How Your Interview Process Affects your Brand Image

Interviews are a gateway into your company. They have the potential to impact your brand image and ultimately, your bottom line. Why then do we see so many hiring managers that take a casual and often unassuming attitude during the interview process? Candidates that walk away with a negative impression after an interview are less likely to buy your products, use your services, and are less likely to refer someone to your company. In other words, screwing up the interview process leads to more headache down the line.

A negative interview experience can manifest itself in many different ways. Here are some of the biggest culprits. 

1. Lack of responsiveness. Larger firms that receive a high volume of applicants sometimes do not send any response when applicants submit their resumes online. Candidates are left waiting in the dark, sometimes indefinitely. Similarly, after an interview process candidates are often not given timely feedback and are left waiting without any specific reason or explanation.
2. Sloppiness. Employers may be in a rush, don't prepare and may fall prey to their own habits. I have seen instances where hiring managers mistook the identity of a candidate (printed out the wrong resume), decided to simultaneously walk their dogs while taking a call with an applicant, and others who were playing CandyCrush while interviewing a senior executive face to face. Other less extreme examples include talking the whole time and not allowing the applicant time for questions or showing up 20 minutes late to the interview. 
3. Feedback Mechanisms. Internal recruiters and external recruitment agencies can play a big part in establishing a positive interview process. However, often times the quality of agencies can vary and employers have little power/influence over the candidate experience when it is outsourced, resulting in large gaps (that you never know about until it's too late).  
   

What can employers do? You do not need a talent management expert to solve the above problems. The first step is to acknowledge that it's more than "just an interview" and the impact this could have. Then it largely comes down to common sense and a willingness to put in basic processes and feedback mechanisms.  

1. Give yourself a 24 hour deadline to respond with constructive (positive or negative) feedback about the applicant you have met.
2. Treat the meeting as a business meeting. Prepare thoroughly and write out the questions you would like to ask, define the skills you need to test, and stick to an agenda. This is basic courtesy and will help attract passive candidates who will appreciate your professionalism. Also, read this book and this book. 
3. As a hiring manager, if you are partnering with an internal or external recruiter make sure you're using a partner who understands your business and you trust to represent your brand. Ultimately they are an extension of you. Using 20 recruitment agencies (common in Japan) makes this quite impossible, so don't hesitate to cut out the ones who are not adding any value. Using a retained search makes the process tighter and more focused. 

Great people are at the heart of great companies. Taking a serious approach to all stages of the interview process will not only help you save time but also increase your overall brand image to attract great talent!