You’ve been looking to fill this role for a while now – after sending dozens of CVs your recruiter seems to have finally found ‘the one’, at least on paper. Securing the best candidates in the current market has become increasingly difficult, so how should you go about getting this person on board?
Given the vast amount of choice candidates currently have, you’ll need to stand out from the crowd.
You’ll need to successfully interview your candidates.
This article will give you an overview of how to best go about this – which practices to avoid, and which you should follow.
Firstly, it’s important to remind yourself that we are currently in a candidate-driven market – you can expect candidates to have multiple offers on the table when it comes to deciding who they want to work for next. Gone are the days where companies held all the power when it comes to job hunting.
With that in mind, the interview is not only a chance to see if Joe Bloggs is a great fit for the role – it’s a chance for you to sell your company like no tomorrow.
We recently conducted a survey to understand why candidates are likely to move jobs – career progression remained the top reason, followed by work-life balance and a desire to do meaningful work.
As an employer, you need to have these boxes ticked as a minimum – why would someone want to work for you? What is your company mission? What are your values? How can the candidate expect to develop/progress in their role? What impact are they going to have in your organisation?
Without a strong narrative surrounding these, you are going to miss out on the best talent in the market.
Secondly, remember that the person in front of you is human – they have desires and fears just like you! It’s normal to be nervous in an interview (it’s really quite an unnatural exchange when you think about it) so, if you can see nerves creeping in, try your best to help.
Granted, this may not always be possible, but there are a few things you can do:
- Use positive body language – smile, keep eye contact and lean slightly forward with your arms relaxed
- Establish a connection – check their CV for something you can personally connect with and talk to them about it, this could be work they’ve done or hobbies/interests
- Make it a conversation, not an interrogation – compliment the candidate’s past work / achievements and encourage them to ask questions at any point during the interview
- If you can see they are extremely nervous, remind them that this is completely normal in an interview and allow them to take some time to compose themselves – giving them a few minutes to calm down can make a big difference
Thirdly, if there is a technical component or presentation involved, it is wise to pass on as much detail as reasonably possible to your recruiter, so the candidate can adequately prepare – for example, rejecting a candidate because they did not present on a topic that you were hoping for, after giving them an ‘open brief’, probably isn’t the best use of your time!
Finally, don’t try to negotiate salary/package too early in the process. If you are collaborating with a good recruiter (which you really should be if you want the best talent!) they will take care of this for you. Trying to do this too early on can be a red flag by candidates and may give them the wrong impression of your company.
Your recruiter should have provided salary expectations for the candidate when they sent you their CV – if you can’t afford the candidate, flag this to your recruiter immediately to see if there is any flexibility. Don’t go through the whole recruitment process just to make a lowball offer – it will likely be declined; you will inadvertently insult the candidate and (believe me) they will let people know about it.
Your reputation as an employer is more important than it ever was before – make sure you protect it.
To level up your leadership teams interview skills head to more advice here.