Are You Frustrated Over Losing Qualified Candidates???

Employers want to hire the best candidates.  

When qualified candidates walk away from your interview process one of two bad things happen:  You’re left with and you hire your second tier candidates; or your hiring process drags on taking more time away from your managers' functional roles to review more résumés and interview more candidates; and, you still have an unfilled critical position for an extended time.  The one thing that should happen, though seldom does, is to review what is causing that to happen.   Some of the reasons you might hear from candidates who drop out of the process could include variations of, “I got a better offer;” “This company isn’t a fit for me;” “I'm looking for more of a challenge;” ad infinitum. 

You can ask yourself, or convene a meeting of your HR team to ask why your company isn’t the one putting out the better offer; or is the one being the better fit; or providing a more challenging environment?  But are those the questions you really need to ask?  The simpler question is how can a candidate possibly get a “better” offer if you haven’t even extended an offer?  Or find a “better” environment or culture when they know so little about yours?  They can’t.  And therein lies the cause.  You (your company) has not made the offer; it has not told the candidate enough about the company.

I see two key reasons for why a candidate would withdraw prematurely from the interview process.  The process itself and your hiring managers.

First, let’s talk about your hiring process.  When selecting candidates you want to assess whether they first meet your minimum mandatory  requirements, right?  Do they have the minimum education?  Certifications?  Years of field experience?  Specific skill sets?  Functional titles?  Then you want to look at how close they come to your preferences.  The best of your competitors on their résumés; the right schools; management, communications and interpersonal skills; a strong work ethic; or experience training others.   Your recruiter or talent acquisition team pores through tens of dozens or more résumés; they cull out the best of the best.  They pass through the channels, HR staff to HR manager to hiring manager and possibly other members of the hiring manager’s team.  They’re ranked.  Let the interview games begin.  A phone interview with HR; another with the hiring manager; an face-to-face with a member of the hiring manager’s team, perhaps more; then the hiring manager; and then her boss.   During the process you’ve identified two other potentials and you commence the same process.  You now have three very strong candidates in the pipeline.  That’s great.

Or is it?  What is wrong with this picture is that you have made getting the job harder than doing the job.  You have put in play a program designed to fail both you and at least two of your three candidates, possibly your best two and possibly all three.  Between scheduling and conducting a series of interviews and then with the idea in mind to select only the top candidate which means waiting until they’ve all been interviewed, adding in rescheduling due to conflicts or absences, time off for vacations or business trips, you have started a six month hiring process.  It’s easy to figure it out.  Candidates, even passive candidates who were not out there looking for a change, get anxious, concerned about the company’s ability to make a decision, start looking elsewhere (or deciding they already have a good thing so why change?) or frustrated or become lacking in their own self-confidence, none of which you want in a new employee, and none of which they want to deal with.  So when it’s time for the second interview what happens?  Delays, excuses, hedging and finally dropping out. 

P.S.  Having to start the process over, looking at résumés, making selections, throwing employees’ schedules off, taking valuable time from their day-to-day functions, delaying deadlines, plus, plus.  And that is not where it ends.  Do you honestly believe all three of those candidates aren’t going to tell their colleagues and associates about the bad experience they had when trying to get a job with your company.  Now get the best of the best.

Unfortunately it’s not all avoidable.  It does take time to sift through résumés, screen candidates and schedule and conduct interviews.   It will invariably slow down work and interrupt work flow.  But it can be made easier, no matter how large your company is and how much red tape you need to slosh through.  (Yes, I don’t mind ending sentences with prepositions.)  The very first rule is that you need to be ready to make a decision.  When you find a candidate you like, you are confident can do the job, you see as a good fit within the organization and you believe has the potential to make a valued contribution to the company, accelerate her.  Schedule her interview quickly.  If she’s local, bring her in for her first interview, don’t waste her or your time with a phone call.  If you like her, let her know, don’t keep her hanging.  Let her know you want her to come back for a second interview.  And when she’s completed the process, if you still think at least as highly of her as you did in the beginning of the process and your team agrees, PULL THE TRIGGER!  So what if there are others in the pipeline.  So what if she hasn’t had all five interviews and two of the hiring manager’s team haven’t met the her yet.  They’ll meet her on her start date.  Just make the offer.  You now have an employee who feels wanted, not settled for, and who will repay that in her hard work to show she’s earned the position.

