Introduce two-way assessment processes to improve your hiring

Have you ever found the ideal candidate for a crucial role, only to see them snatched away by a competitor or swayed by a counteroffer from their current employer? These scenarios highlight the reality that hiring is a two-way street.

If you’ve experienced rejection from an applicant or candidate, you are not alone. You may have asked yourself:

• Where did it go wrong?
• What could you have done differently?
• Was it something you said in that face-to-face interview?

To avoid this feeling, we must focus on creating an irresistible employer brand. Let’s start thinking about the recruitment process as a two-way approach. Recognizing the importance of selling the company to candidates is essential to improving your hiring process.

Why is the assessment process important to hiring effectively?

One of the most critical moments in the recruitment process happens when the candidate interviews you in person. The candidate's experience here can significantly impact their final decision. The interview stage is where a candidate will form their views on the organization and the specific job based on their experience.

During our reviews of a client’s assessment process, we regularly encounter face-to-face interviews that need improvement. The design of the process often skews toward evaluating candidates’ suitability for the role and the organization. Employers are assessing candidates but ignoring the fact that this is when the candidate will assess the organization too. Here, a candidate will decide whether the company is also a good fit.

Pitfalls to avoid during the interview process

Employers run the risk of losing potential candidates who you’ve spent time engaging with by:

• Not inviting candidates to ask questions about the open role or job description.
• Failing to ask about plans for the future.
• Not engaging in key topics that may impact hiring decisions.

It is crucial to train your hiring managers to represent the organization correctly. Hiring managers must step beyond traditional interview techniques. Interviews shouldn’t see employees and employers sitting across a table in awkward silence. There are several ways to adapt to the modern expectations of an interview.

Ways to refocus your assessment approach internally

Achieve “Approved Recruiter” Status

An Approved Recruiter training program can set benchmarks for your Learning & Development team. Managers who recruit as part of their role need to pass the course before they can interview for new hires. For one Hays client, this approach generated immediate improvements to the candidates' feedback post-interview. Not every company will have the ability or resources to develop and deploy this official approach. But you may want to consider applying set criteria for all hiring managers to follow.

Distribute training via learning management systems (LMS)

If your organization has a good LMS platform, consider creating a module for assessment best practices. A best practice module can help train hiring managers on:

• How to sell the organization.
• How to identify the candidate's areas of interest.

To encourage your team to engage with the LMS, offer support on using any assessment toolkits. Make it easy to engage with interview assessment processes. This will prevent the recruitment team from falling back into one-sided interview tactics. You’ll be able to implement new approaches fairly and with confidence.

Host face-to-face training on delivering a positive candidate experience

If a self-guided LMS doesn’t work, consider a more direct approach to improve your hiring process. A common approach is for internal recruiters to review a set of training slides. We recommend that at least one-third of these slides focus on:

• Building rapport with the candidate.
• Understanding their individual needs and wants.
• Building the candidate's interest in the organization.

Face-to-face training still plays a major role in amending behaviors. Avoid patronizing the team by explaining why the assessment process is important to hiring. Focus on adapting to a new world of recruitment rather than on “correcting” past behaviors.

Checklist for improving your recruitment strategies

When you consider the return on investment, making your assessment a two-way process should be a top priority. You can save time and money by recruiting only once, rather than repeating the process after a candidate rejects your offer. To improve your hiring process, consider the following:

• Invest in your employer brand proposition.
• Train hiring managers to promote the organization during interviews.
• Be positive and encouraging during interviews to avoid off-putting candidates.
• Invite candidates to ask questions to the interviewer.
• Offer honest insight into your workplace—remember that candidates will soon know if you sell an unrealistic expectation.
• Demonstrate your company culture on social media.

Making these small changes will help your hiring managers qualify candidates for a new role. Hiring applicants who are bought into your company culture can turn great candidates into new employees. These employees can then become future leaders for your organization.

Save time and stress by taking a holistic approach to assessing candidates

Developing a holistic solution, focusing on the candidate's experience, should be a priority for all forward-thinking employers. When was the last time that you ‘mystery shopped’ your own recruitment process? Do you understand the experience you have designed for your applicants? Make it a priority to impress your candidates as much as they impress you. In doing so, you will quickly have a plan of attack to improve the candidate's experience.

Developing a two-way assessment process with Hays

By developing an effective two-way assessment process, you can ensure potential candidates choose your organization over the competition. Learn how to evaluate candidates with Hays' help:

Recruiting Gen X,Y and Z to your business or contact the team to explore how we can elevate your assessment processes.