MARCH ARTICLE - Transparency is Gold

Our culture is amazing, our Leaders are best in class, our product is scaling faster than we could have imagined, financially we super strong, come join our company, everything is incredible! Sound familiar? Fast forward about a month into the new job at that new company. Is it consistent with what that Recruiter and the interview team explained to you?

Sure, there will be times when it is. However, I feel as though we as Recruiters and as an interview team need to be honest about the challenges and struggles of the company as well. Show some vulnerability. After all, that person is going to join and learn a lot about the company in a very short period of time. If you haven't been transparent about what they are walking in to, you aren't setting them up for success. By the way, being able to set up the candidate with someone from finance is a great way to help candidates understand the stability of the company during what is an unstable macro environment at the moment. Another way to be transparent.

Compensation transparency has been a hot topic lately. There are new laws in the United States that requires you to provide a range. Some are circumventing that by providing an outrageously wide range. Doesn't that tell you something about the company? Something to think about. Get on a call with a Recruiter and most will ask "what are your salary expectations"? I've done it too but I often do it when we are are trying to gage the true market value of a brand new role. Companies know the salary range they are willing to pay and should have a definite level of candidate that they are searching for. If that perfect candidate asks for $20,000 less than your minimum, should you pay them that? Won't that create equity issues? Why not tell the candidate right off the hop what the compensation numbers are? Be transparent and start things off on the right foot. Maybe your numbers are higher than what that candidate even wanted but what you've now done is you've gotten that candidate even more excited about the opportunity. As a Recruiter, that's your job after all.

Not enough Recruiters and not enough companies are as transparent as they should be. This is another way you can stand out. There are absolutely things that you can't share but start by making a list of the things you can share and what you feel would be important to a candidate. Gather questions from candidates that you don't feel comfortable asking and go to others in your organization to find out what you can answer. Transparency is another way to separate yourself from the other companies someone is interviewing with.