time the recruiter reached out close to the joining date, some candidates had already moved on.

The result?

Pre-joining attrition of 30–35%.

The obvious solution was to have recruiters personally stay in touch with every selected candidate.

But at this scale, that wasn’t operationally or economically viable.

The NBFC needed a way to keep every candidate engaged without asking recruiters to manually manage every conversation.

The challenge

The offer letter wasn’t the end of the hiring journey. The NBFC was facing four key gaps in the offer-to-joining window:

1. Long gaps between offer acceptance and joining

Candidates could take anywhere from 7 to 90 days to join, creating a long period where candidate intent could change.

2. Limited candidate engagement

There was no structured cadence to keep candidates connected with the organisation after selection.

3. Benefits beyond CTC weren’t being communicated

Candidates knew their salary, but often didn’t have visibility into benefits such as medical coverage, leave policies, maternity benefits and coverage for family members.

These benefits could materially influence a candidate’s decision, but weren’t reaching them consistently.

4. Recruiters couldn’t manually engage everyone

With hundreds or thousands of candidates moving through the funnel, personal follow-ups with every selected candidate weren’t a scalable solution.

The challenge was not simply to communicate more.

It was to identify who needed more attention, when they needed it, and why.

The solution

Turning the offer-to-joining gap into an engagement journey

Hunar built a conversational AI-powered pre-joining engagement journey on WhatsApp, beginning as soon as a candidate was selected.

Instead of treating every candidate the same, candidates were grouped into cohorts based on their joining timelines:

7 | 15 | 30 | 60 | 90 days

Each cohort received a different engagement cadence based on the time remaining before Day 1.

The objective was simple:

Don’t let the conversation stop after the offer letter.

1. Keep candidates connected to the organisation

Candidates received structured communication throughout the pre-joining period, including:

• Messages from the CEO and CHRO

• The organisation’s direction and vision

• What their role could grow into

• Information about their upcoming journey

The candidate wasn’t just waiting to join.

They were already beginning to feel connected to the organisation.

2. Make the practical information accessible

The journey also addressed the questions candidates typically have before joining.

For example:

• When will my laptop arrive?

• How do I open a salary account?

• What is the leave policy?

• What medical benefits do I get?

• Are my parents or spouse covered?

• What maternity benefits are available?

Instead of relying on recruiters to answer these questions individually, candidates could ask them directly through the conversational journey.

Relevant policy documents could also be shared automatically.

3. Communicate the value beyond the salary

One of the biggest gaps was communication around benefits outside the CTC.

For many candidates, benefits such as medical coverage, leave and family coverage have a direct impact on their everyday lives.

The conversational journey made these benefits visible during the period when candidates were actively deciding whether they wanted to stay committed to the offer.

4. From sending information to knowing it was understood

Simply sending a policy document doesn’t mean the candidate has read or understood it.

So Hunar introduced a short WhatsApp assessment before joining.

Candidates were asked simple questions around:

• Benefits

• Policies

• Compensation

• Other information shared during the pre-joining journey

The assessment was designed to be frictionless, using buttons, radio options and yes/no questions.

Candidates needed to score at least 70% to clear it.

If they didn’t, they received another attempt, with 2–3 attempts depending on the cohort.

This created an important shift:

The organisation could now verify that critical information had actually reached the candidate.

Humans stepped in only when they were needed

The system continuously monitored candidate engagement.

If a candidate:

• Stopped responding

• Didn’t attempt the assessment

• Became disengaged

• Had messages that weren’t being delivered

they were flagged to the relevant HR or hiring manager for personal follow-up.

Instead of recruiters calling everyone, they could focus on the candidates who actually needed human intervention.

The impact

The structured pre-joining journey delivered measurable improvement.

30–35% → 20–25%

Pre-joining attrition reduced by approximately 10–15%.

Full candidate coverage

The journey covered joinings across FLS, non-FLS and desk roles across the organisation.

Better information delivery

Candidates received their benefits and relevant information consistently throughout the pre-joining period.

Verified candidate understanding

The assessment ensured that information wasn’t just sent, it was understood and acknowledged.

More focused recruiter intervention

Recruiters could spend their time on flagged, at-risk candidates instead of manually following up with everyone.

What changed?

Before

Offer accepted → Silence → Candidate explores other opportunities → Recruiter follows up → Potential drop-off

With Hunar

Offer accepted → Cohort-based engagement → Conversational support → Benefits & policy education → Assessment → At-risk candidates flagged → Human intervention → Day 1

The difference wasn’t simply more communication. It was structured, continuous and measurable engagement.

The period between “Yes, I accept the offer” and “Yes, I’m joining” can stretch for weeks. 

Candidates need clarity on who they’re joining, visibility into the benefits beyond their CTC, and a channel where they can ask questions before Day 1.

For a leading NBFC, turning that silent period into a structured engagement journey helped bring pre-joining attrition down by 10-15%.