Recruiting Tips from a non-HR person | Part 1

In the company that I work for, for the first time ever, never having had anything to do with HR, I became responsible for HR and very shortly actually became THE HR person myself.

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Having landed from Mars into the role of HR, my work is intuitive. Never studied it, never really read about it, never really considered doing it or becoming it. Only experienced it on the receiving end.

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When it comes to recruiting, again…never was trained on it, never really had a great chance to practice it but was (like all of us) many times the interviewee rather than the interviewer.

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After 1.5 years of recruiting, this 2 (or maybe 3) part series will be about how companies can create a distinguished RECRUITING EXPERIENCE that's appreciated and even praised by the candidates and at the same time effective for the internal stakeholders and participants.

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HAZARD WARNING: All tips coming from a non-HR person.

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To understand how to set up a memorable recruiting experience, you need to get back into the shoes of the candidates. So I am quickly going to flashback to some of my personal 'interesting' interview experiences.

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• Three months of radio silence. Three months of waiting for feedback after the first interview. Five follow ups from my side. Zero response emails. Not even 1 autreply email to simply tell me WE GOT YOUR MESSAGE, WE'LL REPLY AS SOON AS WE HAVE SOME NEWS. Nothing. Nada. Ghosting. To use a Greek expression "They wrote me on their old shoes". And when they did finally come back after 3 month "… we regret to inform you that....". No shit sherlock.

 

• When applying for an internal move, I ended up going through 6 interviews having already been in the company for 4 years. During 1 of those 6 interviews with HR, I asked the HR guy..."Since you're not hiring for the position of president of the United States, what is a reasonable number of interviews for an internal move for a mid-level employee?" The answer was that actually research shows that for an internal move a maximum of 4 interviews are sufficient. Yet still, I went through 6 interviews. Jeeeeeeeeeeeesus. Didn't get the job in the end!

 

• And here's my top of the tops experience: In the final round of an interview process, having verbally been offered the job, having agreed on the pay and the start date and having shaken hands on it…a week later, 1 hour before a get-to-know-eachother-better call with the CEO before the actual hiring, I got told that in fact the company couldn't meet the pay we agreed on but only at nearly 40% less!! Uh whaaaaat!?!? How the hell did you get that sooooooo wrong?!?!?

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But despite all these 'bad' experiences, what has annoyed me most over the years is the fact that I have NEVER received REAL helpful feedback from any of the interviewers except that I am a good fit or not and often told 'not senior enough'. But that is of ZERO value to me. No-one has ever taken the time to tell me about ME -> the impression that I made (or didn't). How did I come across? Did I inspire trust and reliability? And if not, why not? How was my body posture, my executive presence? Did I come across as someone you'd like to work with?

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So like many you, I too went from interview to interview not knowing how the people sitting on the other side of the table perceive me, not knowing whether I'm good at telling my story, convincing them about my skills and strong points etc.

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So now, as HR, I feel it is my duty to offer a respectful experience from which the interviewees come out more informed and aware about how they are perceived. Even if it doesn't lead to a hiring in our company, we can at least say that we helped them in doing better in their next interview, now knowing so much more about how they stand during interviews, what 'vibe' they give off and what impression they make on others.

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And the way to do this is SO DAMN SIMPLE.

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After each interview give INSTANT FEEDBACK.

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Personally, I start by telling them about my very first impression of them, from the handshake, to how they walked into the room, to their body language and their eye contact (or lack of).

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I tell them about how their nervousness showed at the beginning but as the conversation flowed, they become more relaxed and that's when the conversation really started to flow.

I tell them about how they made me feel. If they created a warm, friendly and trustworthy interaction or whether they held a bit of a distance. Not with criticism, just observations.

I tell them about the coherency of the story they tell.

I tell them about the moment that I saw the spark in their eyes and how their body language changed as they talked about something they love doing.

I tell them about their ease at answering questions.

I tell them about how they interrupted me one too many times.

I tell them that they talked without taking a breath or a pause.

 

There are sooo many types of feedback that you can give. Any of these types of observations from the person across the table is truly priceless for the interviewee. And btw, knowing that you will be giving this detailed kind of feedback at the end of the interview, makes you so much more observant during the interview, so it actually works very well for both parties.

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What I can tell you with facts from having implemented this approach, is that all the people that have gone through this process of instant feedback have been (a) at first taken aback because of the surprise element of really not expecting it but then (b) they have been really appreciative and THAT is the key.

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I cannot recommend this initiative enough.

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*it's also very good for boosting employer branding!

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Even if the feedback that you need to give is not all that positive, as long as it's given in a kind and friendly manner with clearly good intentions, it will definitely be appreciated. I once told a candidate, that he has a very strong CV and background, but the way he tells his story is all over the place, it's incoherent and haphazard. Why not help this person with such a good solid CV to get his story right for his next interview?

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Hiring is a result of perhaps an aggregated 2-3 hour interaction with the candidate. So for the interviewee to really nail that first good impression and ace that first (and often lasting) perception is key to a successful interview and resulting hiring.

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The only way for a candidate to get insights about the impression they make is for someone to tell them straight. You could make assumptions about the impression you think you made, but they could all be very wrong.

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So as interviewers, we should offer this priceless insight.

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We should intentionally go create this memorable recruiting experience.

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Feedback is a gift and we should offer it.

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It's low cost - high value.

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In the case of interviews, feedback comes from strangers who have NO BIAS and so it becomes even more genuine because it's PURE.

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[ Signed and Approved by: Non-HR ]