If you’re recruiting in today’s candidate-driven job market, your employer branding can make all the difference in attracting the right calibre and ultimately securing your chosen candidate.
Although the candidate experience is one of the most effective ways of positioning yourself as a top-choice employer it remains one of the most neglected areas of recruitment.
Interviews can be a particularly delicate stage of a candidate’s journey with you. For them, it’s often their first real impression of your organisation, which in the end will have an influence over their decision at offer stage.
As an employer, how can you provide the best interview experience? As recruitment specialists, we can help you ensure you bring out the best in you and your candidates.
Beyond assessing experience and skill fit, a good interview should also allow you – and them – to get a sense of more intangible aspects of employment including company culture fit.
Your interview process should keep the candidate experience at its heart. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
We can’t emphasis it enough: maintaining clear and open communication from the very first phone call through to the last interview round is primordial. Besides time and date, it could be a good idea to share:
If you’re meeting in person, give some thought to the setting of the waiting and interview areas. A comfortable chair, access to Wi-Fi and refreshments are easy ways to make people feel welcome and help them visualise themselves working there. Let them know where the bathroom is so they don’t have to ask. It’s quite often the small things that can make a big difference.
If you’re meeting virtually, log on five minutes early to ensure sound, image and the internet are working. As tempting as they are, we don’t recommend virtual backgrounds as they often feel unnatural and artificial. If you’d rather use them, make sure to use them effectively.
Finally, remember to keep the conversation natural. While you’ll need prepared questions to determine candidate fit, it’s important to make them feel at ease and remain open to questions in the end.
Post-interview communication is a great way of highlighting how much you care for your candidates (and by extension your employees). Remain reachable and open to more questions and provide a clear timeline on what they can expect next.
Providing constructive criticism and feedback will be invaluable for candidates regardless to the outcome of the interview. Our rule of thumb? Make sure it’s:
Should they receive an offer, this will make them more inclined to accept it. And should they be rejected; this will help prevent burnt bridges and encourage positive word of mouth and reviews for you. Remember: fixing a damaged reputation is much more difficult than providing a positive experience.
At Sitka, our 40 years of combined experience in recruitment has made us true specialists at ensuring an outstanding hiring process for both employers and candidates. If you’d like to have a chat about your recruitment needs, you can always contact us at info@sitka.wales or call us on 029 2048 4520.
I have always dealt with Karen and have found the recruitment process generally excellent. The calibre of candidates has always been strong and the candidates also show enthusiasm towards the job and company they are interviewing for. I am very happy with the service we receive from Sitka and we have always appointed from the first round of interviews.
Ita took the time to understand my objectives and needs as a candidate also – something unusual for a recruitment agency.
Information was provided quickly, in full and was very clear. Ita also took the time to follow-up post interviews to understand how things went and confirm next steps/timeframes. She has also gone the extra mile of checking in with me since starting in my new role.
Ita approached every stage of the recruitment process in a professional, honest and open manner. It was clear she was committed to finding the right candidate for her client
The whole recruitment process, led by Karen, was a really engaging and positive experience. I can honestly say it was the best interview I have ever had!
My recruitment experience with Sitka has been brilliant. I was dealing with Karen who is so friendly and attentive. She really listened to what it was I was looking for and put me forward for a role I am now in and love.
I felt like they truly cared and weren’t just trying to fill vacancies as quick as possible. Other agencies kept suggesting roles I had already said I wasn’t interested in. This wasn’t the case here, and they really wanted to find the right person.
The recruitment process was excellent. Karen provided me with updates on a regular basis and the level of communication at all points was handled very well. The whole recruitment process was handled extremely efficiently from start to finish.
Karen was extremely helpful throughout the entire process, providing interview tips, personal help, and preparation before my interview. I felt that Karen genuinely wanted me to do well and get the job that I wanted.