As a Hiring Manager, have you ever thought about your business’ candidate experience?
Now more than ever, it’s important for your hard-won brand to be maintained as a top employer. Candidates have so much choice these days as to which company they want to be interviewed by and, ultimately, where they work!
As someone who is used to conducting interviews, I thought it would be worth sharing a few of my personal top tips – to put your business in the best light, and keep even unsuccessful candidates happy in this competitive market;
1. First Impressions count
If you’ve ever been interviewed for a role, you’ll know just how important this is as a candidate. Well, the same is true for all you hiring managers! Be warm, friendly but more importantly, be yourself. You’ll be working with this person for (hopefully) some time and it’s important they see the real you and your real business, warts and all. Candidates really, really appreciate honesty.
2. Questions
Did you know around 89% of employees who leave their jobs do so because of a bad fit with their company culture? This suggests that personality is just as important as skills when it comes to employee retention. So, I would advise crafting some competency-based questions ALONGSIDE questions that dive into a candidate’s personality. You could also provide them with a psychometric test to really get into their psyche. A candidate who feels you understand them as a person is much more likely to be invested in the process!
3. Communication
This is a huge one – we’ve all been ghosted by agencies, employers (and even our ex-partners!) in the past, and nothing is more frustrating than not hearing back for ages, or even at all. A (good) Recruiter can help bridge the gap between the candidate and your hiring team, buying you time. In addition, I’d also recommend two things – to have as many of the candidates interview as possible in a 1-2 day period, and to set up a meeting between the interviewers for the following day to discuss and pass on feedback. Even candidates who are unsuccessful will love your business, if you just provide them with good feedback in a short time frame.
I hope this short blog has been helpful and do please feel free to get in touch with me – maybe with your own top tips for keeping candidates happy during your hiring process!