Some employers orchestrate a rigorous and intensive hiring process. They aim to ‘weed out the weak ones’ to find top tier job candidates. It can be an unpleasant experience for everyone involved, and typically, it’s mostly dubious individuals that are hired under these practices.
The best businesses try to support their candidates through every step of the hiring process. The job applicants can then feel comfortable, in their element, and thus more likely to offer a positive first impression.
Moreover, more meaningful interactions can occur this way, which will get your working relationship with the successful applicant off to a good start. Many successful people feel enough self-doubt, so mitigating those feelings where possible is highly encouraged.
You should try to get the best out of your job applicants at every opportunity. Here are a few ways you can succeed in this.
Write A Detailed Job Description
Candidates for a role will study a job description closely. They may highlight sentences of particular interest or annotate phrases they wish to discuss further.
Therefore, you should write a detailed job description that they can study rigorously. The more information they have to go on, the more prepared they can be for the interview process. You and the candidate can facilitate a focused and nuanced discussion about the role this way.
Confidence in the candidate will be born of this, which will help them present the best version of themselves possible. They may be less stressed and more genuine as a result. After that, you can be more confident about whether or not the applicant is right for your business.
You could utilise a free job template from Hiring People to keep everything ordered and organised. That way, when you post a job online, your potential candidates will be able to follow all the things that are expected of them more easily. You can also learn how to write high performing job adverts that will get a better response, so really optimise your efforts with Hiring People. Advertise a job on over 100 job boards with their support too.
Try To Avoid Cheap Tricks
Some employers think they’re clever for laying traps for the candidate to fall into. Most of these deceptions aren’t all that bright or revealing about the candidate in question.
For instance, one business tried to gauge whether candidates would take their empty coffee cups back to the kitchen after the interview. If they left it on the table, they were refused the job. While it’s good manners to take a coffee cup back, a person’s professional prospects should not hinge entirely on trivial tests of character. People can be forgetful if they’re nervous and are not necessarily intending to be rude.
Try to keep your focus on the parts of the interview process that really matter. The hiring process should be about exciting revelations and building an earnest familiarity, not secretly deceiving one another. Furthermore, if you’re judging your candidates on trivial grounds, there’s a strong chance you’ll be turning away kind and hardworking professionals from your workforce.
You should give the candidate role-based hypothetical problems to solve. However, whether they succeed in coming up with a solution isn’t important. It’s more vital to see how they adapt to the circumstance, show their thinking, and see whether they give up if they struggle. The correct answers to these problems can always come with training.
Learn To Read Body Language
Body language is a highly important tool during the hiring process. It can reveal nuances of a person’s character.
First, try to make sure that your body language gives off the right impression. Once the candidate can see that you’re at ease, they may feel more inclined to become relaxed as well. Be sure to offer a kind smile, offer eye contact, and keep your arms open either at your sides or on the table between you. This openness will encourage the candidate to open up to you more.
You should pay attention to the candidate’s body language too. Do they appear to be nervous? Are they often fidgeting? Is their level of eye contact sporadic? These are all signals that you should at least make some effort to put them at ease. Of course, there’s only so much you can do here, though.
It may also be worth thinking about the nuances of digital communications in recent times. Much of the correspondence around the hiring process now takes place online, including the interview stage. Analyse how messages read, what punctuation is used, and how candidates utilise formal or informal language behind a screen. It may all reveal something about their character and attitudes.
Let Them Talk
If you let the candidate do most of the talking, they will either impress you wholeheartedly or figuratively dig their own professional graves. Give them the stage, and they’ll perform for better or worse.
Some employers do most of the talking and lead a lecture rather than conducting an interview. They reveal everything about themselves and their business without ever learning anything about the job applicant. The interview isn’t the time or place for employers to brag, so there needs to be a sense of balance at work here.
Try to craft questions that you can expect long and insightful answers to. Focus on parts of the applicant’s experience that you suspect they’d be thrilled to elaborate on further. Ask them about their passions in their personal life, and see if they light up with vigour and energy when discussing the things they love.
Of course, you shouldn’t sit in silence while the candidate speaks. Try to be a guide in the conversation and implement a basic framework. After that, the applicant should be set up perfectly to partake in a lively exchange instead of contributing brief affirmations or meandering on their points.
Answer Their Questions
The job applicant may ask you questions towards the end of the interview process. Answering as much as you can is in your best interests. It will facilitate the discussion further and help you learn more about them as they get more information.
Anticipate questions about the type of career path the candidate could expect should they be hired. You may also be expected to detail why you enjoy working with the company. These lines of enquiry should not be met with scripted answers. They’re a chance for you to reveal why the applicant should be excited to work with you.
Take your responsibilities seriously here. Try not to rush this part of the process. Provide thoughtful answers that highlight your company’s ethos.
Remember that your answers could motivate the applicant further into impressing you should there be a second or third round of interviews. You could also establish a stronger and more friendly rapport with them, which will imbue future interactions with more positive energy. The job applicants can then thrive even more in that atmosphere.
Conclusion
It’s important always to try to get the best out of your job applicants. Remember that they’re human beings with flaws and that it’s not worth anybody’s time to try and undermine them. The best employers give their workers everything they need to succeed, and the same courtesy should be extended to job applicants. Those who make the most of the golden opportunity you provide are the people worth hiring.
