Be Candid With Candidates

Todd Downing

Hiring and recruitment, like all other aspects of business, continue to evolve at a faster and faster pace. The implementation of AI in the hiring process, for example, will increase the efficiency of the process itself.

There are hiring changes occurring that aren’t technology-based that when properly applied are proving to have a positive impact on attracting talent, increasing the retention of new hires and helping companies become a preferred place for careers.

At the top of this evolution in hiring is one simple, yet too often ignored, approach—transparency!

Companies who provide candidates a fully transparent interview process are finding that over time they attract better quality talent, increase offer acceptance rates, get new hires up to productivity faster, improve long-term retention rates and create a stronger employer brand in their community and industry. All the benefits of transparency authenticity are intertwined.

Top talent candidates who experience transparency in the interview process from the beginning are more likely to stay engaged throughout the entire process.

Transparency of compensation and trust developed with candidates results in an increased rate of offer acceptance. Candidates can make decisions on their compensation offer well ahead of the actual offer letter and are more likely to be flexible on their compensation expectations due to developing a trusting relationship.

Once hired and with a thorough on-board plan already shared with them during interviews, the new hires get up to productivity levels faster and often exceed them. Maybe most importantly, long-term retention rates increase, especially when coupled with a Training & Development program that was communicated to them during interviews. Over time, professionals in a company’s community or within the industry hear of the positive culture strengthening the overall employer brand to become a preferred career destination.

Transparency begins before the interview. Develop job descriptions that accurately reflect the responsibilities of the role, and more importantly, define the metrics of success in the role. Job descriptions with a vast number of responsibilities will leave candidates wondering just what the role’s real priorities are and they may not even bother to apply. Keep responsibilities reasonable and in a prioritized manner. Defining three specific and realistic key performance indicator (KPI) metrics is incredibly helpful to a candidate’s understanding of the role’s mission and is a core component to increasing productivity once on board.

An effective way to set a realistic KPI is to ask yourself: If the candidate doesn’t achieve the KPI in one year, will I have to fire them? This may sound harsh, but it does lead to companies setting KPI’s that are real, thus influencing positive long-term retention.

Help candidates prepare to be their best. Communicate interview timelines, including all the steps of the interview. Doing so prevents candidates leaving the process out of frustration. Change is constant and these timelines can often get derailed due to other business priorities and scheduling conflicts, but communicating any changes immediately develops candidate trust.

Provide candidates with company information, an accurate overview of the culture, names and titles of the interviewers, the type of interview questions the company asks, if there’s a behavioral assessment tool utilized, and if they’ll be required to do a presentation to a hiring committee. A successful hiring process is equally incumbent on candidates. Providing detail doesn’t mean doing the candidate’s job in conducting their thorough follow-up research on these details.

A conversation not an inquisition. Once candidate conversations begin, transparency is increased by having just that—a conversation. Included in this is realizing that no company is perfect, thus be prepared to be authentic and share with candidates where the company is challenged and what about the role will not be a bed of roses for any candidate. Be prepared to share what the on-boarding process is in specifics and exactly how your company invests in further professional training in their teams. Scripted questions lead to sterile conversation and scripted answers by candidates. We learn so much more about a candidate’s behaviors during a conversation rather than a scripted dialogue, as they’re more at ease and able to be themselves as opposed to someone that they think you want them to be.

Providing quality feedback within 48 hours to a candidate may be the best transparency practice a company can provide. High-quality candidates will stay engaged with the hiring process until that offer. Top talent that doesn’t receive thorough, timely, feedback will exit the process to focus on other job opportunities. Comprehensive feedback includes sharing how many candidates are in process. This is a critical transparency step. Please do not tell candidates the age-old HR line of “we’re interviewing several other candidates” if you’re not! Be transparent—is it one? Is it five? Or are there no more candidates? Sharing quality feedback to candidates being turned down will help them grow professionally and leave a positive impression of your company with them for the future. This is an important way to build positive company brand image in the community and industry.

Gone are the days when compensation decisions were made based on salary history. Twenty-two states plus 23 localities and counting have passed legislation banning employers from asking candidates for this information or basing hiring on the candidate’s current compensation.

Hiring managers: Please do not ask this question any longer! Transparency of compensation and benefits begins with their inclusion in the job description and extends through the final offer. This requires companies to invest time and resources to identify compensations that are fair and accurate for the role, industry and geographic location. When setting the compensation range, be clear on what the absolute max is and what the absolute minimum is. Many great candidates are now passing over job descriptions that don’t share this. Discuss the compensation range from the first interview and share benefit details. You’re building trust and increasing efficiency by eliminating candidates who are over your maximum range and improving the candidate experience.

Again, transparency in the interview process is incumbent on both candidate and company. Candidates: Take time before interviewing to identify your realistic compensation range. At the end of the day, the compensation range for a role is either a match or it’s not. Save your time and energy by reciprocating the transparency of a company sharing full compensation details. GT 

Todd Downing is Managing Director of Best Human Capital & Advisory Group in Indianapolis, Indiana. He can be reached at tdowning@bhcagroup.com.