Making a Hire
Treating interviewees with dignity and respect provides them with a lens into the workplace culture with which they are aspiring to join. This involves not only expressing enthusiasm for their interest in the position and company, and not only in the questions being asked, but also in how reference checks are conducted.
Expressing Enthusiasm
As the old adage goes, the candidate is interviewing the company as much as the company is interviewing the candidate. Expressing enthusiasm for the candidate entails thanking them for their interest, being truly interested in their background and experiences, and rolling out the red carpet for them when they are on campus by having someone assigned to host their visit. Giving candidates company literature and swag are nice touches as well. But perhaps most importantly, do not "ghost" candidates in the process. While it is hard enough for someone to spend an hour applying for a job only to receive no response from the company outside of an auto-generated email acknowledging receipt of their application, it is enough to cause significant mental anguish when a person actually interviews for the position but then hears nothing else...ever. The least a company can do is let them know when they are no longer deemed a viable candidate.
Quick point: while personal touches are nice, too much of a personal touch can take things in the opposite direction. For example, when I worked as a recruiter, my manager trained me to always call every finalist for a job to either tell them they were hired or they were not selected. Of course, people love receiving the call that they were hired. Receiving the rejection call...not so much! One day I called a lady to reject her. When I told her who I was, I could hear the excitement in her voice. After all, when you are a finalist and get a call, there is only one logical conclusion right?! Wrong! As I proceeded to tell her "thanks but no thanks" I could hear her start to tear up and cry. I felt horrible. In fact, I felt so horrible that I never made another rejection call again, resorting to sending mail or emails while not confessing to my manager that I altered the gameplan. While no one wants to have their relationship broken off by text message or email, when your relationship only amounts to a couple of dates (interviews), expectations should be modified accordingly.
Asking the Right Questions
While it seems like a no-brainer, I have been involved in these conversations long enough that I know it bears repeating: don't ask questions that are discriminatory or highly offensive. Also, don't make decisions based on discriminatory ideology. From recommending that a Jewish candidate check out the holocaust museum while in town, to asking the Hispanic candidate if she is a legal resident, these types of questions are unlawful and can get the company in significant trouble. And some questions are simply head scratchers. For example, once I was asked in an interview if I preferred to be called black or African American. Relevance?! I have also experienced post-interview hiring team discussions where the interviewers openly questioned if a candidate was too old for the job; all they should have been focused in on was the skillset of the candidate!
Reference Checks
Candidates tend to provide references who they know will speak positively about their candidacy. Because of this, it is not uncommon that hiring managers desire to go off-list and check other sources. If this is the company process, it is best to alert the candidate in advance that this may occur. Otherwise, bad things can result. In one scenario, the employer called the candidates supervisor for a reference even though the supervisor was not on the reference list. Three things happened. 1. The candidate did not get the new job. 2. The current supervisor was upset about this because he did not know the candidate was out interviewing and, as a result, fired her. 3. The (former) candidate sued the company that called her supervisor, alleging tortious interference with employment relationships. This resulted in the company paying a significant settlement to make the lawsuit go away. The lesson learned was that treating people with dignity and respect matters not just to current employees, but to potential employees as well. Consider yourself informed!
