Dive Brief:
- Among employees hired in the past year, 2 out of 3 told Gallup that they had an “exceptional” or “very good” candidate experience with their current employer, according to a report released Oct. 17.
- The most important part of this process may be interviews, Gallup said; 44% of workers surveyed said the interviews they had with the people who hired them had the most influence on their decision to accept the job offer.
- “Employers can put their best foot forward by approaching the interviews with structure and intention, treating candidates with respect and courtesy, and using interviews to highlight their culture and the value they provide to employees,” Gallup said.
Dive Insight:
Candidates are constantly evaluating a company’s culture throughout the hiring process, Gallup explained — and interviews are a key way for potential employees to do that.
But interviews can be difficult to get right, and HR may need to invest time in training hiring managers on how to interview well. Hiring managers may stumble into problematic questions that could make the company liable for discrimination, one expert said during a session at the Society for Human Resource Management’s annual conference. Questions about protected characteristics, such as pregnancy or marital status, are no-gos, for example.
Candidates do want to be asked about their skills, however, a Yoh survey indicated earlier this year. They also like to be asked what they think would make them a good candidate for a job and what they liked most about their last job. Questions with negative framing — such as about dislikes from a previous job — were not as favored. Candidates also don’t enjoy answering questions about nonnegotiables or individual needs, the survey said.
Employers that don’t strike the right balance in interviews may see the consequences, a Greenhouse report from 2022 showed. Nearly half of employees surveyed said they rejected a job after a poor interview experience.
The Gallup survey also flagged a short turnaround period between interview and offer as rising in importance. While only 25% of employees told Gallup that turnaround time had the greatest influence on whether they picked a job (aside from pay), that number has increased from 22% in 2022.
Notably, a 2023 report from the Josh Bersin Co. indicated that time-to-hire may be increasing for almost all roles, showing the increasing difficulty in hiring for certain desired skill sets.