Your Interview Process Reflects You as a Business

 You may well have noticed the story of Olivia Bland pop up on social media and various news outlets. She’s a job candidate who wrote about the “intimidating” and “brutal” job interview experience she had at the hands of Oldham based firm, Web Applications UK. The firm offered her a job, but she turned it down, and took to Twitter to compare the interview to an abusive relationship – with the job offer the equivalent of being given a gift after being abused. The CEO of the company, Craig Dean, had to publicly apologise and attempted to undertake serious damage control via social media and third-party review sites, such as Glassdoor. But it was too late. Thousands of people poured out their sympathies for Ms Bland – while several offered her a job – and roundly took to joining in the shaming of Web Applications UK and their interview process. So, was what happened to Web Applications UK a sign of things to come? Perhaps not. Not every candidate who has a bad recruitment experience is going to go viral. However, it is indicative of the “power” of candidates in the current market. At a time when UK employment is enjoying record highs, many businesses are experiencing problems when trying to attract the best talent. And they are certainly not going to do that by having a poor recruitment process. Your interview process is a first impression of your business. Gone are the days of having three stern faces examining your CV from across the boardroom table. Candidates want to be made to feel welcome; to get an idea of the culture and working environment; to be treated with respect from the outset. In essence, they want to know that joining your business isn’t going to entail sacrificing their wellbeing, physically and mentally. Ms Bland’s case is obviously an extreme example, but it does demonstrate the need to have an inclusive, welcoming and efficient interview process. It’s no longer the case that clients can sit back and say, “Why should we hire you?”. Candidates have options – so there is every need for a business to pull out all the stops to impress at interview, as much as there is for candidates. Whilst it’s not a case of a candidate shortage holding businesses to ransom, for fear of being portrayed negatively on social media – although, you should be aware that candidates are checking your Facebook, Google, Indeed and Glassdoor reviews - the last thing you want is to leave a bad impression with someone who could either (a) potentially work for you in future or (b) work for one of your competitors. At HRC, we work with our clients throughout the interview process. We agree timescales and service level agreements for both ourselves and the client, which includes detailed feedback on each candidate with reasons why they were successful or unsuccessful. Importantly, we also communicate clearly throughout the entire recruitment process, with the clients and the expectant candidates in order to mitigate any potential issues at their inception. If you would like to speak to me about hiring great talent within the Scottish General Insurance market, I’d be happy to catch up over coffee. Click here to see my details and get in touch.