Interviewing - It's a Two-Way Street. I've used this phrase with clients on many occasions and usually it draws the proverbial "duh" response. But recently a hiring manager who had done a couple of phone interviews with a "passive" candidate (who by the way is a top performer at another company) said, "It was like the candidate was interviewing us!"
I could hardly contain myself when I responded "he WAS interviewing you!!!" Too often companies think the candidate is the only one who is supposed to be "selling" during the interview process. This attitude can be very costly if you are trying to hire top performers - which in many cases are "passive" candidates.
These candidates are not actively looking for a job or career change when the opportunity is presented. They have no strong motivation to make a change unless you give them the motivation through a compelling interview process. In these instances the company is doing at least half of the selling. And if you are not doing an effective job selling your company and opportunity, these high potential, passive candidates are not likely to make a change.
Sounds simple, right? Then why do so many companies make the same mistake with "passive" candidates? Let's start with some basics. What does the "ideal candidate" for the position look like? Currently employed or unemployed? Successful in their current position or not doing so well? Looking to make a logical step in their career or desperate to simply make a change? Generally satisfied with their current job/company or disgruntled and unhappy? You see where we are going with this, right? The best candidates are often (not always, of course) "passive" vs. "active."
There are many ways to identify passive candidates, and a recruiter with expertise in your business is a great way to go. For the sake of this article let's assume you successfully identified a top performing, passive candidate with the right mix of experience for your position. Now what? Do you treat this candidate the same as you would the plethora of other candidates who applied online? Of course not. The best way to attract this passive candidate is ask yourself a simple question, "If I was not actively looking to make a job change and was approached by another employer, what would I expect/want the interview process to be like?"
While many of the answers seem obvious, you would be surprised how many companies and hiring managers fall into the "one-way" interview trap and lose interest of passive candidates. As a result companies often have no choice but to hire the active candidate who will eagerly jump through all of the hoops only to become disgruntled or not perform within months of joining the organization. And they become disgruntled or don't perform because they were not the right person to hire. And they were not the right person to hire because the interview process was not designed to attract passive candidates. Chicken or egg?
Here are a few rules of thumb for creating an interview process that ATTRACTS passive candidates:
Creating a process that attracts high quality, passive candidates is kind of like exercise for many of us. We know how important it is but we don't take the time to do it! The benefits are extraordinary in building a high performing organization. You will eventually have to fill fewer positions because high performing, passive candidates who make career changes for the right reasons typically stay with companies longer. The extra time and work on the front end will pay off for you and your company long term.
Brian is a VP/Partner at Ideal Steps Healthcare Recruiting, Inc. www.idealsteps.com
For most positions at most companies, you can treat candidates any way you please (and NOT the way YOU'D like to be treated), and they better like it, because there're many more who WILL like it where they came from.
-kh
That may be true Keith - but that does not mean you will hire the best talent.
Exactly right, Brian.Wannabe,also-ran, has-been companies may feel ENTITLED to the "Fabulous 5%," but have nothing to offer thevery best excepttheri own deluded hype. While treating people asthey themselves would like to be treated will help, it still won't let a 55th percentile company hire 95th percentile people. Intypical situations of labor oversupply (as we have now)this55th percentile company MIGHT be able to hire 75th percentile people quite easily, though.
IN SUMMARY: being "nice" may be necessary but not sufficient to hire the best people IF YOU'RE ONE OF THE BEST COMPANIES, and it isn't necessary (though desirable for its own sake) to hire the people that can be realistically hired if you're not one of the best companies.
-kh
@Brian - What is this statement based on?
The best candidates are often (not always, of course) "passive" vs. "active."
Isn't the only difference with the above "status" timing?
I'm completely on board with your point about interviews being a two-way street and agree that too many people involved treat them as one-sided interrogations. However, where you lost me was the focus on "passive" candidates being somehow entitled to being treated better simply because they weren't previously aware of your position.
How about this...? Replace all references to active or passive above with "awesome" (or any other term to describe the type of person you'd like to hire) and see if the concept of how interviews should go still makes sense.
Well-said, KB.
-kh
Kelly,
I don't think "timing" is the only differentiator with active vs. passive candidates. In most cases passive candidates look at opportunities differently than active candidates because they are currently employed and generally happy. The point can certainly apply to "awesome" candidates as well and in some cases that candidate may very well be active. If you applied the concept to all candidates you would increase chances of hiring "awesome."
Thanks Noel! To clarify - I am not suggesting "active" candidates be treated poorly and "passive" candidates be treated well exclusively. My point (and sorry if it was not clear) is the TOTAL interview process should be designed to attract the best talent . If an interview process is not a "two-way" street you will only be left with candidates who are willing to tolerate a less than stellar interview process. This does not mean active candidates are bad!
Think you're right on Brian. I interviewed Michael Beygelman recently (CEO at Joberate) he made an interesting observation..
Michael... I'm going to say something sort of stupid simple, so don't laugh. People go, 'I'm really having a hard time finding JAVA developers.' You kind of hear this. Or pick your skill set. I'm having a hard time finding people that understand Hadoop, some esoteric skill set. What they're really saying is they're not having a hard time finding it; go Google them, you're going to find 10,000 of them. What they're basically saying is, I'm having a hard time finding someone with the skill set that wants to take this job. That's a very different thing.
Peter: Yeah, you're right. There are a lot of JAVA developers out there.
Michael: Of course! Don't tell me you're having a hard time finding one. I can find you 3 million, I can tell you where they are, and I can give you their numbers. That doesn't mean they're going to take your job.
Spot on Peter! It's amazing how many people think it is so easy to recruit these days because of tools like LinkedIn, etc. Finding people is easier than ever. But with so many people out there the hard part is screening them (figuring out which ones are really good) and then attracting them! Lose sight of that and you are just spinning your wheels. Thanks for your comment!
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