War - of a sort - is uppermost in the minds of many right now: the war, that is, for talent.
Sealing the deal
The ‘war for talent’ is on. As organisations continue to face major challenges in finding strong candidates for roles both vital and otherwise, the interview stage of the hiring process is, says Robert Half, Senior Consultant at Kim Smith, ‘crucial to sealing the deal with employees’ who may otherwise be targets of head-hunters and those on a quest to secure the top talent.
Thin on the ground
As a hiring manager in today’s market, says Smith, it’s essential to know how to sell the position and the organisation in an endeavour to attract not only the right people, but the right people quickly - without making the wrong decision and ‘hiring the first person you see because candidates are thin on the ground’.
With research confirming today’s candidates’ interest in a company’s state of health regarding its internal relationships, and often prioritising this over salary and benefits - at least during the interview phase of recruiting - Robert Half suggests there’s a benefit in asking others in the team (with the vacancy) to become involved in the process.
A mixed message
They also emphasise the importance of being organised when it comes to involving more than one interviewer. It is important to ensure that each of those involved in the hiring process agree on ‘key characteristics to look for’, and that they are speaking consistently of both the role itself and the benefits of joining the company. If there’s one thing that can throw an interview off the rails, it’s presenting a mixed message.
Genuinely communicating
You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression on the interviewee. Robert Half suggests developing your ‘30-second lift speech’, by which, in 30 seconds you can genuinely communicate the benefits of joining your company, as you might if you were, say, in a lift with someone and had only a 30-second window for doing so.
Ensuring that interviews are consistent by way of length and process can also be valuable - not only from an administrative perspective, but also by way of providing a uniform structure that can provide an objective standard, or benchmark, on which to base your evaluation.
Those who linger
Once the interviews are over, the key to achieving closure is to make a swift decision on who your preferred candidates are. Promptly communicating your decisions to both the successful and unsuccessful candidates is important. From the perspective of courtesy, leaving people waiting can not only leave negative impressions of you as both a company and a potential employer, but in the current market, those who linger can quickly lose out.
No matter how much pressure you may feel to fill a position, it’s important to ensure you appoint, or at least make an offer to, the candidate you really want. The interviewer anxious to hire, says Robert Half, may be tempted to overlook an applicant’s potential drawbacks.