Optimal Strategies: Best Practices to Use When Interviewing Top Candidates

One of the most common concerns we hear from candidates after their first few conversations or interviews with a company is they still lack an understanding of what the day-to-day process will feel like. It is great for hiring managers to express the vision of a role’s purpose, the long-term benefits for the employee and organization, go-to-market strategies, examples of a candidate’s past successes, and targets a high-achieving individual in this role should look to accomplish.

However, a clear picture of what this job would look like day in and day out is typically left out of the conversation. So what can you do to ensure a candidate feels confident they will succeed with your company?

Two simple strategies give candidates a warm and accurate introduction into what a role can feel like when they start.

1. Have specific success stories and employee testimonials for each role you are hiring for. If this is a position that you have had someone in previously, currently have someone in but working a different territory, or already have on the team but are just looking to add depth – then share their stories with the candidate. Use the feedback you receive from current employees to help sell your organization to a candidate.One of the most effective ways we have seen this done is by simply setting up a conversation for a candidate to speak directly to an individual currently doing the job without the hiring authority present. This allows the candidate to open up a little more; it provides an opportunity to ask what day-to-day operations feel like, what this individual has done that works well, and what they should try to avoid doing.  Most importantly, they can learn what it is really like working for your team. We have been encouraging hiring managers to ensure this is a part of their hiring process, especially for roles where someone is challenging themselves or taking a risk to grow and positively impact your organization.
   
   
   
2. We suggest establishing a mentor or peer within the organization who can have a conversation with a candidate throughout the interview process and be available once someone joins your team. While this can be similar to the first item, this mentor, or peer, should not be a manager or even a part of the same department. For example, if you are hiring for an operations role, you may choose to have someone in sales talk to the candidate so they can give a more wholistic perspective on what it is like being a part of the company and even shed light as to what they would look for out of the person that fills the role that affects their goals and objectives. This approach is meant to create an understanding for the candidate that their responsibilities go beyond just the team they work with regularly and create a deeper connection to the team as a whole.

We hope you are including one or both of these techniques in your hiring practice, but if you are not, we encourage you to think about it and the ways you can reinforce a positive environment for candidates you want to join your team. While this is not meant to delay your hiring process or completely change your hiring decisions, setting up a quick phone call for candidates to connect with others within your organization (that does include the hiring manager) gives both the candidate and team a clearer picture with fewer unanswered questions.