This is What Your Hiring Process Says About You

Employee Experience begins long before you even post a job advertisement. It commences with your existing reputation and online presence. Once a person decides they like you, the application process begins.

This process reveals a lot about your company, and neglecting candidate experience can lead to significant losses. Here's what people no longer tolerate, and why. It's not just about the inconvenience; it goes beyond that. People have inferential skills, you know :-)

The candidate's experience during the application process provides a glimpse of what it's like working at a company.

• If you need to create an account, you have to re-enter the details of your CV, write a cover letter, provide lengthy answers to questions, or answer questions about your age, marital status or whether or not you are pregnant or planning to be in the next year, you can bet that you lose quality candidates. This tells employees that you don't care about wasting their time with admin activities and that you have a red tape culture. Your processes are more important than candidates' experiences and also, open discrimination is the culture. So no thanks, I will not proceed with the application.

Let's say you have passed this stage and I applied. You have now the opportunity to create an experience during the interview process and the good news is that it is not difficult. Offer candidates a clear timeline and details about the selection process stages. Stick to these timelines and maintain regular communication. However, avoid these practices if you want to retain candidates:

• If you invited me for face-to-face interviews and you rejected me with a system-generated email instead of a personal one, I know that I am better off not having to work there. You don't care about your employees' experiences you are doing the process.

• If I receive a rejection email 2 minutes after submitting my resume I know that you are just running the system. Nobody has looked at my CV and guess what? Humans want to be seen by other humans and not by AI. 

• Have more than 3-stages of interview process with extensive homework such as presentations, case studies, and free trial days. If you need more than 3 interviews and the entire process takes longer than 2-3 weeks candidates; you are not qualified to do this job, you have too much time on your hand, and you cannot make decisions. Not getting the job will mean dodging the bullet because this is a clear indication of how you run the business.

• Ghost employees especially when you had face-to-face interactions with them. Once I had a great interview experience. The internal recruiter was great, he was informative and kept the timeline. The interview with two senior HR went well and then............. radio silence. I followed up twice but no news. Well Dyson, do better. But more importantly, ask yourself the question, how do potential employees feel about my hiring processes?

• My favourite is this! You put an incompetent person to interview quality candidates. If the person whom I would be reporting to comes across as incompetent during the interview, do you honestly think that competent people will want to work there? During the years I have left a few interviews asking "Who hired this person?" Once I took an HR VP apart during the interview process just by asking simple questions to which she gave answers that demonstrated her incompetence. One of the reasons you must have competent people in managerial and leadership positions is because you showcase them during the interview process to potential employees and guess what, their quality will determine the quality of your employees. Not only because poor quality managers and leaders will manage and lead poorly but also because quality candidates will run in the opposite direction during the recruitment process and you will have a mediocre and poor candidate pool left to select from. It is really simple.

It baffles me that employers don't connect these dots. How you treat candidates during the hiring process indicates how you'll treat them as employees. It's time to set aside arrogance and treat people with respect, dignity, and, most importantly, professionalism. 

PS: If I show up for an interview or even a meeting about a project, and you don't even offer me a glass of water...................... Just know that I have judged you. 

Let's fix the system, it is not that difficult trust me. It only requires a little care for others.