When it comes to interviewing, it’s really important to be prepared. Just like you’d expect candidates to spend time researching the role, your business, and you. Interviewers should be ready to evaluate candidates properly and promote their employer brand. Creating a positive candidate experience is becoming more important now than it has been previously. Covid has changed so many careers and will most likely continue to do so.
Yes, there are more candidates in the market now and, yes in theory this should make the hiring process easier. However what many of us are failing to understand is that, in some ways, the hiring process is equally in the candidates’ control. Candidates are aware there are more people in the market, but the competition for ‘top quality’ candidates with the desired skills/experience has most definitely increased.
In our experience high end candidates, and candidates with a strong experience in their specialised fields seem to be interviewing for more roles and consequently receiving more offers than they have ever done before.
As a result employers/interviewers/hiring managers need to ensure that they are making the best impression possible. This puts even more emphasis on conducting great interviews and ensuring candidates leave interviews having had the best experience possible.
Now more than ever creating a great first impression to candidates is important. You never know when ‘the one’ might arrive!
Remember candidates are evaluating you and your company and the proposed position just as much as you’re evaluating them, their background and personality fit for your team!
Here are 6 ways you can make positive and lasting impressions on a candidate during an interview:
- Prepare your interview questions: Interviewers who don’t do this are missing a huge opportunity to get to know their candidates! Look at their background, understand them and evaluate them effectively. (Tip: Try to avoid generic questions where answers can be prepared through internet research and ask them relevant situational questions). Encourage candidates to think on their feet and tell their story, it makes for a far more engaging interview process for both parties.
- Know your candidate and prepare accordingly: Avoid asking for information they’ve already provided in prior phone screens. Take the time to go through their CV, profile and cover letter in detail to properly prepare. Don’t risk coming across as uninformed or unprepared in the interview because the candidate will quickly lose interest. Plan the interview and make sure you are giving the candidate your full attention.
- Practice selling the role and your company: This is really important, plan your pitch. While you’re evaluating the candidate, they’re equally evaluating if they want to work with you. Think of selling points, new offices, new products, benefits & wellbeing, progression potential. But most importantly listen to what your candidate wants and tailor your pitch.
- Talk about the future: Are you planning to expand or take on new responsibilities? Do you have an ambitious strategy or a 5-year plan? How will this affect their department or team? Exciting plans for the future are attractive to potential employees because they suggest that the organisation is ambitious, forward-thinking and that their role could develop as the business does.
- Don’t hide from any issues internally: No organisation is perfect and there will always be issues within a business. It is best to address them openly and put a positive spin on them. This shows honesty and a willingness to move forward, and a team who are learning from previous ‘mistakes’.
- Listen and be yourself! Listen to the potential employees’ questions and make sure you answer them well, engage yourself in the answers and where possible give situational examples when you are responding to their questions. Being yourself is very important, you need to be able to relate to one another!
Overall good preparation takes time but it definitely pays off! You’ll evaluate candidate skills more effectively and create a positive candidate experience. In addition, you’re more likely to win over the candidate you might eventually want to hire!
Alternatively we could do your recruiting for you!
A significant advantage of using a company like KSM Recruitment to fill your vacancies is that jobseekers will often trust third party endorsements more than those from the horse’s mouth. We are experts in recruiting and we know exactly what best motivates our candidates, especially those who aren’t actively looking. We take the time to get to know your business and its culture, so all the candidates we send to interview will already have a positive and honest impression of your business.
If this is something you’d like to hear more about, please contact us today for a confidential chat about your business and your plans moving forward.