Using interviews to your advantage.
It continues to amaze me that so many companies and HR professionals miss the fact that interviewing candidates is a sales and PR opportunity for the organisation as well as part of the recruitment process. It is one of the best ways of promoting your organisation within the very heart of the industry in which you are involved, especially when recruiting for management or executive level staff.
The better and more efficient your recruiting process, the higher calibre of candidate you will attract and secure as a valued addition to your team. Human nature inevitably changes a candidate’s impression of you and your organisation directly in line with the efficiency and professionalism of your recruitment process, with the interview being the main contributor to their feelings. It is said that an interviewer will essentially make their mind up on a candidate within the first 7 to 8 minutes of meeting them, a similar correlation can be drawn on the candidate’s feelings surrounding an organisation and its representatives.
A candidate’s positive feelings for a role will peak within a couple of days of the interview taking place. If the candidate receives no feedback for more than about 48 hours their interest will begin to wane, also, if the gap between interviews is too long they will start to believe that the opportunity may not be for them. We all understand that company’s have their own methods and requirements such as checking on a candidate’s past and testing their personality and/or cognitive abilities, these processes should be communicated early on in the process to avoid later disappointment.
All personnel involved in the recruitment process should present a consistent view of the organisation, the people within it and the targets and aims for the coming years. Interviews should be kept to a minimum (I would suggest 3 as ideal), if more people need to get involved then panel interviews are a viable option. Remember, an interview is a sales opportunity (even if the candidate is not for you, they can leave the interview with a positive impression) and therefore all personnel involved should be trained and regularly monitored.
Overall, it is important that a company’s recruiting process should be clearly communicated right from the start and should be adhered to as closely as possible especially when it comes to giving feedback. This way you will be able to attract the best talent in the market.
Matthew Winfield, MJM Resourcing
in Recruitment
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Reader Comments (2)
It's vital as a recruiter that you remember that the interview process is a 2 way sale: selling the opportunity/company & buying the individual. Treat the interviewee as you would a corporate customer, and you won't go far wrong !
Too many corporate recruiters forget the former, and focus on the latter. A poor interview process will not only put the candidate off the company & opportunity, but could impact one's ability to hire after word get's round in the marketplace (especially in such a niche market as asset finance).