Set up the interview process for success

Having spoken about the candidate, how to treat them, and more importantly how to interview them in a way to fully understand their needs and experience, I now want to move on to client management and, most importantly, the Interview Process. My advice to any recruiter is that you strive to get yourself to the level where you can advise and consult your client in order to give them the best chance of success when hiring talent — isn’t this what they would want? They are the experts when it comes to running their businesses, however the value of a good recruiter is that you should hold the expertise and take the lead when it comes to managing and driving an effective and smooth recruitment process.

If we think about recruitment and everything it involves, we see that it is actually a complex business as it involves an awful lot of moving parts, including the biggest moving part of all — people! The trick for achieving success, is to be able to identify what the moving parts are in advance of starting the recruitment and getting them nailed down as best you can. Going into a piece of recruitment with your eyes closed and attempting to deal with things that move as and when they happen, is a recipe for disaster as the consequences will impact negatively on the candidate and client experience and can result in actions that go against plan.

We can all think of occasions when a piece of recruitment hasn’t gone to plan and the question to be answered is was it “bad luck” or “someone’s fault” or was it actually down to a poor process or a failure of the client and the recruiter to work together effectively as a team? I would suggest that in the majority of cases it is the latter. Think of a situation where a job offer is rejected because the client can’t meet the candidate’s expectations — it’s a classic example of an situation that is avoidable and shouldn’t happen but often does.

For this reason, recruiters must develop the confidence and gain the skills to be able to manage their clients and push back. You are the expert and so allowing a client to run a process in a way that you know increases their risk of failure without raising the concern is unacceptable. If a client does have an interview process that is set in stone, then that’s ok as it is sometimes the case, but think of how it helps for you to know this beforehand so that you can manage the expectations of the candidate accordingly. Whilst not ideal, people will be prepared to wait a week for interview feedback if they know in advance that this is how long it will take.

The recruitment process — what does a good set-up look like

Having spoken about nailing down in advance the moving parts, let’s now consider what ‘good’ looks like when it comes to setting up a piece of recruitment properly — what are the parts that must be qualified and agreed upon upfront to prevent problems downline?

• The client should have a written job description. If they don’t have one, then help them to write it. This document sets the benchmark for what a good candidate like.
• A well-defined interview process, including the number of steps and people involved. This allows the recruiter to set and manage candidate expectations.
• Check to confirm that collaboration has taken place between all stakeholders involved in the interview process and that there is group consensus on the job vacancy and the person specification.
• The salary range plus the benefits package should be clearly stated — the “we’ll pay what it takes” approach does not work.
• A face-to-face meeting (or a video call) between the client and the recruiter delivering the work MUST take place so that the job description can be discussed and qualified and consensus agreed. If the work is with a new client, this meeting is also where the recruiter gets to understand the Client’s brand and culture and their employment proposition as well as the career opportunity for potential candidates. Trying to recruit without having this meeting and working off just a written job and person specification is the biggest mistake a recruiter and a client can make. It’s a set-up for failure!
• Client expectations need to be set if necessary. Assuming that the recruiter knows their market, now is the time to advise the client on whether what they are looking for is achievable and, if it isn’t, agree on where compromises can be made.
• Timescales for delivery and the availability of the hiring manager for interview need to be determined.
• Agreement on project reporting and update meetings to be diarised.
• Agreement on timescales for the client to deliver interview feedback to the recruiter and for the recruiter to deliver candidate feedback to the client . Remember, time kills in recruitment.
• Sign-off/formal agreement on the recruiter’s fees.
• Agree to presenting a candidate quickly. As well as being a candidate for selection, this person acts as a benchmark to check that all parties are agreed in what they are looking for.

Take time out to consider the potential consequences of carrying out a piece of recruitment without addressing the factors above — how might any one of these impact on success. The bottom line is that trying to “close the stable door after the horse has bolted” doesn’t need to be an option if, as a recruiter, you develop the skills and take the responsibility for managing your client and the recruitment process.

There are two other key elements that need to be mentioned at this point alongside the nailing down of the interview process, and they are pace and two-way communication (Client: Recruiter and Recruiter: Candidate). Time is a killer when it comes to recruitment and everything that can be done to speed up the process once it starts must be done. For example, calls for candidate and client feedback should be diarised in advance of interviews taking place, dates for second interviews can be put provisionally into the diary before the first interview takes place, etc. Two- way communication goes without saying. If a client doesn’t get back to you with feedback, then you can’t manage the candidate and if you can’t manage the candidate then sadly you are out of control.

Of course, what I describe is how things should work in an ideal situation and this won’t always be achievable. The point is though that much of what happens in a recruitment process can be controlled and managed if the recruiter is armed with the right skills and is proactive in nature rather than remaining passive and allowing themselves to be driven.

The job description and person specification

I have spoken about how to interview a candidate using needs-based selling to understand their experience and ambitions for the future. The same sales skills must be used when speaking to a client to discuss a job description and person profile. Use open questions to drill down into every line of the job description and the candidate specification so that you, and your client, understand exactly what it is you are looking for.

As an example, consider a statement in a job description that states “the job involves some travel”. If you only take this statement at face value then it can mean many things . It is only by drilling down that you can truly understand what it means and the value it then brings you when carrying out candidate shortlisting.

Client: The role will involve some travel

Recruiter: When you say some travel, how much do you mean and where to?

Client: Approximately 30%, and mainly in the UK

Recruiter: When you say mainly UK, what % is UK and where is the rest?

Client: 60% will be in the UK and the remaining 40% is in North Europe.

Recruiter: Is the travel every week?

Client: Usually it’s every two weeks

Recruiter: Typically, how many days will the travel be for?

Client: They are normally two or three-day trips.

As you can see it’s a lot of questions to get to the bottom of what the client actually means, but think of the confidence it will give you by understanding this when it comes to deciding who you should and shouldn’t put forward.

Conversely, imagine how things could play out if you don’t qualify this point hard? Think of the scenario where you put forward the perfect person for the job and the client sets their heart on hiring them. What if it transpires that this candidate has a young family you were unaware of and entered the process with a different understanding of what “some travel” meant because you didn’t know yourself. It could be a deal-breaker when, or worse still, if it comes to light later in the process and imagine how this outcome will affect the client and candidate experience and what impact it has for the reputation of you the recruiter?

So, what is the takeaway from this topic? It’s my view that the ultimate responsibility for the running of a successful recruitment project lies with the recruiter – its your job title and you must take accountability! Tie down the process, set up the right channels for communication and then drive the process — it’s all in your hands if you are prepared to push for it.

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