You’ve written and posted the job ad, sifted through resumes, and narrowed the list of candidates to those you want to interview. In other words, you’ve reached a critical juncture in the hiring process, and it’s essential to get this part right.
When done correctly, interviews play a significant role in helping to identify and hire the best person for the job. However, when interviewing is handled poorly, the fallout can be devastating. Not only can your organization end up hiring someone who doesn’t fit the job skills, company culture, or both, but a faulty process can ruin the candidate experience, and the subsequent word of mouth can seriously damage your corporate brand.
Proper interviewing requires training
In a recent survey conducted by Alaant, half of employers told us they haven’t trained their hiring managers on proper interview techniques. That’s a scary proposition, particularly as a rebounding economy and rising vaccination rate mean hiring is on the rise. That the spike in hiring comes amid an already tight job market makes it even more imperative for companies to do all the right things to attract and acquire top performers.
The key to creating an interview process that yields results is training. Here are three components your organization should utilize to ensure its interviews are firing on all cylinders.
1) Train everyone before they begin interviewing. This is obvious for hiring mangers new to your organization; they need to know the process you follow, which is likely different from a previous employer. But don’t stop there – even those who have been with your company for a period of time should be trained regularly. In fact, an annual refresher is a great idea. That keeps everyone on the same page so that interviews are done seamlessly, efficiently, and effectively.
2) Develop a consistent interview process. As simple as it sounds, hiring managers should be aligned in terms of the questions they ask. If questions are not synced, the information the team gets back from each interview will be disjointed and difficult to compare between candidates. The best-case scenario is for HR to prepare a list of questions that every manager should ask – including those they can and can’t ask, which will keep the interview legally compliant. In addition, a group of behavioral questions that dive deeper into a job seeker’s problem-solving skills are helpful in determining which candidate stands out from the crowd.
3) Create a standard close for interviews. There’s nothing worse than a candidate receiving different direction from different hiring managers; it points to an organization that is disorganized at best and dysfunctional at worst. Developing a consistent interview wrap-up keeps each candidate clear on next steps, which also supports a positive candidate experience. In addition, the same concept should be applied to the selection of a candidate: follow a standard protocol that reviews each applicant through a similar lens. This will protect your company from any claims of misconduct.
Getting the interview process right is just as important for organizations as it is for candidates. Need help fine-tuning yours, or creating one that works? The experts at Alaant have the skills, experience and know-how to assist. Contact us today and let’s get the conversation started!
