Unemployment is at a 50 year low and competition is sky-high for talent. An organized, efficient interview process says that the company takes hiring seriously and has its act together. A poor interview experience is a reflection on your company and makes candidates question your organizational effectiveness, how they may be valued, and whether your organization is a good place to work.
In a war for talent, you have to strike a balance between evaluating the fit of a candidate with selling the merits of your company.
Questions to ensure your team is prepared for the right interview process:
Is everyone clear on what role you are hiring for? Be clear on which role, who they will be reporting to, the key skills needed, the team environment that this person will be a part of, and what the optimal candidate looks like.
Are you prepared to expedite the process in a timely manner? There are some skill-sets with an average time on the market of fewer than two weeks. When the right candidate resume emerges are you prepared to schedule and conduct phone and in-person interviews in the right timeframe?
Are the interviewers confirmed for their interview time and location? Yes, you would be amazed how often “no shows” happen and are a poor reflection to the candidate on their priority to the company. It is just unprofessional and word will spread in the market.
Is everyone clear on what role they play in the interview process? What are their questions/discussions supposed to focus on? What are you hoping to learn about the candidate that you don’t already know? Be specific about who your interviewers are and ensure you have the right attitudes in the room. Someone who complains a great deal or has an axe to grind may not be the right person to project a positive, energized potential colleague.
Does the company have a clearly articulated position on remote work/work from home? Second, only to compensation, remote work/work from home has become the most important job benefit that top technical resources are looking for. Make sure everyone knows this answer (and if the answer isn’t a good one, think about how prepared you are to compete for talent).
How do you plan to assess culture fit? This can often be the most difficult aspect of an interview process and often, reference checks can be the best way to get feedback on someone’s working style, teaming and collaboration abilities, attitude, selflessness, and other qualities that tie heavily into culture fit.
Ensure that your company puts, time, energy and thought into the end-to-end candidate interview experience. Details matter and the organizations that compete in every facet of the hiring process will be best positioned to hire the best and brightest talent on the market. The best talent isn’t actively looking but has to be found. This requires strategy, strong messaging, and precise execution.