How do you ensure a great candidate interview experience?

Georgene Huang

April 13,2022 at 12:00AM UTC

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How do you ensure a great candidate interview experience?

I'm asking to see if anyone here has had a great experience and process that hiring managers, talent acquisition folks and HR leaders can learn from. Anything you can share about what made that process and experience positive would be great to know because it's on my mind as I've been interviewing lately.

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Keena WellsApril 13,2022 at 12:17AM UTC
From my experience, the communication, level setting, and follow up/closure throughout the process ensures a great candidate interview experience. Set up signatures or memos where they are easy to grab to send a quick follow up with the candidate while they are in the process so they are not left without any feedback, etc.
JJApril 13,2022 at 1:29AM UTC
One thing I have noticed is that some companies prepare the interviewers so that they know who the candidate is ahead of time.
It’s not fun to get on a Zoom interview with someone who has no idea who you are or why they are talking to you. Having done a million interviews I feel better when the hiring team takes the time to get to know me via the mountain of paperwork and writing assignments I have supplied.
Krista PasfieldApril 13,2022 at 2:42AM UTC
We strive to hit a few key points in every interview experience: 1) Communication about dates/times/interviewer(s), 2) setting expectations about the next step(s) in the process, and 3) closing the loop at the end of the process, regardless of the outcome. I agree with Julia's comment about preparing the interviewer. Interviews are a two-way street. Both the candidate and the employer are looking for a good fit. It's expected that a candidate do some basic research about the company in advance; it's only reasonable (and feels obvious) that the interviewer have an understanding of the candidate and the role.