Recruiting and Your Brand
By: Noel Wagner, Director of Talent Acquisition
November 30, 2011
Does your recruiting process help or hurt your brand? You've got a great website, jobs posted, candidate tools and company information - awesome!
Does your recruiting process reinforce the virtual brand you've built or turn your candidates off completely? Recruiting is a sales function - you're selling why your company is the best place on Earth to work. The list below is from a Monster study of interviewing behaviors that will prevent you from hiring top talent:
#1 Recruiting Mistake - being SLOW; slow to follow up with candidates after phone screens, slow to schedule face-to-face interviews and slow to greet them in the lobby at their appointed time (this one not only makes you seem disorganized but that you have no respect for the candidate's time and that is an "in your face" negative impression, who would want to work there?)
70% of interviewees rank "acting like they have no time to talk to me" as a common - and annoying- behavior of hiring managers and recruiters. Hiring managers that go silent after talking with a candidate by phone or in person drives candidates crazy, they turn into stalkers calling and emailing and guess what? Candidates don't get the hint that you aren't interested, you need to tell them there will not be a next step then you won't have to keep dodging their calls.
Other irritating behaviors:
- Withholding information about position (57%)
- Turning interview into cross-examination (51%)
- Showing up late or rescheduling at the last minute (48%)
- Appearing unprepared for interview (47%)
- Asking questions unrelated to job skills (43%)
All of these bad behaviors equate to losing the top talent and hiring the mediocre candidates who can endure your crappy recruitment process; you know - the ones who haven't received any other job offers and are still on the market.
What's the best strategy to get your recruiting process in line with your brand image? Make recruiting a top priority part of your culture from the execs on down. Make sure everyone knows the recruiting timeline for interviewing, following up, etc. If the first candidate interviewed is PERFECT for the job, hire them! There is no benefit to continue interviewing more and more candidates and you're very likely to lose the first one and end up with 3rd, 5th or 10th choice. Train hiring managers not only to conduct a proper interview, but to make a positive impression on all of the candidates , by not doing the things above, even with the candidates who don't get hired and you'll build a great brand of being an employer of choice!