Hire The Right Way Create A Positive Candidate Experience

Hire The Right Way Create A Positive Candidate Experience Creating A Positive Candidate Experience It’s Candidate Experience week on Blogging4Jobs powered by the cool folks at  Talent Circles. Check back this week to follow 25+ blogs published on Candidate Experience and follow the conversation on twitter at #thecandidate.   Creating A Positive Candidate Experience We spend so much time focusing on finding the right candidate for the position that we fail to consider the candidate experience during the hiring process.   As a recruiter or hiring manager, have you been on the other side of the table lately?  This past summer, I decided to find out in six weeks what the current hiring practices were within various organizations.  The experience included the good, the bad, and the ugly.  What I titled The Sherlock Holmes project was an incredible way to find out how effective competitors, along with other industries, are treating their prospective candidates.   The following are 3 common practices I found in highly effective hiring teams and why every company should implement them into the companies recruitment process. Perfect Communication Skills One of the most effective ways to increase the likelihood of a positive candidate experience  is for the interviewer to have strong verbal and nonverbal skills.   Especially, the ability to say without words to the candidate, we are interested in what you have to say today in this interview.   The interviewee is receiving 65% feedback from the interviewer through body signs.   The best way to increase the skills of your recruiting and hiring managers is to have each one video themselves in order to study their own body signs.   This will allow them the opportunity to see if they are holding eye contact too long (aggressive), crossing arms or tapping pencil on table (bored, disinterested), turned away from interviewee (disrespect), or frowning (prejudice).   These are considered intentional and unintentional body signs.   If your team can perfect these skills, they will be able to build a strong team and send very positive messages to each candidate. Respect The Candidate Any form of aggressive conversation produces a very negative image of the interviewer and the company.  Do you know how effective your recruiters and hiring managers are with creating a positive experience for the candidate during the interviewing process?   How are the candidates responding to each one?   Are they leaving the experience with an overall satisfied view of your company?   If an individual exits an interview with a bad taste in their mouth from one of your employees, the branding of your company will be significantly diluted.   We live in a well-connected society with access to thousands, even millions, of potential employees and customers at our fingertips.   All it takes is for a couple individuals to say, “That company has some really unkind individuals working for them.   I really would not recommend taking a job there!”   The old saying, “treat others the way you wish to be treated”, should be a characteristic requirement within recruiting and hiring teams . Say My Name! The best way to ensure a good candidate experience is to make certain to say the candidates name throughout the interviewing process.   This will make the candidate feel considered and welcomed, it will ensure that the interviewer is providing 100% focus during the interview, and it will relax the atmosphere for a more collaborative interviewing experience.   Saying a person’s name during the interview encourages listening, generates a sense of value added response, and validates the candidates existence rather than being considered a number .   The most effective hiring teams understand the psychology behind speaking names.   They are winning the candidates faith and loyalty, along with strategically generating a positive brand in their company name in the process. My experience with the candidate experience One experience I would like to share with you occurred with a company that interviews thousands of candidates each year.  After this experience, I quickly made the above 3 practices a top priority with implementing in current recruitment practices.  And, the experience left me feeling extremely grateful for the people I work with on a daily basis.  I call this interviewing practice Lord of the Stinks.  If you wish to keep a strong company brand, dont try this practice at work. .ai-rotate {position: relative;} .ai-rotate-hidden {visibility: hidden;} .ai-rotate-hidden-2 {position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%;} .ai-list-data, .ai-ip-data, .ai-fallback, .ai-list-block {visibility: hidden; position: absolute; width: 50%; height: 1px; z-index: -9999;} Lord of the Stinks experience:  Upon entering the board room, the discussions began and within minutes,  I witnessed a recruiter frown and verbally snap at me for asking a question she thought had already been answered.   Then, I was sent to the second floor alone to meet with the hiring managers.   Once again, the receptionist frowned as if she was being bothered and asked that I take a seat.   One of the hiring managers was very professional, but the other, discussed personal information in a very condescending manner.   Finally, I met with the panel interviewers with one frowning the entire time, another interrupting my answers, and another checking her watch every few seconds.   The overall experience made me realize how company interviews should be conducted  only by a highly effective recruiting team of professionals. In thinking about your hiring process, I would like to leave you with these final thoughts; a potential candidate will spend less than 30 seconds determining whether to apply to your company.   The decision is based on how well your company has branded itself over the years.  The potential candidate should be thought of as the ‘keeper of the flashlight’.  Who will shine the light on your company?  I place my bet on the candidate that experiences fluid communication skills, receives respect, and leaves with a smile on their face because someone took the time to say their name.