The hiring manager stares across the table and hits the jobseeker with a barrage of questions we’ve all heard before: Why did you leave your last job? Your greatest weakness? Biggest success? Where do you want to be in five years?
The interviewer listens to the candidate’s answers, jots down some notes, shakes hands and walks out. The candidate sits in the conference room for 20 minutes before another interviewer comes in and goes through much the same dance.
As the candidate walks to his car he’s naturally curious how he did, but he’s underwhelmed by the company: nothing about the interview got him excited.
Sound familiar? Unfortunately, for too many jobseekers the answer is “yes.”
I’m in the recruiting business, and it amazes me that there are still companies that see hiring as a one-way street. They adopt the attitude of a customer at Best Buy choosing a new TV: it’s their choice to pick whatever they want, they just need to take some time to look through the options.
But in the hiring process both sides have a choice, and candidates – particularly strong candidates – have other options. To get the best talent, you had better impress candidates every chance you get, and there is no better opportunity than that first interview.
So what can companies do? Part of the problem is that “hiring” sets the wrong tone – the word only describes the employer’s side of the equation. So, first and foremost, get away from thinking that interviews are solely about evaluating candidates.
The best employees don’t need to work at your company, they want to. Take steps to ensure you provide every candidate with a chance to see the company’s positives and to address any concerns they might have. Here are some tips:
• Invest in the process of hiring. You will readily spend on a vendor- selection consultant before purchasing a big-ticket software package, but won’t allocate similar resources for building a team. Stop thinking of each hire individually and consider your total investment in new employees over the course of a year.
• Why you? Just as the candidates have been working away on listing their selling points, you should be aware of yours. Every company has unique offerings beyond the compensation package: culture, location, quality of life, growth opportunity, interesting technology, a pool table in the kitchen – whatever they are, be sure you communicate them to candidates.
• Interview the interviewers. Members of the hiring team often see interviews as distractions pulling them from their daily deadlines. Sit down with them, face-to-face, and remind them how important interviews are to the organization, educate them that interviews are a two-way street and be sure they have the time they need to take the task seriously.
• Move quickly, good candidates do. I regularly receive calls from clients saying that they finally have read the resume and really want to interview our candidate, or that they are sorry it’s been a week since the first interview but they want the candidate back for a second interview. More often than not the candidate is already involved with another company. Time is of the essence.
• Have one person be responsible for each candidate. This “pilot” will guide the candidate through the interview. When there is a gap in the schedule, use the opportunity to have the pilot show the candidate around and talk informally about what they like about working there. At the end of the interview the pilot can get a sense of the candidate’s motivators and concerns.
• Treat them like an investor. If you had potential investors coming to your office, how would you treat them? You would want them to leave the office excited and wanting to take a stake. The right employee will likewise be making a substantial investment in your company – of time and experience – which will add value to your organization.
• There will always be instances when it’s clear that the candidate is not going to be a fit. You don’t want to waste your time or theirs. But you should still make sure they leave with a positive impression. This is Rhode Island, after all, where everyone “knows a guy,” and every person you meet has a cousin who might be the right candidate or could become a client. Common courtesy goes a long way.
When I worked in Silicon Valley during the dot.com boom companies learned the value of selling themselves, spending as much time talking about their own strong suits as asking a candidate about theirs. The job market has changed from those crazy days, but the value of getting prospective employees excited about your company remains. •
James Wright is a partner at the information technology recruiting firm Bridge Technical Solutions.
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