DO YOU AGREE WITH THIS INTERVIEW PRACTICE?
*Source: the web
IS THIS MORE FUNNY OR SAD? WHAT DO YOU THINK?
*Picture source: the web
*Source: the web
*Picture source: the web
“I did 6 interviews in one week, they ghosted me afterwards”
*from the web
“I had three phone interviews before meeting with five people in person. I was told by the VP of HR that she wanted me to meet with one more person and then I was ghosted.”
*from the web
“A few years ago I interviewed for an HR position with a company ironically known for their good customer service . It was a training & development role at a large distribution center. I had a lengthy (1 hour) phone screen; then a 30 minute phone screen; 5 HOURS of interviews on-site with multiple people at the site. The interviews were back to back with a 10 or 15 break in between and no break for lunch. By the end I was exhausted and starving!
Then the recruiter called me the next day and asked if I could do a phone interview with 2 people who weren’t able to be at the on-site gauntlet.
I did not get an offer. I knew I wouldn’t when the people on site kept saying they like to promote from within. At that point I decided to just use the interviews as practice and I was morbidly curious how far they would take it. Very frustrating.”
*from the web
“I was applying for an HR position and the next page required me to answer 'Are you born in the month of May/Jun/July/August?'. What's that got to do with the position? First time in my 20 years working as a Human Resource specialist I had this question asked during my application.”
*from the web
Thanks to everyone who participated in our survey (link in 1st comment).
Here is a short reminder for the recruiter’s practice and our take on it.
“I work as a recruiter. I always call a candidate 20 minutes before an interview, put an Indian accent and pretend to be from a Mumbai call centre asking about a car accident. Have rejected so many people from jobs because they get so angry at me”.
Informed Decisions take:
This practice is WRONG in so many ways, here are our top 3:
1. Don’t ghost - sounds intuitive, right? yet, so many companies don’t get back to candidates after they invested time and effort in the hiring process.
2. Don’t stall - waiting for an interview answer can be a nerve-wracking experience. If the time to make a decision is prolonged, keep the candidate informed and notify them when they can expect an answer, even if it’s a general range.
3. Provide feedback - in case you reject a candidate, don’t just respond generically with the “we decided to move forward with more suitable candidates” line. They invested their time and hopes in the process and what you can give back to them is extremely valuable — feedback. For example, “we feel your storytelling and data/python capabilities need to improve.” For even better feedback, be as specific as possible and, if possible, share examples from the interview. Some candidates might push back on the feedback, but most will appreciate the opportunity you gave them to improve for their next opportunity.
4. Collect feedback - both from candidates that were rejected and hired. Besides the fact that it will help you learn and improve your hiring practices, you are giving candidates a voice, which is a way to show respect and appreciation.
For many, an interview is a stressful situation. As an interviewer you have the power both to create a positive experience for the candidate that will allow them to be at their best or induce more stress and create a negative candidate experience (see our #interviewhorrorstories).
So what can you do to help a candidate be at their best?
1. Smile - welcome the candidate with a smile — it’s as simple as that. This will immediately make the candidate feel welcomed and relieve stress.
2. (very short) Small talk - “How was getting here?”, “How has the process been so far?”, “How are you feeling today?” These types of questions help the candidate ease into the interview.
Disclaimer: do not get caught up in a conversation that can flow to irrelevant directions that might bias you, such as the candidate lives in the same neighborhood as you, and take up precious interview time.
3. Introduce yourself - your name, role, and short background.
4. Manage expectations - regarding interview goals, duration, stages (if they exists), note taking (”I will be taking notes throughout the interview in order not to rely on my memory, but on what you actually say”), allotted time for questions (”We will allocate 10 minutes at the end of the interview for your questions”).
5. Allow time for thought - some of the questions asked in an interview require pulling specific facts and stories from memory and some require heavy information processing. Not all candidates are “quick on the draw.” Allow candidates time to think and let them know it is ok to take their time. In cases when a reasonable amount of time has passed you can offer the candidate to go back to the question later.
6. Leave time for candidate’s questions - we sometime get so caught up with asking the candidate questions and gathering as much information as we can that we do not leave enough time for their questions. Remember, you can also learn a lot from a candidate’s questions and that the candidate also has to choose you. It’s your responsibility to provide them with sufficient information to make an #informedecision.
7. Thank the candidate for their time - again simple, but shows respect to the candidate’s time.
8. Share information on the next steps - “Expect to hear from us in the next X days, In case we move forward the next steps of the process are…”
Before an interview, transparency and communication are the main contributors to a positive candidate experience: 1. Set expectations - regarding interview date and time, number of interviewers and their role, interview duration, interview medium (F2F, Zoom, Teams etc.) 2. Share information - what will be the focus of the interview? what types of questions will be asked? will the interview include some kind of a professional task? simulation? challenge? If you have sample questions that you can share with candidates in advance that will minimize uncertainty and allow the candidates to be at their best. If you are using an interview or video platform to conduct the interviews, make sure you share instructions on how to connect to the platform and check for audio and video. 3. Make candidates feel welcomed - send an email or a text a day before reminding the candidate about the interview and convey the feeling of anticipation from the organization’s side to meet and get to know the candidate better. Use phrases like: “We are excited/looking forward/anticipating to get to know you better.” You can also create anticipation from the candidate’s side by writing: “During the interview, the interviewers will share more about the position and department and how do these connect to the organization’s mission,” “You will have a chance to learn about…,” or “You’re invited to ask questions regarding…”