5 Red Flags that often go unnoticed in an interview

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Interviewing is hard. You can spend hours of time profiling your ideal candidate, studying their resume, and prepping the perfect interview questions and still end up saying the sentence “He was nothing like that in his interview!”.

If you’ve ever been convinced the perfect candidate you interviewed has now been replaced by an underperforming lookalike, then looking out for the below red flags will help you to make the best hiring decisions.

Speaking negatively about a previous employer

This is one we’ve all heard before, but it’s definitely up on the top of the list of flags that often get overlooked. And if you get the sense that your candidate is focussing the interview time on all the things wrong with their last job, it can show a lack of awareness, and potentially be an indicator of someone who may be challenging to manage.

Inability to have a conversation

Emotional intelligence is one of the leading concerns of many employers when looking for their ideal candidate. It’s also one of the hardest things to assess during an interview process. Looking out for candidates that are good at having a natural conversation is often a very strong indicator of high emotional intelligence. Remember this requires good interviewing technique on your behalf as well – try to make at least parts of the interview conversational!

Lack of sincerity or honest response

Do you ever get the feeling that the words coming out of your candidate’s mouth, despite being exactly what you want to hear, are all a big act? You’re probably right. Try not to focus on whether or not they are giving you a perfect answer to your question, but rather the sincerity and honesty of their response.

Not knowing when to stop…or start talking

As a general rule, the candidate should probably spend more time talking than you do during an interview. However, if you find that your candidate is talking for a noticeably longer time than you might expect, it can again be a reflection on their interpersonal skills. Similarly, when you are talking if you are finding that person is repeatedly cutting you off when you are speaking, it may be a reflection on their communication skills.

The ‘would you have a conversation outside of the office’ rule

This is a good little test, particularly if you are interviewing for a role that is client facing, or requires a level of interpersonal skills. It’s also a good one for the circumstances when you aren’t certain about a candidate but you can’t really explain why. If you were to picture yourself running into that person outside of work – would you want to stop and have a chat with them? If you cringe away from the idea you may have your answer.

When You Should Implement a Group Recruitment Process…And How Can It Help Your Business.

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Hiring in bulk can seem daunting and big undertaking. The real question however, is when you should consider implementing a group recruitment strategy, and how it can add value and depth to your recruitment process. We’ve outlined the below 3 scenarios, of when you should consider implementing a group recruitment process.

  1. You need to hire a lot of people, and you have a deadline.

One of the most common reasons we get requests to run group recruitment, is for project based hiring, in which there is some sort of hard deadline as to when you need to have the people in place. For our client, Junction Australia, this was certainly the case. They had a requirement to fill multiple Therapeutic Support Worker positions in order to meet the requirements for the opening of brand new care homes. Not meeting these deadlines would have had a massive impact on their business, stakeholders and partners, not to mention the youth they support.

  1. You need to grow your business, in a structured, strategic way.

You may have growth plans, tied into upcoming work, clients or projects. You know you need to up-staff, over a period of time. Running a series of group recruitment days can allow you to meet these requirements in the timeframe needed, without sacrificing unnecessary time or resources. Alex Fraser Group utilised our group recruitment strategies over a period of 3 months, to hire 10 truck drivers, and meet the upcoming demand from their customers. They were restricted as to how quickly they could hire their drivers, due to the availability of trucks, and so the recruitment strategy allowed them to stagger their intake to line up with the acquisition of new trucks.

  1. The roles you need to fill rely heavily on behaviour and ‘fit’ requirements.

If your recruitment criteria is heavily based in behavioural requirements, then a group recruitment process, such as an assessment centre, may be the most effective way to make your hires. An assessment centre allows you to observe your candidates through a series of tasks, that will show you whether or not they are a good fit for your business. For Junction Australia, this was incredibly important, given their positions required candidates with high level interpersonal skills, relationship building skills and communication skills. The recruitment days allowed the hiring managers to observe these traits in their candidates, in an efficient way, as they moved through a number of group based tasks. Alex Fraser Group required their candidates to be able to follow directions very closely, as such we were able to design activities that drew out a candidate’s natural levels of compliance.

Want to watch a group assessment day in action? Watch this video to see firsthand how Employment Office delivers innovative, effective outcomes focused on recruitment processes.

Whether you are meeting deadlines, growing your business or needing a behavioural based hiring method, group recruitment strategies can help you meet your business requirements in the most effective way. Speak to us today to see how Employment Office can design and run assessment centres on your behalf.

 

How Video Interviews Changed My Life (And how they can change yours)

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I think every recruiter remembers their first recruitment disaster.

I was fresh into my new career, with one of my very first recruitment projects; shortlisting candidates for a project development position, with one of our biggest corporate clients.

My process was pretty standard and thorough: Screen applications according to the criteria, identify top applicants, conduct phone-based interviews, then recommend shortlisted candidates for face to face interview.

There was one candidate, let’s call him Bill, who I had a half hour conversation with. He seemed pretty good, met the on-paper requirements, and answered my questions well. Nothing to say ‘don’t send me to an interview’.

I sent Bill off to meet with my client and their interview panel. To set the scene, this office is corporate with a capital C. Think suits and ties and blazers and stilettoes clacking over marble tiles.

This office is so corporate that even the vendors at the coffee cart in the lobby straighten their hair and wear collared shirts.

I set up the interview, sent over all supporting documentation, confirmed the time…then all I had to do was wait an hour to hear the verdict.

So it was a surprise when I received a call from the client 15 minutes later.

It was even more of a surprise when she told me Bill decided not to wear shoes to the interview.

I’ll just repeat that.

BILL DIDN’T WEAR SHOES.

She went on to tell me, in a fairly unimpressed way, that instead, his other chosen interview attire included a Ramones T-Shirt.

Oops.

Don’t get me wrong – I love the Ramones and am actually not that thrilled about wearing shoes half the time myself – but this was just a perfect example of the problems with a traditional pre-screening process. The lack of transparency, the margin for error… and how listening to someone’s words alone can disconnect you from those magic moments you have as an interviewer – when all the ducks line up and you can say confidently “This business and this candidate are made for each other” or conversely “Better not send this candidate off to see Captain Corporate, he might not wear shoes”.

Good news is, Employment Office developed a video interviewing product less than a year later. And it changed my life.

I now conduct all of my interviews over video conference. I record them for my clients, so they can watch the conversation between myself and their candidate, whenever they have a spare moment (seriously whenever – I had a client tell me the other day they were watching one of my interviews as they were brushing their teeth).

I knew that the product would have benefits for our clients – the transparency, the shareability, the convenience, and the layers of efficiency they add to the recruitment process (imagine if you could watch interviews of 5-10 of your candidates, and be able to confidently say “I would like to see these 4 people please” – already knowing those are candidates you would consider hiring in your business). And all that time and you don’t have to spend on face to face interviews with people who you know aren’t right for your business!

I also knew candidates would love it. It’s a much more engaging experience, getting an opportunity to speak with someone face to face rather than over the phone. I get better conversations and more engaged candidates.

What I didn’t anticipate was the difference it made to me and my career as a recruitment specialist. I’m engaged and invested in the conversations I have, I’m confident in my selection skills and my expertise. It means I get to delight my clients. It also means that I will probably never again have to hear the sentence “Bill didn’t wear shoes”.