A Simple and Effective Hiring Tool
By Mike Moore, President & COO
During my nearly 40-year staffing industry career, I have seen many changes in the ways companies hire.
In the 1980s candidates were asked to mail or deliver their resumes or stop by the “personnel office” and complete an application. The process picked up speed when the fax machine gained popularity in the late 1980s and even more so with the widespread usage of email in the late 1990s.
With our current labor market, it is critical that hiring companies look for new ways to shorten the cycle time and improve the candidate hiring process. At Moore Staffing, we often see companies take too long to meet face-to-face with candidates, only to lose out on top talent because the candidate accepted an offer from another firm. One simple step we encourage our clients to take is to schedule an initial 20-30 minute phone interview with candidates.
Here are some of the benefits of conducting phone interviews:
• Phone interviews can be scheduled much more quickly than in-person interviews – the sooner you engage a good candidate, the better.
• By making the initial contact by phone, it widens the candidate pool to include out of area superstars who are open to relocation.
• For those candidates who you speak to despite being short on experience, but who appear on paper to be bright and ambitious with strong potential upside, a phone interview is a great tool for assessing whether this candidate may be worth meeting.
• The hiring process is maximized because unqualified candidates are eliminated before wasting the valuable time of human resources, hiring managers and anyone else on the hiring team.
• Verbal communication skills can be assessed during the phone screen.
• Through conversation, candidate and company mismatches can be eliminated and instances of “I wish we knew this before this interview was scheduled” can be avoided. It’s an ideal way to pick up on potential red flags and identify a candidate’s true level of compatibility and interest.
• Candidates are taught never to bring up salary in the first interview, but the green elephant in the room needs to be paid attention to early in the process. If your salary range is 50-60k and the candidate is seeking 70-80k, an early conversation might save both of you time and effort.
• If the pieces appear to be falling into place, initial interviewers can talk about what a great leader the hiring manager is, how the company promotes from within, low turnover, great benefits, etc…and anything else that sells the organization to candidates and encourages them to go forward in the interview process.
• For each candidate moving forward to the in-person interview stage, now equipped with preliminary information, you can prepare specific interview questions that will help peel the onion back on their qualifications for this job, their interest, and overall fit.
By using the phone screen interview you will significantly improve your chances of meeting only qualified, top talent, and save the time, resource allocation and costs associated with a prolonged hiring process!
The team at Moore Staffing Services prides itself on working hard to get the job done! Our core values of Expertise, Sincerity, Compassion, and Community drive us toward the mutual goals of finding every client the best possible candidate to fill their open position, and every candidate the opportunity they want and deserve. To learn more about partnering with us, contact mike@moorestaffing.com or call (978) 682-4994.
