There are many steps you can take to create a successful recruiting strategy. But what happens once you and a candidate have an obvious interest in one another? The way in which your hiring process unfolds can turn the opportunity into gold. Or it can derail what might have been a promising relationship and even impair your future hiring ability.
With so many new tools and platforms available, referrals have always remained the most constant and reliable source for recruiting qualified prospective candidates. Employers should encourage this. You can glean referrals from:
- Existing employees, via their own personal and professional networks
- New hires who are excited to spread the word about their great new company
- Non-hires, because you just never know who else is in their network
Candidates who come to you as a referral are already primed to like and trust your company because they like and trust the person who connected them to you. It’s up to your hiring team and process to take advantage of that goodwill and seal the deal.
Does your hiring cycle give candidates a great experience?
Good or bad, candidate experience can have a significant impact on your future hiring. That’s because experience and referrals go hand-in-hand. Referrals are a form of word-of-mouth advertising. So are reviews and ratings. With the advent of social media and sites such as Glassdoor, if your company has a cumbersome hiring process, candidates won’t hesitate to warn others.
If the process is off-putting, you might lose your top-choice candidate. A chronically poor process compounds the problem over time, creating a stream of negative experiences. Word will get out and your reputation as an employer will suffer.
On the other hand, if you treat candidates well, they’ll tell others about how impressed they were with your professionalism. How you treat them throughout the hiring cycle is an excellent indication of how you’ll treat them as an employee.
Tighten your timeframe
A speedier hiring process benefits your HR team because they can complete their work more efficiently, rather than having to juggle multiple dragged-out interviewing processes simultaneously. It benefits the target department and the company as a whole by quickly filling or avoiding gaps that could hamper productivity and morale.
Most important, fast-tracking top candidates shows they are a priority. Top candidates are often considering more than one opportunity. If your hiring process takes longer than your competitor’s, that almost assures you’ll lose that candidate.
Remember that top talent is probably working. You must be sensitive to that and flexible in accommodating their schedules and also protecting their confidentiality. If after-hours contact works best for them, do that.
When a candidate is referred to you by a recruiter, move quickly! Even a couple of days can erase the opportunity. So, at the very least, acknowledge the candidate to let them know your interest is warm – and let them know when they’ll hear more from you. (Very soon.)
Fine-tune your decision-making process
Determine up front what the hiring steps will be, then clearly communicate that to the candidate. Setting expectations is an easy and effective way to get off to a good start.
And make it reasonable. You don’t need a 20-person panel or endless rounds of conversation to determine if this candidate is The Right One. An overblown interviewing agenda feels onerous to the candidate as a time commitment and from a psychological standpoint.
Certainly, you want to be inclusive and thorough. Too much, though, and you’ll come across as overly picky and indecisive – not the sort of corporate traits that appeal to top talent.
Follow up as promised, communicating with the candidate as you go.
Educate everyone on your team
Choose your hiring team, then make sure they’re invested in prioritizing the hiring process. It’s no different than pulling together a team for any other short-term project – work needs to get done and success is everyone’s responsibility.
Each person selected to serve on your hiring team is there for a reason. And it’s not solely to ask questions. They are performing two critical functions: due diligence and recruiting. Interviewing is a two-way process, so they must be able to answer questions as well as ask.
As they interact with the candidate, they should be promoting the company as well as the position. One comfortable and compelling way to do that is to use their own experiences as examples of what the candidate might expect.
The more senior the position, the more you should focus on selling the company as a highly desirable employer. Clearly, this candidate has high-value skills and experience, and you’re already impressed with them, so now you’re convincing them to choose you. For example, once your team has interviewed the candidate, a senior manager or member of the executive leadership team can give them a call to ask if they have additional questions.
Finish with feedback
Candidates eagerly await hearing from you. The longer they wait, the more the tension builds. The worst thing is to leave them hanging forever, so everyone should receive a personal response about your decision. That’s just common courtesy. But you can do more, turning your response into a future hiring asset.
Every person who made it to the final interview stages but was not chosen deserves to know why. Constructive feedback is always beneficial, and therefore appreciated. And if they take your advice to heart and improve, they could become your next fabulous new hire.
A runner-up candidate who really wanted your position is someone you especially want to stay in touch with. Obviously, you were impressed with them also if they made it to #2. A positive experience keeps the door open, so if a new opportunity arises in your company they may be interested.
A faster hiring cycle benefits everyone
If you follow these tips, your process will not only speed up, it will be more efficient and productive for your company. You’ll be better able to hire the candidates you really want today, and you can look forward to smoother hiring in the future.