Attracting top talent to join your company is a competitive business.

The hiring process works two ways; not only does the candidate need to prove themselves to you, you need to persuade the candidate that your company is best for them.

With 70% of candidates willing to turn down a job if their first impression is substandard, as an interviewer it’s important you know what works and what doesn’t. We’ve come up with some things that you should be doing to attract and hire the most talented individuals on the market.

Facts and figures

Use evidence to support your statements. Whilst it might be good to talk about the fantastic success your company has seen, the candidate will have heard the same claims over and over again. The truth is, saying you had ‘a very successful previous year’ is a completely fluid statement until you can support it with credible evidence. Facts and figures including year on year revenue, retention results and headcount increase are solid examples of evidence that will showcase your success. Equally, if your company has won external awards, be sure to use these as evidence; they’re a great way of supporting your claims and benchmarking your success against competition.

Tell a story

Storytelling is a great example of an interview technique that sells. During the interview, bring your company to life by telling compelling, memorable stories that will make your company stand out. Tailor your stories to focus on different areas of the business such as values, perks and employee development. Doing this is a great way of making your company culture and employees real; giving the candidate something to relate to. Choose stories that resonate with the candidate by talking about the success of someone in your business with a similar background, previous work experience or personality type; this will help them imagine themselves as part of your company.

Fill in the gaps

One of the best ways you can make your company as appealing to a candidate as possible is by addressing voids in the candidate’s background that your job or company can fill. For example, if the candidate talks about their frustration of a limited budget, little social impact and no opportunities for growth, be sure to address these points and talk about how you and your business can fill them. If the candidate’s concerns aren’t something that can currently be fixed by your company, don’t shy away- talk about the options you could provide to solve the problems. Listen carefully to the candidate throughout the interview to pick up on any gaps you could fill that would persuade the candidate to join your company.

Why?

A really big selling point of any company is the reason behind the business and what they do. Giving the candidate an insight into the ‘why’ behind your company will help them to understand what exactly you do, and the reasons you’re doing it. For top talent, making an impact on a company and their wider surroundings is really important, so explaining your mission, future goals and how the candidate will contribute to these will be key to enticing them to join your team. In the interview, tell the candidate the story of how the business first came about, its main goals and the plan for getting there; this will really help them understand the reasons behind your business.

So there we have it, you now know how to impress candidates at interview. Hiring the best candidates takes a lot, but having top talent join your company is definitely worth the investment. For more advice on hiring the top talent, check out our blogs on onboarding for retention and attracting millennial tech talent.

This post first appeared on the ISL Recruitment blog.

Read the original here.