Don’t Underestimate the Influence of the Hiring Manager on Candidates and the Interview Process
As a hiring manager, you have a significant influence on those you are interviewing. Also on the interview process as a whole and how it is perceived by candidates. Many, however, vastly underestimate this impact, instead handing off much of the responsibility for communication and co-ordination to the internal HR or Talent function. I get it — you’re busy enough already and this is their job after all. However, I believe this is a mistake.
Going out of your way to make the interview process as polished and professional as possible gives candidates confidence that you are invested in them from the very beginning, and gives them ample opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the organization, the position, and the people—things that the job description alone can’t fully convey.
You should aim to be the type of hiring manager who (amongst other things):
allows candidates to be comfortable and show their best self at the interview,
brings the job description to life and gives candidates a clear picture of what their future would look like with the firm, as well as honesty around the kind of challenges they might face; not merely what their day-to-day responsibilities would be over the next 12 months,
picks up the phone and calls a candidate personally after the second or third round of interviews to ask what they thought and to see if they have any questions, and
delivers the offer yourself.
But these things simply don’t happen as often as you might think.
These days, the vast majority of candidates are open to hearing about new job opportunities, but according to a LinkedIn study, “Inside the Mind of Today’s Candidate,” 56% are more likely to respond if the hiring manager reaches out personally. “People respond to authority often without realizing it,” it says. “We follow the man in a suit across the street against traffic but not the man in a t-shirt. We buy the medicine that’s ‘Doctor recommended’ over one that’s not.
Many candidates see hiring managers as having more authority, so they’re more likely to reply to them.”
So, even if your company isn’t on a lot of people’s radar, that doesn’t mean you can’t attract top talent, and making a difference is often as simple as just getting more hands on.
Further, according to Eliott Hoppe, a leading expert on body language, the candidate decision-making process starts before you even say anything. When meeting a hiring manager for example, it takes candidates four seconds to answer four questions:
1) Do I like you?
2) Do I trust you?
3) Are you safe?
4) Who do you remind me of?
“Consider too, that even in a short 20-minute meeting, a person can transmit up to 700 non-verbal signals, and that’s beyond the verbal communication already taking place,” explained Hoppe.
I always say that you don’t have to work for a company on the world’s best employer lists to distinguish and differentiate yourself in a crowded, noisy job market. However, no matter where you work, you should always aim to be a hiring manager who goes out of their way to put together a world-class interview process, putting candidates at ease, giving them every opportunity to perform highly throughout the process, and providing a positive impression of everyone they meet, starting with you. After all, if people leave managers, not companies, then they certainly join managers too.
What do you do to ensure the best candidate experience during the hiring process?