At its foundation, the goal of any hiring process is to learn about a candidate to make an informed selection. Most external job candidates are strangers to you, so we design a process to understand their skills and experiences and ascertain if they are able to successfully do the job. However, you cannot truly know if someone will be successful in the role until they are in the role. The fancy economics term for this is asymmetric information: one side of a transaction has more information than the other. It’s easy to feel this imbalance as a hiring manager, and—as a result—it can feel uncomfortable making an important hiring decision without knowing exactly how a candidate might perform in the job.
Job seekers experience asymmetric information as well: it is nearly impossible to truly understand what it’s like to work for an organization until you do. The big difference for candidates is that they don’t get to design the interview process to find out more information. They’re left to pick up clues along the way. This means that candidates are often hypervigilant during an interview process. In a vacuum of information, small concerns take on an outsized importance. Assumptions will be made. And suddenly, your thoughtfully designed interview process could communicate information to candidates that you don’t mean or intend.
One of my tasks as a talent consultant is to help search committees and hiring managers consider their interview process from the perspective of a candidate—to determine what each part of the process implicitly communicates to candidates.
Here are some examples of what I focus on:
Before the Interview
- Let candidates know who is participating in the interview, their titles, and how their positions will interact with the interviewee’s position. This practice shows a high level of preparation on the part of the search committee. It tells the candidate that the organization takes the process seriously and is maintaining consistency throughout the process.
- Preview the types of questions you plan to ask. Candidates aren’t expecting to know the exact questions you’re planning on asking, but sharing the questions’ general subject areas will help candidates feel more prepared. This practice signals to candidates that your organization sets employees up for success.
- Gameplan the interview internally. This may sound like a small thing—but you should work out in advance who will greet the candidate, who will ask which questions, and who will take the lead answering candidate questions. This interview process is one of the only glimpses into how your organization runs that a candidate will access, so putting your best foot forward is important.
During the Interview
- Be on time—especially for a virtual interview. Imagine, for a second, that you are a candidate. You’re excited about the opportunity, and maybe a little nervous. You click the link to the Zoom meeting, and all you see is a blank screen with the words “Waiting for the Host to Join.” The minutes slowly tick by. You have no idea if you’re in the right place. You can’t get up from your computer because you could be let into the meeting at any moment. Outside of scheduling the interview, this is the first experience a candidate has with your organization. The isolation of a virtual waiting room compounds the frustration of a late committee, showing a lack of care the organization might have for others.
- Consider what your questions communicate about your organization and the role. For example, asking several questions about conflict management might signal to candidates that the team has trouble getting along. Instead of letting candidates wonder about the nature of your questions, explain why you’re asking each question. Not only will that give candidates additional context, but it also provides an important preview into the organization itself.
- Pay attention to the dynamics between interviewers. Candidates will notice if interviewers talk over each other or if one person dominates the conversation. If a more junior employee is involved in the interviews, allowing them to ask (and answer!) questions signals to candidates that the organization values contributions from all employees.
After the Interview
- Keep the number of steps in the interview process in mind. Moving to make an offer after one conversation might signal that the organization is desperate to fill the role. On the other hand, requiring more than three conversations might signal that the organization isn’t sure what they want in a candidate. The interview process should convey quiet confidence, even if the reality feels more chaotic.
- Keep candidates informed. Interview processes are fluid, but keeping candidates informed about the process should be a priority. Even something non-specific like “We don’t have an update to share at this time, but we’ll be in touch within a week or so” signals that the organization has strong internal communication.
- Decline candidates gracefully. How you decline candidates from your search speaks volumes about your organization. If you know a candidate isn’t a fit, let them go quickly. Holding onto candidates for weeks who are truly out of the running signals a lack of compassion. You never know when a rejected candidate might become the perfect candidate for a different position.
Recruiting processes are complicated and require a high degree of coordination. No organization is perfect at it—but being aware of the look and feel of your recruiting process helps ensure that you’re sending candidates the right signals about your organization.
