Candidate: I really like this company, the vision, the CEO, and the COO.
Me: Nice. That’s awesome. Let’s talk about next steps in the interview process.
Candidate: That won’t be necessary.
Me: That’s surprising. Tell me more!
Candidate: I have absolutely no interest in working here.
Me: I’m confused. Why not?
Candidate: It was clear to me that they are not on the same page. The CEO was very focused on several critical factors for success and the COO was very focused on several very different factors for success. I’ve seen this movie before…and I don’t want to be any part of it. If they are not aligned today…they never will be…and I don’t want to be part of it!
Real story.
Real painful story.
And it can easily be avoided. How?
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Conversations: You should never have multiple interviewers in a process that have not talked at length about what they are looking for. What are the skills and experiences that are critical for success? Take the time before the interview to get aligned. Have a plan. Train your managers on how to interview.
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Competencies: There should be a specific conversation to determine and agree upon the short list (5-8) of core competencies that are required to do the job and be successful in your company. To be fair, you should have agreed upon these when you wrote the job description.
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Consistency: All interviewers should be focused on the same set of core competencies. If you want to hire someone that is accountable, all interviewers should ask at least one question about accountability. And you should ensure that no two interviewers ask the same question of a candidate. If you need a tool to do this for you in just a few clicks, check this out.
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Candidate Experience: Take the time to assess and improve your candidate experience. Look in the mirror. Would you accept a job offer from a company that treated you the way you treat candidates? Ponder that!
You say: Cute story…but I need data.
I say: Check this out:
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Companies with a structured interview process are 81% more likely to make successful hires. (Harvard Business Review)
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Nearly 60% of candidates have a poor candidate experience during an interview process. (CareerArc)
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Companies with effective interview strategies are 2.7 times more likely to have a highly engaged workforce and 2.5 times more likely to be rated as a great place to work. (Gallup)
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Companies with effective interviewing training programs have 50% lower turnover rates. (LinkedIn)
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80% of job seekers say that a positive interview experience would make them more likely to refer the company to others. (Glassdoor)
- The Candidate Experience Awards (The CandEs) report that:
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70% of candidates who rated their experience positively said they would be willing to refer someone to the organization, compared to only 24% of candidates who rated their experience negatively.
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Organizations that have improved their candidate experience over the past year have seen a 70% increase in the quality of candidates, a 50% reduction in time-to-hire, and a 42% reduction in cost-per-hire.
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80% of job seekers say that a poor candidate experience would make them less likely to apply to the company again. (CareerArc)
Want to learn more about how to simplify your life with a simple, powerful, and ridiculously affordable solution to create custom interview guides, upgrade your candidate experience, or get access to a proven interviewing training program? Track me down at ron@interviewpath.com.