Jobs are advertised, you have possible agencies on the case, or not. And ready to go for the candidates that are coming in.
This big blog! Covers the process of when you get the application, what to do with it? (ye, you need to do something with it!), how to plan for an interview, the interview. And other interviews too. Mostly this blog is getting down to find out the person in front of you, is the right person.
Let’s start with applications. And what to do with them?
Nearly every candidate I speak with has 1 complaint from all recruitment processes – be it agency or companies. And that is a response. Very few companies respond to applications.
Here are the 6 golden rules, I live by when it comes to dealing with all applications (and bear in mind, I deal with 10,000s applications a year!). Also bear in mind, 1 thing with all your applications. Candidates don’t always write good CVs. I’ll explain below a methodology I use too.
- Always respond to every application. You don’t need to be fancy. Set up a rule on the outlook in a folder, that sends an automated response for rejection. Once you’ve looked at the CV, drag and drop it into the folder. In the rejection email, invite them to come back to you for more feedback, and then you can deal with that on your time, individually. Again, that feedback doesn’t need to be fancy either, just state what you are looking for, and tell them there is no evidence of this in their CV. Very few return to that – 1/10 will challenge. This is good because then you might have a relevant candidate.
- Respond to all applications within 1 week. I have a methodology of dealing with all applications first thing in the morning helps set up my day. But I am a professional recruiter, that’s my job. You have a day job, doing your job. You can over a morning coffee, drag and drop, or respond to the people you want to work with daily. HOWEVER Respond to all applications that week, by Friday. Keep on top of them!
- Candidates CVs are not that well written – So I have a methodology – which I talk about here
The 55% rule. If the candidate CV looks kind of ok, about 55% close to the role, so better than halfway there. They fall into this grey area of either not right, or right for the job, but sent a crap CV. And I mean that with endearment. What I tend to see is candidates post on job boards a CV, and never update or change it for each application. The rules of CVs people say, like “keep it 2 pages” reduces the information, and sometimes that information – is what you need!
- Keep a record of good candidates – Obviously, you need to observe GDPR guidelines. But my advice here, link with them on Linkedin or get yourself a good CRM, or a cheap one, something to contain them on for future needs. Spreadsheets are ok, I’ll leave that up to you, keep in touch with them for future roles. Ping them an email when you have a job live. Don’t let them slip away in your emails, never to be seen again.
- Always let rejected candidates apply again. Never say to people, “if you have applied before, and not been successful, you needed to apply again” and that, or words to the effect of that – is not good for you. Going back to the 55% rule, an application might have been rejected. The candidate rewrites the CV, and applies again, or gains a qualification in the last 6 months or you have the right job for them – but they are put off by that wording.
- Important rule, if you applied for a job, how would you like to be treated? And that’s pretty much the rule for all of your recruitment processes. How would you like to be treated? Make the stand now, and build this process around the people who apply. It will show you, and the business in a good light = more applications!
I have the right candidate! What to do now?
Pre-interview.
- Have a good read of the CV.
- Create a minimum of 10 questions around the CV, that you need to know.
- Create questions around the last company/2-3 companies (about 5 years into the past). You need to work out, how much help and support, training and coaching the candidate has had? This will be important for later!
- Be prepared for questions the candidate may ask, and don’t worry if they don’t ask questions, sometimes people go blank in interviews, a mix of the stress/anxiety of the interview, so have questions they’d ask or you’d ask in an interview to cap the interview. Once you start doing this, you’ll normally get the candidate asking.
Remember you’re trying to find reasons to take this candidate to the next level. If there aren’t enough reasons, then let them know either there and then, or within 24 hours!
The Interview! (first meeting)
The 3 Golden rules of interviews!
- You’re not Claude from the apprentice. Tripping the interviewee up, trick questions, questions that are abstract – like “what sauce are you? And how would you market yourself” – only puts the candidate on a weird footing, and you won’t get the real person behind the CV. Ask your fact-finding questions. You’ll get enough from them!
- Always do small talk in the interview. Have a conversation, obviously try to stay away from politics and religion. Don’t make it too clinical!
- Your Conduct during the interview. Be on time, be truthful, treat the candidate with respect, don’t judge their career choices. Not everyone has control over their career, and some good decisions can go bad. Just look at 2020 as an example. But also, candidates are assessing you too, as a future boss.
I’ve experimented over the years, to get senior management – if you need a nod from some above you before you offer, to get involved now. Don’t bring them in at the end, and do another semi-interview. Just have them in the interview, ask the odd question, and you lead. If you are the senior manager, bring a person in to make notes!
Other interviews.
This is where to me it gets fun. Most jobs can be interviewed within 2 interviews if the first one was a good hour-hour and a half of getting to know each other. And if the senior manager gives the green light – all you need to do in this meeting is talk shop.
- Talk about the role, duties, have real job spec. And then discuss where the candidate will have done something similar or not (don’t worry if they haven’t done the small bits on the job spec, will explain!)
- Talk about the dynamics of the company, the good times, the plans, the future. You’re selling now, in case you need to offer in the job – you’ve built a picture of the brand.
- Talk about you, your journey. How did you get to where you are? How did you set up the business? Successes learn failures. Create a profile of your hard work in the candidates’ heads.
- Talk about the expectations of them NOW. Don’t do it later, make sure they understand now. This will help for later on when the candidate is working for you. You can refer to this conversation.
- Presentations – Now’s the time for them to do this. Let them do their presentation. But for a good presentation, make sure pre-interview you set them up with the right information you want them to present.
- Give them the job spec, company literature, handouts – You like this person, you need to give them confidence.
- Talk about the Money, and what it would look like, and progression. Discuss this awkward thing now, to get a sense of what they want. Really important you do this now. You need to know what they would accept versus what you can offer. And if it’s not aligned, go away first and have a think about it. Add it to your POST-Interview analysis.
At the end of every interview, make sure you tell the candidate the time frame of which you will give feedback – good or bad. ALWAYS call them up within 24 hours (working day) and give them feedback.
POST Interview analysis.
I always say, take notes – or have someone in the interview taking notes for you. You have to take notes, to objectively analyse if this candidate is right for your role.
You’re taking a complete stranger, normally at their word, if they are relevant for your role. So their skills, ability and little of their personality you have discovered so far, into consideration.
So you need raw facts.
- Can they do the job? If you remember a few blogs back, when you are building that job advert/job spec – Do they tick the “Crucial 1 thing they need?”
- Do they have the other skills?
- If they do, how good are they?
- Do they need coaching?
- Can you coach or train them? Hopefully, you have established the coachability of this candidate. If this is important to you.
- How did they make you feel? Confident? Did they answer the questions to the best of their ability would you say?
- Do you think you’d get on with them? I think this is important. We all have a natural ability to assess people when we first meet them. The first impression does count, BUT, it’s an interview, we all get nervous. Assess your feelings on them from the mid-end of the interview, when the nerves settled – and the questions/conversation is flowing more.
- Importantly – can you afford them, if they are that good, how can you keep them? (I will have a blog at the end of this series about retention!).
Gut feelings in this situation of analysis can take you down a road, and you may be right about your feelings about them. I have worked with HR managers in the past that interviewed with hiring managers, and their gut has said to them don’t hire them. They get hired, and low and behold it, the candidate fails mostly on their own accord.
However, lean in on the facts of the interview, and what you have discovered, look inward as a business and manager – where you can help that candidate achieve the goals set out? How do you circumnavigate failure – in the first 90 days, 6 months, year? With this person?
NEXT Blog – I will cover offers! And how to make one, what to say, and counteroffers – risks/issues, and why they happen!
Thanks for following this series!
Thanks for following this series!