First Person to Interview for the Job? Don't Worry About It.

A lot of times in the IT industry, a company will have multiple roles open.  This is especially the case in Engineering. But what about that one high profile role? You know, the Sr. Product Manager, the UX Designer, the Director of Engineering? In situations like this, the search is comprehensive and as many as 7-10 candidates can make their way to the onsite interview and that is just for one spot. What if you happen to be the first person to interview? Does that work against you?

You learn about the position through a staffing agency, a posting on a Job Board or maybe a former colleague sends it your way. Whatever the case, you learn about it quickly and given that you are looking for new opportunities, you send in your resume and you get called upon immediately.

What's interesting at this stage is how quickly the interview process can move. You do the first phone call, then perhaps a coffee meeting with the hiring manager and from there, you do the company onsite that lasts 4-6 hours. The brisk pace develops this intimacy between you and the company and you can't deny how everything is clicking so well. Inside 10 business days, you have completed the interview process and naturally, you start to wait for word on an offer. 1-2 days after your onsite interview, you receive this email from the internal recruiter:

Hey Jonathan, I simply wanted to circle back and tell you what a pleasure it was having you come in and meet with everyone to discuss our Sr. Product Manager opportunity. I wanted to update you on this search. As it turns out, you were the first person we spoke to about this opportunity. We do have some other candidates that we need to engage with but we will keep in touch and we should have an update in the next 1-2 weeks. You are welcome to check in with me if there are any changes on your end.

Have a great day and I will be in touch with you soon.

Richard

Okay, what do you make of this? I will admit, it is a letdown. You almost have to dial yourself down because the pace that you've been moving with this company, while once fast, has now come to a halt. Furthermore, while you are still working at your current employer, the experience brought you so close to this company that you felt, to a small degree, like you were part of their organization. You met with HR, the entire UX design team, some of the software engineers and of course, your potential future boss. This was a very comprehensive interview process and now you're put in a holding pattern. While once close, you are now far apart again.

In a situation like this, please allow me to say this. After 20 years of recruiting, I honestly feel that:

Time does not take away from your interviewing performance. As the days and possibly weeks go by, they will not forget about you and their experience with you. Their opinions and experience with you, as a candidate, will not be diminished through time.

Here is a real world example I had once with a Technical Marketing Manager position I recruited for. I was working onsite at the client and the first person who interviewed came in and crushed it. I mean, across the board, everyone knew she was an excellent fit for the role. I almost remember the words from the COO when he came to me after the interview. Here is what he said:

Mark, we like Mary a lot. I mean, she is really good. But as you know, we just started this search and in the name of good business, we simply want to engage with a few more candidates just so we're 100% sure on this. Here's what I'd like to do. I want a very aggressive recruiting effort on this position and I want 3-4 more candidates through the door by end of next week. Even if they are just passively looking, let's get them in here. Just enough so we can huddle and conclude with 100% certainty that Mary is the one. Meanwhile, with Mary, perhaps can you dig around and find some backchannel references on her? I saw that she used to work in SMB at Dell so I imagine **** **** worked with her. Also, check in with her after a week to see if she is close to accepting anything else.

Okay, from this note above, notice the reference to the "passive" candidates. The company isn't too concerned about finding other candidates who are ready to work at the company, they just want to speak with other candidates who might be as strong as you! This is a good thing. Also, take note of the backchannel references. Don't worry about this. Yes, if you crush an interview, a company is going to do their own digging around. However, that's only to confirm their very positive impression of you. This is also a good thing. Let them poke around and let others tell them how awesome you are.

Now, this process does take some some very strong pipeline management skills by the internal recruiter. It is their responsibility to check in with you and keep you updated on the interview process. One example of an update would be notifying you that the company has one candidate coming in for an onsite on Thursday and one more on Friday. After that, the interview process will be completed. You're being notified that this is coming to an end and that closure is near. This is critical.

If the recruiter goes dark on you, it could be a morbid error. Weeks can go by and you will hear nothing. I once checked in with a client after one of my candidates interviewed a few weeks earlier and this is what their recruiter had to say to me:

Mark, we're still on hold and I will keep you posted...

That was it! Nothing else. Folks, this doesn't get it done. That tells me two things:  The company is most likely moving forward with other candidates. No problem with that as these things happen. Or, the recruiter simply isn't doing a very good job. Listless replies like this aren't a big deal until you have to send this update to the candidate 6 weeks later:

Hey Mary, just checking in. How are things going for you? We wanted to circle back and see if you were still interested in the Marketing Manager role we have available? Can you please reply at your earliest convenience?

Message to the companies: Don't ever do this, please. Don't ever interview someone and they crush it but then you go quiet for 5-6 weeks only to come back checking in with them. That candidate will be gone. This is poor candidate management and nothing else. Yes, they were the very first candidate to interview and understandably, you wanted to speak with others. However, this candidate was excellent and deserved proper follow up. However, you didn't properly keep in touch and because of this, you lost someone who was once engaged and very interested in the opportunity. This simply can't happen.

In closing, let me repeat,

Time does not diminish your interviewing performance. The company will remember you and all candidates that come after you will be evaluated individually. 

So, when that new hot job opens up and you see yourself at your computer contemplating your submittal, my advice is to go for it. Be the first to apply, walk through those doors and crush that interview. After all, I didn't even talk about how many times companies have interviewed just one person and hired that person! Don't forget that this dynamic also happens quite a bit. At the very least, you'll always be remembered by the company as that candidate who started their search off with a bang.

And that's a good thing.

Mark Cunningham
Technical Recruiter
512-699-5719
[email protected]
https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/markhc
https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com
https://thebiddingnetwork.com
@mhcrecruit