Recruiters: What Halloween Character Are You? Part II

In my blog, What Halloween Character Are You? Part I, I discussed ways for applicants to make sure they were not the scary character when communicating with the hiring manager or recruiter. There is another side of the interview story that I think my fellow recruiters and hiring managers can relate to as well. We have a responsibility to deliver a great candidate experience. Do we really get it right though? I pose this question to my fellow recruiters and hiring managers- if your candidates were asked what your costume or Halloween character would be based on their candidate experience what would they say? Would you be a superhero, a wicked witch or an alien? Let’s see…

Superhero. The superhero has a mighty job and it can be summed up in one word – communication! The best costumes have lots of time, attention to detail and effort involved as does the candidate experience. The superhero identifies the needs of the job then relays that message in the job description appropriately. The superhero lets the candidate know where they are each step of the process. They answer questions like “What’s next? Am I still being considered? How long is the interview process? Did I get the job?” The superhero gives a realistic preview with the expectations of the position as well as how performance is measured. Ever thought about going the extra mile and telling the applicant additional information about the company that may not be available on the company website, LinkedIn or Google? Well the superhero does! What about sharing news about rewards or the company culture? Sometimes these small items can really excite the applicant.

Wicked Witch. Unlike the superhero, the wicked witch is not fond of communication and they put in less effort to provide a positive candidate experience. Similar to the boxed costumes in the store, the wicked witch’s candidate experience is not as memorable. Do you respond to applicants in a reasonable time? Are your responses projected in a positive manner? Do you give referrals the opportunity to interview? According to Jobvite almost 40% of hires are referrals. Being a wicked witch may result in losing a significant number of hires. The wicked witch has a grueling interview. They are late without notice or worse no shows for their scheduled interviews. They leave the candidates hanging and never provide status updates. Hopefully the candidate experience you provide would not be rated the wicked witch however if part of this description resonates with you there is a one word resolution- Change!

Alien. Earth to the alien recruiters! Don’t be so disheveled that you lose your grip on reality- literally. Let’s face it, as a recruiter or hiring manager most of us see hundreds of resumes a day, have dozens of voice mails and find time to interview for that star candidate while juggling many tasks. Do you take time to make sure you are not the alien who has an interview scheduled with a person you called last week and 2 minutes before the interview you are reviewing their resume and wondering why you thought that person was a match for the role? Do you get hung up trying to answer the applicant questions about a job because you have not taken the time to review the job with the hiring manager prior? Do you forget to update your ATS and now you are trying to recall if you followed up with an applicant? Come back to Earth! If this is you, ok yes you should be concerned that you are not investing all your skills and talents into making a great candidate experience however you can come back down here. There is a one word resolution – preparation.

Halloween is almost here, get ready to buy your costume. The candidate experience however is not seasonal! A recent Careerbuilder Survey on Candidate Behavior states that 69% of applicants who have a bad interview experience will not even purchase from the company so of course they won’t work for it! If we are transparent, unfortunately we would admit we have identified with all of these characters in some ways during our careers. We have to be in our best costume or character at all times. If you are not a superhero yet remember you can become one now by adding preparation, communication and change to your character and your superhero costume is well on its way!

Tina Smith is a Sr. Recruiting Specialist with The Steritech Group, Inc., the leading provider of brand protection services in North America. To see more interview, resume, and job search tips from Tina, follow her here on LinkedIn. To learn more about Steritech’s open positions, visit www.steritech.com/careers.