When there’s a job to be filled at your company, keep in mind a few things that are critical to land top talent. Even in this job market top talent is hard to find. Yes unemployment is high but for top talent, the “passive” job candidate, he or she for the most part are not looking. Now I’m not saying that there isn’t top talent out of work in this market because there is, but even the top talent who are unemployed have options. Don’t be a jerk who thinks you’re “holding the golden ticket” when interviewing someone. This is a client driven market but don’t exploit this fact. If you want to attract top, passive candidates, don’t forget that you may need to “sell” your opportunity.
Some basics on what motivates a job candidates and why they are willing to leave their current job:
1)More money
2)Better benefits
3)A better opportunity that offers career growth
4)Less stress/pressure
People stay at their current company because:
1)Paid well
2)They like their co-workers
3)Having job security (which is really a state of mind)
4)Having good benefits
There are some interesting things at work here that are overlooked. If you understand what motivates someone, perhaps you can leverage your interview to attract talent. For a passive job candidate to leave the comforts of what he/she already has, you need to start to understand that they are interviewing with strength on their side. Keep in mind the hardest part of the process of landing top talent is to actually get someone to make a change. Change is not as easy as you think and placing job candidates for over ten years, I can tell you that one of the hardest things for someone to do is to quit their current job.
The main goal of your interview should be that when a job candidate leaves your interview, they are more excited regardless to whether they’re your top choice or not. You want them walking away saying “This would be a great place to work!” Now I know that’s common sense, but my all time favorite saying is “common sense is a rare commodity!”
Some tips that will help:
Make the job candidate feel welcome.
Spend most of the interview listening intently to what the candidate has to say.
Talk up everyone that you work with.
Coming across positive will attract someone to you.
Make sure you do what you say. If you tell the candidate that you will get back to them than make sure you do so in a timely manner.
Some tips that will not help:
No one needs to hear about the nightmares at your company. Perhaps a nightmare for you is an opportunity to others.
Nobody needs to hear if you mess up that it’s your ass. In a job that’s already implied.
Talking bad about people who work for you or who have left will only signal that you will do the same about them.
I can tell you that people hire people that they like. The same holds true on the other side. People want to go to work for people they like. A company is only as good as it’s people. What are you doing to set that stage? Really spend some time thinking about your interview process and how you can make it better. You have one shot at a good first impression.