Does the tight labor market have you feeling pressured to change your processes or policies? Is this your first time entering the interviewing world as you expand your team? There are a lot of opinions on the correct or most efficient way to bring in top talent. There is no “one-size fits all” process. Setting up your company’s process can be daunting; however, a clearly defined interview process can save your company time and money while identifying top talent, creating a positive interview experience, and making faster hiring decisions.
Here are some simple steps and tips to revamp your interview process:
1. Get Organized
Job Description: First, identify your needs. From there, you can create a clear and concise description that attracts top talent to meet your criteria. Highlighting unique opportunities or other work incentives can help you edge out competitors!
Interviewers: Decide who should be involved in the interview process. Consider budget, time, and needs. So candidates feel at ease during the process, we suggest keeping the number of interviewers to 2-4 people.
Types of interviews: Decide what kind of interviews to hold saves time – virtual vs. in-person, 1:1 vs. panel/group, behavioral vs. technical. There are many ways your company can interviews qualified candidates, and you can customize the process for each role and team.
Scheduling: Determine who will coordinate interview scheduling. This streamlines the process and keeps track of the candidate’s status. This eliminates unnecessary back-and-forth communication.
2. Come Prepared
Questions: Create your questions in advance to ensure you address critical aspects of the role and don’t duplicate things or waste time. First-round interview questions can identify if candidates meet requirements and second-round interview questions can be more comprehensive. Scoring: Set your evaluation system or scoring matrix so your team makes quick and conclusive decisions about candidates. This could be as simple as “Qualified/Unqualified” or a basic rating scale from “Poor to Outstanding”.
Job Responsibilities and Culture: Remember this interview goes both ways! Candidates want to be well informed on the role and company. Take time to highlight the job responsibilities, company culture and unique opportunities to keep candidates excited and engaged.
Interview Checklist: A checklist ensures you cover all steps. Start off with a simple welcome and introduction(s) so candidates feel at ease and comfortable! Then work through beginning questions, dive into the role, and highlight the role perks and company benefits. Remember to hold space for candidates to ask questions. The questions asked by candidates can tell you what’s important to them.
3.Follow Up
Feedback and Expectations: Set expectations for how and where to provide feedback both to your team and candidates. Keeping candidates informed of this is an easy way to show potential hires your company values their time. We recommend letting candidates know when they can expect to hear feedback and providing it as quickly as possible.
In a tight market, employers are also “interviewed.” Here are some additional tips to streamline the process so you don’t lose top talent.
Be Organized
Being organized and having your interview process established ahead of time will help your company move quickly to keep top talent from going to competitors.
Be Flexible and Leverage Technology
Have a plan for fill-ins if a hiring manager or interview panel member becomes unavailable. Virtual interviews provide flexibility and the chance to meet with top talent sooner!
Follow Up Promptly
In a tight market, quick feedback can make or break keeping top talent interested. As candidates make decisions and move quickly to new roles, communicating your interest and moving them to a next-round interview or making an offer needs to happen fast.
Consider Hiring an External Partner
External hiring partners can help you create an interview process that will attract and keep top talent in a tight labor market. They can also help you save time and effort!
Let us help you! We can help you design a process that is efficient and maximizes candidate engagement. We will get you organized, prepared, and support you through following up with top talent to show the candidates that you respect them and value their time. Contact us at info@talentremedy.com or 703-362-0175 to set up a time to speak with one of our experts. We can guide you through the process and get started!