There is no doubt that company officials are constantly immersed in the day-to-day operations of their business. There never seems to be enough time in the day to get everything done. As a result, it becomes a matter of priorities, in other words, which tasks deserve the most attention first.
Which begs this question: How high of a priority is hiring to your company?
I have three real-life examples that illustrate a lack of awareness regarding how some organizations are coming across to candidates during the interviewing and hiring process.
In the first example, an agency recruiter recently posted on a social media site the fact that they were experiencing difficulty speaking with an internal recruiter regarding their company’s job opening that the agency had been hired to fill.
Failing to set up a phone call to discuss the open position with the internal recruiter, the agency recruiter finally sent a candidate’s resume to the company. However, the agency recruiter had little information to share with the candidate about the position.
The company’s internal recruiter then scheduled a phone interview with the candidate, and the agency recruiter described the interview as embarrassing. Why is that? Because the internal recruiter didn’t tell the candidate anything substantial about the position and only asked the candidate basic, elementary questions. The candidate felt they had not learned much, if anything, about the position or the company and couldn’t really determine whether they were interested in the job or not.
Do you think this candidate is going to consider employment with the company? At the very least, they have little information to go on and are not impressed to this point.
In the second example, a recruiter set up a series of phone interviews on a certain day at specific times for a hiring manager at that manager’s request. However, the hiring manager did not call the candidates at the designated times and did not call the recruiter to say they would not be able to conduct the interviews.
As a result, the candidates sat by the phone for more than half an hour waiting for the interview call. The hiring manager later said he had gotten busy that day and did not have time to conduct the interviews. The interviews were eventually rescheduled, but what sort of impression did this make on the candidates, who were also busy but took time out of their day to invest in an interview that was requested by the hiring manager? Keep in mind, these candidates were actively recruited by the recruiter for the hiring manager for the purpose of filling this particular position at the company.
In the third example, a candidate turned in their expense report for a face-to-face interview, and the company took 10 weeks to reimburse them. However, in the meantime, the candidate had to pay their credit card bill and had to follow up with the employer several times in order to obtain the reimbursement. The candidate was left to wonder if they wanted to work for an employer that did not follow through on their commitment in a timely manner and took too long to pay them. What would that candidate say to a colleague or friend that the company might one day want to hire?
All of these questions lead to the central one: Who is representing your company to candidates?
This is an important question because these are the people who are branding your company to the best and brightest candidates in the marketplace. These candidates get their impression of your company from these people, and they often decide whether or not to work for your company based on that impression.
That’s why you should ask the following five questions to assess who represents your company to candidates:
- Have the employees in your organization who are interacting with candidates received the proper training?
- Do they know which questions to ask?
- Do they know which questions are illegal to ask?
- Do they know the position well enough to talk about it in a satisfactory manner with the candidate?
- What kind of overall impression are they giving about your company?
The people who represent your organization during the interviewing and hiring process are crucial to your ability to attract the best talent available in the marketplace. Since your organization’s goal is to hire the best talent available, it makes sense to ensure that these employees are properly equipped with everything they need to be successful.
After all, the more successful they are, the more successful your company will be in hiring superstar talent that can make a difference.
We help support careers in one of two ways: 1. By helping to find the right opportunity when the time is right, and 2. By helping to recruit top talent for the critical needs of organizations. If this is something you would like to explore further, please send an email to stacy@thevetrecruiter.com.