By Kim Seeling Smith
“Have you even read my resume?” she asked the interviewer. Sheepishly, he had to admit he had not. He tried to dig himself out of this hole saying that he “liked to approach the interview process with an open mind” and that he “preferred for the candidate to walk through their background during the interview, because he gathered so much more information that way.” He was lying, and she knew it.
 |
Then she did something I’ve never seen in 15 years of recruiting, interviewing over 5,000 candidates myself and debriefing tens of thousands of hiring managers and candidates. She closed her notebook (she had come prepared with background research and a list of questions), got up and said, “I was really excited about this interview. Your company has a stellar reputation and the job sounds ideal for my skill set and for what I’m looking for, but I’m sorry – I just don’t think this will work.” This was a polite way of saying, “I couldn’t possibly work for someone who doesn’t prepare for an interview.”
I’ve never seen a candidate take themselves out of the interview process so overtly before or since, but I’ve seen plenty do it more covertly:
- Like the one who simply walked out of the office before the interview after seeing someone’s half eaten sandwich on the reception desk, or
- The one who said no to the second interview after the hiring manager (a Partner with a ‘Big 4’ Accounting firm) skipped like a 4 year old boy down the hall in front of her, or
- The one who left an interview in tears because the two managers in the interview room bullied her (it turns out they LOVED the candidate – this was just their completely ineffective way of seeing how well she could handle stress on the job), or
- The one who withdrew after making small talk in the reception area with another person there, only to find out it was a competing candidate being interviewed for the exact same position, because the hiring manager didn’t think through the candidates’ interview schedules
- Those who decide not to ‘take a chance’ after hearing two completely different opinions on company culture and / or career progression, or
- Those who felt their time was wasted because the interviewer went on and on about things that were completely un-interesting to them and off-topic, while failing to answer the candidates’ own questions about the company and job, or
- Those who decide after the first interview that the job isn’t for them because the interviewer talked exclusively about themselves and didn’t ask them one single question, or
- Those Millennials that don’t even bother to apply because they can find nothing about you online or worse,
- Those (of any generation) who not only don’t apply, but also actively tell their friends not to apply after reading your Glassdoor reviews, or
- Those who actively bad-mouth you because you do not keep your word and get back to them with feedback in a timely fashion, or the person who does get back to them is (too rushed or bored to do it justice, rude, clearly clueless about what the actual feedback is or…fill in the blank), or
- Those who accept other jobs after neither an offer or rejection despite 7 interviews over a 5 week time period, or
- Those who tell you that they have decided to stay where they are or take another job because it (is closer to home, pays more, or a again…fill in the blank).
Make no mistake, you lose good candidates if you let yourself down (even in small ways) during the hiring process.
Do you treat potential candidates like prospective customers? It’s shocking how badly many organizations do treat candidates. In today’s candidate short market we have to look at the hiring process from the candidates’ shoes and ask, “Are we doing everything we can to woo the ones we want?”
Want to learn more about this topic? Join me for my complimentary webinar, HR in the Candidate’s Shoes: Improve the Interview Process Through Awareness of the Interviewee’s Experience, on March 3rd at 2pm EST.
I’ll be discussing:
- Why you should put yourself in the candidate’s shoes.
- What does your website / LinkedIn page / profile tell your candidate about you??
- Is your application process confusing? Complicated? How could you make it clearer?
- What and when to tell the candidate about the role and company (this one will surprise you!)
- Why it’s AS IMPORTANT to tell them no quickly and professionally as yes.
- And much more!