Conducting a great interview is down to the employer, not the candidate

Humour a poor headhunter for a second here and Google ‘interview preparation’. Actually, before you do that, I’ve got a bet for you. I’m willing to bet you my last penny a decent cup of coffee that 95% of results on page one of your search results will focus on the candidate. When I searched, EVERY SINGLE RESULT talked about how candidates could prepare and how they could make a good impression on you, the employer. I was overwhelmed with top interview tips and guaranteed a list of ‘questions that are bound to crop up’.

So for the purpose of this blog and in order to exercise my frustrated headhunter itch – I want you to imagine (close eyes, breathe deeply) that upon Googling ‘interview preparation’, the following results appeared…

• How employers should prepare for interviews
• How employers can make sure they’re getting the very best from each candidate
• How to make the interview process one which showcases candidates to the best of their ability
• How to make sure candidates leave interviews feeling great
• How can you expect to get the best candidate if your interview process is uninspired and ill thought out?

OK – so blame the last one on that frustrated itch I mentioned earlier.

And so I come to the point of my blog (it took me long enough, but headhunters can be storytellers too you know), the one piece of advice I’d like to impart on every employer and HR manager across the world is this: please, please, PLEASE prepare your interviews and interview processes with the same meticulous level of detail that you would expect a candidate to. Take responsibility from the moment you make contact with a potential employee to help them become an advocate for your business and give them every opportunity to shine.

I read a great blog recently, which – pleasingly – correlated with the above advice. The blogger, Arvind Ramani chose to cleverly draw comparisons between visiting an amusement park (the adrenaline, planning, information, utterly brilliant experience) to the experience you give every candidate who walks in your door. His points are all great, and you can read the full blog here, but I’ve chosen a few of my favourites below: 

Is the visitor to your amusement park targeting the right ride first thing in the morning?

Every candidate arrives with a certain set of skills and knows that this ride may have many more people with similar skill-sets. They are waiting in line with other people of similar interests but is he/she really waiting in the right line? Have you given enough guidance in the park brochure (read, job description) before the show starts? This really is the most important step in setting the expectation right for the entire day ahead – wrong ride = negative experience.

Tip: Get the right headhunter, brief them correctly on the role and personality you require and trust them to deliver ‘visitors’ to your park who are perfect for the ride.

Did the visitor experience an adrenaline pumping experience through the ride?

Was the interview process memorable? Did you, the interviewer, give a feeling that the candidate was special? Was the candidate tested to the limits on the experience? Did you allow enough chances for the candidate to scream their lungs out during the ride?

If not, you have failed, trust me. Revealing passion in an interview will give you a great insight into your ‘visitor’.

Did the visitor collect memorabilia from the park?

Did your candidate walk out of that room thinking, “I may not have got the best seat on the ride, but it sure was an amazing one!” The experience of the ride is most important, while you may never remember what you felt at every corner or every second.

Tip: If you can’t make the experience worthwhile, then I hope you never find yourself with the shoe on the other foot. Interviews are stressful and making sure candidates leave feeling valued – whether they got the job or not – is a responsibility you shouldn’t take lightly.

Would the visitor always like to ride in any branch of this amusement park again, anywhere in the world?

As the candidate walks out of the organisation after a long and tiring day, did you give him enough reason to believe that the whole experience is what will drive him to your organisation anywhere in the world? Will he be the ‘non-employee brand ambassador’ for your amusement park?

Food for thought? I hope so. If you’d like to discuss further and take me up on that decent cup of coffee then get in touch – I’d love to hear from you.

Oh, you can also follow my musings over on Twitter @acharleswarwick

Mark.