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After reviewing a list of questions candidates should ask during an interview, I thought, "How could I use this list to better serve my candidates?" So basically, I took the questions and dumped them in a bag, shook them up a bit, and produced this:

The Candidate Control Hit List.

These questions have been devised to prevent last minute fall-out and control the spin.

1. Tell the candidate why the position is open. The candidate should know whether or not this is a newly-created position or why the previous employee is no longer holding that position. Were they fired or let go? Did they quit? Were they promoted? Were they recruited to another company? Are there any residual hard feelings that may affect a new hire? These questions have important answers that should be shared with an invested candidate.

2. Tell the candidate about any challenges that a new hire would face in this role. Has the job function recently expanded for this role? Has the territory been increased? Decreased? Did the last employee leave a mess behind? Is there sufficient administrative support? What type of management style will a new hire be reporting to? Transparency is imperative for retention.

3. Describe "a day in the life" for a new hire. Will the placement need to be a road warrior? What are the hours and days expected to work? What is the work space like? How often are there mandatory staff meetings? A candidate who knows the job is more likely to make an educated decision about moving forward or backing out before the last hour.

4. Divulge expectations for this hire. What is expected for the first week? The first year? What will success look like for a new hire? How is that success measured? What would be considered outstanding? Allowing the candidate to really view and fully understand the job description eliminates not only issues at negotiation time but also the probability of having to redo a search at no additional fee, not to mention the time required.

5. Expose reservations about the candidate. Is the candidate less than enthusiastic about the position? Do they lack the required education? Will they fit in with the company culture? Is there a concern about personality clashes? A candidate deserves to know these things; these types of apprehensions do not just vanish into thin air. Again, this speaks to retention.

In preparing candidates, the recruiter controls the situation.

And the hits keep coming...