You may encounter them all over Denver — at the next table over at Jovanina’s Broken Italian, around the fire at Happy Camper, even at your climbing gym or behind you in line as you grab a Saturday morning latte. But you know it when you see (or hear) it: the bad first date in progress.
While a bad first date can make for a great story or sitcom plot line, they’re rarely enjoyable for the participants.
Interviews can follow a similar pattern. While candidates might not be looking to see if the hiring manager looks like their LinkedIn photo, most are seeking expectation and value alignment, long-term opportunities and transparent communication.
“Candidates increasingly expect companies to offer them not only competitive compensation and benefits, but also a compelling employee experience,” Gartner’s Lauren Smith told Harvard Business Review. “We’re increasingly hearing from organizations that to attract top candidates today they need to offer a more humanized deal focusing on candidates as people, not just workers.”
And so, as companies look to build a great candidate experience into their recruitment process, they might consider the elements of a great first date.
Tania McEvoy, senior talent acquisition partner at Scaled Agile, treats the hiring process as an opportunity for mutual assessment. She encourages candidates to share stories about themselves and their experiences, seeks opportunities to identify goal alignment and to assess opportunities for the company and candidate to grow together.
Pax8’s Technical Talent Acquisition Partner James Foley, meanwhile, is focused on creating an honest and comfortable process for candidates. For Foley, clarity and transparency offer both Pax8 and candidates insight into whether the role is the right fit — and if not, he looks for opportunities to connect candidates with other possible opportunities.
Built In Colorado heard from McEvoy and Foley to learn more about how they structure their hiring process to provide excellent candidate experiences and find the perfect fit for open roles.
What is the most important thing you want candidates to learn about Scaled Agile, and how do you communicate it during the hiring process?
The Scaled Agile team is the most engaged and dedicated group of professionals with whom I have had the opportunity to work. They are dedicated to helping our enterprise customers around the world find new and better ways of working. Our collaborative and innovative team is motivated by an iterative approach to growth, learning, collaboration and relentless improvement. As a recruitment team, we are always excited when the hires that we shepherded through the hiring process demonstrate a new solution during our all-company system demo or after a hackathon.
No matter the employment market, candidates deserve an efficient, transparent and equitable hiring process.”
In your opinion, what are three ingredients that create a great candidate experience?
No matter the employment market, candidates deserve an efficient, transparent and equitable hiring process. We treat the interview process as a mutual assessment process. We know that skills and motivations need to align. We work collaboratively with our interview panels to structure the interviews. We ask candidates to tell stories about work they are proud of and then point out how those experiences and their approach might be a good fit for how we work. We understand that in looking for a new career path, our candidates are also assessing their goals for how work will fit into their lives. Our interview panels are thrilled to answer candidate questions.
How has your candidate experience changed over time, and why did you enact those changes?
In many ways, the pandemic forced the move to virtual interviews, which has usually made scheduling interviews more efficient. At the same time, we have been partnering with our hiring managers and teams to structure interviews and planning questions to engage and bring out the best in our candidates on topics relevant to the role we are hiring. We are continuously improving based on feedback from our newly-hired teammates and candidates we didn’t end up hiring.
What is the most important thing you want candidates to learn about Pax8, and how do you communicate it during the hiring process?
We aim to create an environment for our employees to truly thrive, and our teams create opportunities for success. In this industry, you can often find folks who hit a glass ceiling or get stuck working with certain technologies where they do not see room for growth. At Pax8, we give our associates the opportunity to jump in with both feet. Our associates can become specialized or even cross-trained depending on their field. We expand upon this during our hiring process by highlighting our continuous development and learning programs alongside the success stories of our other associates. Our candidates can look forward to working in a very engaging and collaborative atmosphere amongst a supportive and resourceful team. Our company values, ”innov8,” “advoc8,” “elev8” and “celebr8,” help us deliver an uncommon and extraordinary employee experience that sets us apart from other employers.
Our number one tool to ensure a good experience is honesty.”
In your opinion, what are three ingredients that create a great candidate experience?
The interview process can often be stressful and create a certain level of anxiety. Our number one tool to ensure a good experience is honesty. We cover several topics during the interview process, from your skills and experience to time off. Being clear and upfront will help everyone understand the process and needs and eliminate any unwanted surprises.
For candidates, I recommend being prepared. First impressions go a long way. Research the company and understand who you are speaking with. Looking over the company website and reading articles about the organization can give you great insight which shows a level of preparation and reflects your genuine interest in the opportunity. Coming with well-prepared and thoughtful questions is also important.
Being on time would be a third recommendation which goes back to first impressions. For video calls, log in before your interview and test everything. You don’t want to join and be flustered if issues arise. Taking time to prepare can help your candidate experience and lead you to have a great conversation.
How has your candidate experience changed over time, and why did you enact those changes?
For our engineering interviews, we have incorporated pre-screening questions around the skill sets that will be crucial for the role. Having these basic questions during our initial phone screen allows us to qualify candidates more accurately in the early stages of the process. This will help us identify whether this is the right opportunity or if we could share a different one with them.
Having these questions upfront also gives the candidate the insight they need to understand the role and the day-to-day duties. Our interview process tends to build upon the previous interview so these questions will help prepare them for the next steps in the interview process.
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