Have you ever gone through a million interview steps for a company (okay 3-5) just to receive a generic email that says they’re moving forward with other candidates? Because same.
Recently I signed up for UpWork.com, a freelancing site where top companies post any type of freelance gig you can imagine, to see if I could help organizations with their blogs. I had just started Ramblings of a Recruiter and was really excited to write again. I had withdrawals after ending Tater Talk (my potato blog I ran in college, yes it’s still online) and wanted to write funny content in addition to the semi-serious content I wrote on this blog.
A few weeks in, I received a message from a CEO at a small company looking for my freelancing skills for 5-10 hours a week after work. All I had to do was submit a cover letter introducing myself and write my thoughts on a few topics.
Within a day or two, I was contacted to proceed into step two: creating a 2-3 minute video talking about myself and what my main motivation was. Seemed simple enough, so I sat down one Sunday night, put on my comfiest dress shirt (quarantine has brought a new meaning to business casual), and recorded.
The next day I received a message back to schedule a call with the CEO via his assistant. I thought this sounded great as I had a lot of questions and thoughts I wanted to share. Interviews, after all, should be equal parts of selling yourself as a candidate and the interviewer selling the opportunity they have available. You should want it as much as they want you, and you should feel comfortable to ask them questions to ensure it’s a good fit.
This call, which was actually a video call just with the assistant, lasted 3 whole minutes. As a recruiter, I knew that probably wasn’t a good sign.
She administered a test: listen to these six numbers and repeat them backward. You cannot write them down or type them, and you can only listen to them once. Needless to say, I wasn’t sure how this said anything about me as a candidate except that I had terrible short term memory recall.
I was then asked what my main motivation was, which I felt I answered well, and then it was over. As a side note, I was already asked to cover this and did so on the video recording.
I was not selected to move onto the next step, although I couldn’t say I was too surprised. If my worth as a candidate relied on my ability to repeat a number sequence backward then so be it.
Later on, I shared my thoughts with the hiring manager on why the process felt disjointed and arbitrary. Candidates I work with often share their frustrations with me daily about times they’ve had to jump through multiple hoops, all for nothing. I thought a bit of advice was necessary. While I hope my feedback is appreciated and implemented, I have yet to hear back.
If you find yourself losing a lot of candidates throughout the process, evaluate what you’ve required them to do. Multiple surveys, personality tests, cover letters and other requirements become long and tedious, especially when there’s no end in sight. Why require this of people you’ll never even speak with?
Unless this is the person’s dream job, you will likely find yourself frustrated and following up to get what you need completed.
So many candidates get lost in the cycle. Throwing out candidates that think differently than your usual hire or score differently on the personality test only serves as an excellent way to miss out on great talent. I understand the purpose, but think many candidates are worth a second look. Cookie cutter applicants aren’t the only ones who can perform well.
I had a friend who took 3 technical assessments, completed a phone screen, went through two in-person interviews, and was still passed up on. It sounded like there were multiple candidates who made it to this point, too. You cannot tell me this was necessary, nor did it make sense to continue on with this many candidates until the end.
Multiple steps that are drawn out over several weeks will also lead to losing out on great candidates. Other companies with shorter processes will scoop them up, meaning you may have to start all over finding someone new. The job market may be slow right now but that doesn’t mean you should sit on great talent.
Job seekers deserve more; their time is valuable too. If you’re not serious about a candidate, don’t continue to interview them and get their hopes.
On the flip side, ensure you or your HR/talent acquisition team are reaching out to let them know you’re not proceeding. As someone involved in the hiring process, I understand how many candidates there are vying for one position. With that being said, interviewing multiple times with no update in the end is just cruel.
If you want multiple people to sit in on the interview, make things more efficient for everyone involved. If the candidate is available, schedule interviews back to back on the same day or have all parties involved participate at once. This way you can eliminate the two week span it takes to schedule the next step and execute it. If you don’t think the candidate is the right fit, simply don’t move them on to the next step that day.
I get it: hiring managers are busy and their time is valuable. So are the candidates.
This article is my own and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of TEKsystems.
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