Interviewing & Follow-Up

If you have been job hunting lately, chances are it has gone something like this: you see an ad, you send in your resume, you get called for an interview, and you leave the interview confused and frustrated about the process. Traditionally done by the human resources department, the hiring process is now being done by managers, supervisors and other employees who lack the skills and knowledge to carry out this function. The job description is written to address the functional skills of the job, but besides often being poorly written, that is rarely the sole basis on which a hiring decision is made. We’ve all been hired based on the job description only to find out it has little to do with what actually happens once you start working.

 

So what is missing here? Employers are missing an opportunity on three fronts. First, the hiring process costs money. Missed production, training, equipment are examples of costs involved in employee turnover. The longer it takes to hire someone, the more it costs the company. If the person responsible for interviewing doesn’t have the correct or adequate training in the process, opportunities could be lost for getting someone capable in place sooner, rather than later. 

 

Second, the hiring practices is a reflection of the company’s values. When the company treats applicants as potential assets who can contribute to the company, this will appear in other parts of the company – employee retention will be higher. When an employer treats applicants as acquisitions to fill a position and forgets to acknowledge that the people sitting in front of them are people who deserve to be treated with respect, chances are it will also be a company that has a high turnover rate. “We don’t have a lot of time to spend on the hiring process, or to follow up after someone has interviewed,” is a value statement. It’s not about time. It’s a statement about the organization’s belief that the hiring process is not important, nor are the people involved. 

 

Third, employers seem to not view the hiring process as part of their public relations strategy. If I walk away from the process feeling good about it, even if I don’t get hired, I’m likely to refer someone else to the company, but their products, volunteer or donate to the organization. If I walk away not feeling good about the interview process, they’ve lost not only my business, but the business of the 10-15 other people I am going to tell about it.

 

In my own personal experience, as well as in discussing this issue with other people, several common practices during the interview process seem to occur quite often. Note that these are all people who have had several years of work experience and for one reason or another are in a situation where they have to look for another job. These occur in both the for-profit and non-profit businesses.

 

·         An applicant goes in for an interview only to find out he didn’t get the job by seeing the job posted on a website again.

 

·         “We will be making a decision by the end of this week,” and that is the last you hear from them. Follow up calls are not returned.

 

·         The interview is scheduled for 2:30 pm, and the person who is to conduct the interview finally shows up at 2:50 pm.

 

·         “We have only 15 minutes to do this interview,” and they spend 10 minutes telling you about the company.

 

·         An applicant goes in for an interview, doesn’t hear from the company again, and winds up on their mailing list for donations, volunteer opportunities or sales catalog.

 

·         The interviewer is unable to state what are the values of the company.

 

·         The interviewer has been told what questions to ask the applicant, but has no skills in being able to interpret the answers.

 

·         The interviewer has no knowledge or understanding in how to assess the transferability of the applicant’s skills to the current workplace.

 

·         The actual function of the job isn’t defined very well or the title of the job doesn’t fit the function of the job.

 

 

 

·         Decide that the hiring process is an important part of your overall public relations strategy.

 

·         Decide that the hiring process is an opportunity to bring someone in who can be an asset to your organization.

 

·         Decide that what happens during the hiring process matters.

 

·         Decide that it is worth the investment to give your employees the proper skills to conduct an interview – especially if you are going to use people who are not HR specialists to conduct the interviews.