Knowing exactly what job seekers are thinking is a guessing game -- one recruiters frequently lose.
Each individual is unique and expects something different out of their next career. On top of this, 66 percent of recruiters says competition for talent is their biggest challenge, according to LinkedIn’s U.S. and Canada Recruiting Trends 2017 report.
With competition for talent high, job seekers have more power over their job search than ever. Recruiters are on the hunt for the best and most dedicated employees who fit well within their culture -- making interview processes hold even more weight than before.
How to Get Inside the Mind of Your Ideal Candidate
However, in order to perfect your own interview processes, it’s crucial to understand what’s going on in job seekers’ minds throughout their journey. Here are four things you can do to master the secret art of getting into job seekers’ minds:
Go through your own interview processes
Why you should do it.
“Treat others the way you would want to be treated.” This isn’t just a golden rule, it’s the golden rule of recruiting. Let’s face it, if you have no idea what people are going through during your interview process, how can you be sure you’re offering the best candidate experience?
There’s no time to waste when it comes to honestly assessing your company’s interview processes. In fact, Jobvite’s 2016 Job Seeker Nation Study found 51 percent of workers are satisfied, but open to a new job. This means in order to find, attract, and retain top talent, your interview processes have to mirror job seekers’ expectations as much as possible.
How to do it honestly?
Ask one of your trusted co-workers to put you to the test with your own interview processes. Start with the first email interaction, phone calls, one-way video interviews, all the way to stepping through your doors for an in-person interview.
As you’re going through the steps, think about what the interviewer, company, or even current employees would need to do in order to make you leave your current position. What would impress you the most or make you feel like you belong as part of this team?
Keep yourself accountable by taking real-time notes. Write down how the process made you feel, what you noticed when you walked through the doors of your company as an interviewee, and the final opinion you have of your company.
Use these notes to not only alter your interview processes, but also the way your office physically appears, and to identify which part of your company culture needs highlighted to candidates.
Ask candidates to visualize their perfect workplace
A positive employee experience needs to begin with the interview. Focusing on creating the ideal workplace only for your current employees will leave potential candidates in the dark about why they’ll fit well on your team.
This means it’s important to know exactly what candidates are looking for in their future workplace. Use pre-screen video interviews to have candidates describe their perfect office, co-workers, and position. Being able to see people as they give these responses will help you better assess their personalities and cultural fit.
Be specific and creative with your questions.
What color are the walls? How frequently do you work together with your team? What tools do you use to best perform your tasks?
For those who make it through to the next round, use their answers to highlight the perks of your workplace.
Offer anonymous surveys to new hires
When attempting to dig deep into job seekers’ minds, there’s no better place to get information than your new hires. They’ve been in the trenches of your current interview processes and it’s still fresh in their minds.
Find out what they loved or hated about the process and why. Then, dive into personal questions about the company. Do they remember their initial impression of the company, the physical office, and its employees?
Use this feedback to alter how you portray your company culture online and throughout any in-person interactions. Ask new hires to help plan video testimonials or give a virtual tour of the office based on what they would’ve liked to know or see during their hiring process.
Get to their creative side
Creativity is one the best ways to see inside someone’s thought processes. Giving job seekers the opportunity to do this during your interview process will help you better understand their thoughts, opinions, and personalities.
Get them to open up about why they left their previous job with a short and fun haiku. Or ask them to draw a timeline of their perfect workday. Not only will you enjoy seeing their creative side, it’ll also help you pinpoint more details about their expectations that wouldn’t have come up during a one-on-one conversation.
About the Author: Josh Tolan, CEO of Spark Hire, a video interview solution used by more than 3,000 companies across the globe.