You want to add excellence to your already excellent team.  Your hiring manager is tops at what he does.  He is up on every technical matter that impacts his and his team’s performance.  He can do each of their jobs – and has – and he is ready to move up the ladder.  He does everything with absolute perfection.  Everything, that is, except – maybe interview properly?  Or train his team how to interview. 

Which brings us to the second rule:  TRAIN YOUR STAFF HOW TO INTERVIEW FOLKS!   Sure your interviewers know how to assess a candidate’s technical ability to do the job.  That’s easy enough.  They knows not to ask questions to which they don’t know the answers.  And then there’s the rest of it.  Does the candidate look like he will assimilate into your culture?  Will she be able to hit the ground running or will she require some training?  Does she have leadership skills?  Does he have a good work ethic?  Is his or her prior performance provable?  Those might be a little harder to assess than just the ability to do the job.  And then there’s the rest of it, a far more complex component to the interview:  The human factor.  The connection between the hiring manager and the candidate.  The connection between the candidate and the company.  All based on the hiring manager’s ability to convince the candidate that 1. This is the right company for her;  2. This is the right job for her;  and 3. These are the right people for her to work with.  Also easy?  Maybe, but this important piece of the interview, this very necessary message is not just conveyed with words or mere hyperbole.  It is conveyed in the interview process and more importantly, by the interview process. 

As a recruiter debriefing candidates after an interview, I’ve gotten feedback of interviewers showing up late; being completely unprepared and even forgetting the interview; and bring preoccupied on personal calls or irrelevant matters for as much as more than half the allotted interview time while the candidate just sat there staring at the walls.  Candidates have told me stories about interviewers who instead of selling the company complained about why they were unhappy there or shared inappropriate stories about the management of the company.   I’ve heard tales about interviewers, yes, interviewers, not candidates, who have walked out during an interview, who’ve made disparaging and potentially damaging comments about a candidate, his or her ethnicity, sexuality, age; who’ve squandered a candidate’s precious time trying make a favorable impression by patronizing those very same things, or discussing politics, religion, the latest news, the weather, whatever.  Tell your interviewers, it’s all bad interviewing, people and if you want to target top-tier talent, you need to clean up your act.

Almost everyone has been interviewed to get their current respective positions, but that does not qualify them to interview others.  Interviewing needs to be taught.  And every lesson boils down to this:  The candidate will expect of you exactly what you expect of him.  Let’s turn each of these points around:

·         You expect a candidate to be on time.  So why keep an candidate waiting in the lobby for ten minutes?  And in conjunction with that, you expect a candidate to respect your time, so respect hers as well.  If you tell her the interview should take an hour, plan your time so that it works out that way.

·         You expect a firm handshake.  So does your candidate.  She won’t be offended.

·         You expect your client to show up looking refreshed and ready to have a serious discussion.  Your candidate expects that of you as well.  If it’s late in the day, take a short refreshment break.  Make sure your shirt is still tucked in and your hair is not in disarray.

·         You expect a candidate to have his cell phone off.  Reciprocally, don’t take any calls or allow yourself to be interrupted during the interview.

·         You expect a candidate to do his homework on the company – easy enough with the internet as accessible as it is.  Did you take the time to thoroughly read your candidate’s résumé?  What about her cover letter?  Or the recruiter’s notes? 

·         You also expect your candidate to be prepared for the interview, to know her stuff, to be alert and ready to respond to your questions, both technical and subjective.  In turn she will have questions for you and expects you to as open and transparent with your responses.

(A good tip:  Before you meet your candidates, go over their résumé one more time and prepare a list of questions about their technical knowledge, professional experience and career accomplishments.  When specific achievements are identified on a résumé, ask about how those achievements were accomplished and what the (quantifiable if possible) beneficial result was to the employer at the time.  Give your candidate an opportunity to shine.)

