Blind dates are sometimes good, usually bad, and always weird at the beginning. So are many interviews between a candidate and a hiring company.
If you have never been on a blind date yourself, it's when a friend sets you up to meet a mystery person that you don't know and have never met before.
It beats me how hiring companies still treat applicants and candidates as though these people desperately need a job and subject them to abuse and arrogance by misinformed hiring managers.
Candidates still tell me how managers in charge of hiring and companies seem unprepared when they turn up for an interview.
Now, if you have no problems in your company with attracting, hiring and retaining staff, you can stop reading now. We envy you. For the rest of us, please keep reading.
WHAT IRRITATES CANDIDATES
So, if you are a hiring manager, HR manager, or just someone with whom applicants and candidates come in contact, here's a list of things that totally irritate and upset them.
These are the very people that you so badly need to hire -- but probably won't because they will reject your offer of employment because of the way they were treated:
- No information is given to the candidate prior to the interview about how many people s/he would meet; their names and what positions they hold in the company.
- No information is given if the interview would last an hour or perhaps consist of two or three back-to-back meetings that would last half a day.
- No information about the interview agenda and how the interview would be structured.
- No information is given about who to call, and a mobile number, in case of any delay on the way to the interview.
- A last-minute change of date and time by the hiring company, which leaves the candidate with a wasted day-off from their meagre annual leave entitlement.
TIME TO INTERVIEW
We are coming to the time where candidates are ready to interview with you. Here are some important tips for what is going to happen next.
- If you have outsourced your recruitment process to a third party to help find candidates, then know that you will be meeting "candidates" and not "job applicants". Candidates are typically fully employed, successful executives and not necessarily active job seekers. They have been nurtured by your third-party recruiter and have been convinced that a job in your organisation could be a career move.
- Candidates should be treated with the courtesy and respect that you would offer to your best customers. This helps ensure that the candidate's first impression of your company is positive.
- Interviews should have the tone of a meeting, an exchange of ideas, rather than a cross-examination of someone's background.
- Please be reminded that the candidate may have no more than an honest curiosity to learn more about the position and your company. If the candidate is not convinced about the opportunity after meeting you, the candidate may decide that s/he may not want to pursue the job. Just as you may decide not to move forward with the person.
- Sometimes interviews extend longer than initially planned. Be sure to allow sufficient time between interviews in the event of more lengthy discussions. It is also important to ensure that interviews are scheduled far enough apart so that candidates for the same position are unlikely to encounter each other. This avoids embarrassment on all sides, particularly in industries where many of the executives know one another.
HOW YOU IMPRESS
- Email candidates beforehand with the interview agenda, names/positions of who the candidate will meet, the estimated time the interview will require. Make sure to include a name and mobile to call in case of any unexpected delays on the way.
- The lobby area of your office and the meeting room will in most cases be the only thing the candidate will see when coming for the interview. And your receptionist and interviewer will be the only two people to represent your company and brand.
- The candidate's experience from arrival to departure is a major part of their decision to accept a job offer or reject it. You must put your best foot forward.
- Inform your receptionist about the interview with a candidate and ask her to say: "Welcome Khun Sunida, let me take you to the meeting room and I'll let Khun Robin know you have arrived."
- Make sure the meeting room has been cleared from a previous meeting. No coffee cups left on the table, the whiteboard is wiped clean, chairs put back in place, and a spray of air freshener. The room is ready.
STOP USING THIS FORM
For some unexplainable reason, applicants and candidates in Thailand are still asked by many companies to start their interview process by filling out an application form.
This form contains data typically needed once the person is hired, not during the process of assessing candidates.
It's one of those stupid leftovers from a time when there were more people than jobs. It was when companies had the luxury of an abundance of talented candidates for each vacancy. It was so long ago that Human Resources was known as the Personnel Department and reported to the Accounting and Finance Director.
Tom Sorensen is an executive search veteran at NPAworldwide with 20 years of experience recruiting in Thailand and recognised as one of the country's top recruiters and most profiled headhunters. To learn more, visit www.tomsorensen.in.th