How to improve your interview process to attract top talent

Not too long ago, I wrote about how The Great Resignation was creating drastic changes in the type of workplace benefits people are seeking, with ping pong tables and free snacks being usurped by greater flexibility.

And, given the number of jobs and choices that candidates have, it’s made attracting talent harder than ever. It’s also more important than ever, since your chances of closing a candidate hinge on your ability to provide an offer and an employee experience that matches their personal motivations. The usual levers—salary, bonus, and other incentives—just aren’t getting the job done on their own anymore. And before you even get there, you have to sell the candidate on your company, mission, and culture.

Does your interview process reflect your company values and culture? It should, because that’s certainly what the candidate is experiencing. If they are meeting busy hiring managers who are checking email and Slack during a virtual interview, what does that say about the company culture? If they have several interviews with different managers and get asked a lot of the same questions, what is their impression likely to be?

Interviews are a two-way street, and if you want to have a chance to close your top candidate, then you need to convince them from the first interview to the last that your organization has something unique to offer them. Here’s how to start.

According to Glassdoor, 96% of job seekers value companies that embrace transparency, so while you may be tempted to gloss over the challenges of a particular position, don’t. Paint a fair picture of the role and challenges. The last thing you want is for a great candidate to join and realize two weeks in that they were misled as to the state of things. In my experience as a recruiter, when being upfront with the difficulties of a role, candidates tended to relish the challenge that would come with solving the problem. And those that didn’t? They would have been a disaster anyway, so better that they opted out early.