·        

You expect your candidate to understand her brand; that is who she is, what in her DNA got her from where she started to the chair in front of you and what her goals are.  She expects you to know your brand as well.  What products and services the company provides, how it markets those, who its market is and makes the company stand out over other companies.  Make sure you know your company, its size, employee count, profitability or return ratios and its vision for the future.

·         You expect a candidate to address his weaknesses are and how he’s working to improve himself.  So if there’s a lawsuit filed against the company, a regulatory injunction or negative press, why let him find out about it in an uncontrolled environment?  Tell him what problems the company is facing and what the company is doing about it to ensure its longevity and desirability as a place to work.

·         Industries can be very small communities.  You would expect your candidate to not name people or air dirty laundry about his current or former employers.  Unless you just want your candidate to not only not join your firm but to engage in office gossip about your company whether he’s hired or not, don’t discuss private issues about your company that are not relevant to his interview, his being hired, or his ability to perform his job if he is hired.

·         Reciprocally to the last item, you would expect your employee to sell himself.  As would he expect you to sell the company.  And the job.  And the team.  And the support he can expect as a member of the team.

·         You want your candidate to be open minded about why your company is the best place for her to work.  Do you have any preconceived notions about your candidate?  Or about the ideal candidate?  Don’t have.  Ask her to tell you a little about herself and show her you are open minded as well.

·         You expect your candidate to want to know more about the company’s vision and growth.  Keep in mind that he wants to share his immediate and career goals with you as well.  They should mesh well.

·         You want your candidate to be enthusiastic as you tell her about the company, her job, the people she’ll be working with and her potential there.  She wants some enthusiastic feedback when you identify specific skills and experience of hers that is much needed in the company. 

·         You want a candidate who is focused during the interview and who listens carefully to what you are telling him about the company, the job or the workplace.  It’s only respectful to reciprocate and listen attentively as he highlights his accomplishments or asks pertinent questions. 

·         You wouldn’t expect your candidate to ask about compensation during the first interview.  Nor would he expect you to ask how much he’s currently earning or how much he’s expecting to earn in this new position, especially without knowing all of your expectations.  Unless, of course, you have explained all of your expectations and you are prepared to make an offer.

·         You would expect your candidate to have some final questions, perhaps even concerns, at the end of the interview.  Ask about them and be prepared to take another moment to address them.  You would expect no less if you had some concerns about the candidate that needed further clarification.

·         You cannot assume your candidate is eager to go to work with you just because she met with you once and seemed positive.   Nor can you assume your candidate believes you are eager to hire her.  This information has to be conveyed.  Start by finding out what she thought about the interview, if she thinks she likes the company, if the job sounds like what she’s looking for and if she feels qualified to step into that position.  In return, she wants to know how you think the interview went, if you liked her and would like to have her come back for a second interview, and what you think the timing on that would be. 

·         This list can go on.  You would not expect your candidate to waste time with small talk; connote phoniness or insincerity; mirror your actions or attempt to speak like you in apathetic attempt to show empathy; to have poor posture, display angry or standoffish body language or emit a negative aura; make stupid facial expressions such as pretending to think; ask close-ended (yes or no) questions.  Well neither would your candidate expect any of that from you.

·         Finally, you would not want to be waiting for a response that is a long time in coming.  So don’t delay in conveying interest to an employee.  It’s not fair to keep him hanging.  It’s not fair to the already over-worked employees who busting their butts to fill the responsibilities of a vacancy.  It’s not fair to your employer who will come in over-time and over-budget on a project, or who will have to pay longer for less experienced temps or who might lose valued customers because they are not being properly serviced.  It’s not fair to fair to you when the candidate believes you’ve lost interest in him and moves on to other opportunities and you have to start all over.  And (I know I said it) it’s not fair to the candidate.

Remember, the best candidates are likely to be looking at multiple opportunities, of which your firm is only one.  You don’t need to interview everyone.  When you find Ms. or Mr. Right, cut through the corporate s**t and put the hiring process for that person on the front burner.   Delays, necessary or not, and send the wrong message.  And time can be a mortal enemy of the hiring process.  So when you’ve got the shot? Pull the trigger!

A favorite quote of mine by Leo Rosten:  

 “First-rate people hire first-rate people; second rate people hire third-rate people.”