Why a poor first interview can ruin the hiring process

How to lose candidates in 60 seconds? We need to talk about screening interviews.

We recently heard from two of our interview training clients who had attended screening interviews for senior level roles in the public sector.

The roles were for two different semi-state organisations. The screening interviews were done by agencies hired by the employer to do the first cut interview, quite a common practice.

Reports from our clients

Reports from our clients were that both interviews were disastrous.

Why?

The recruiters from both agencies were completely uninterested in the candidates, just going through the motions, asking rote questions, interrupting them when they were answering, and not actively listening to their responses.

In both cases, several of the questions the recruiters were asking were in no way relevant to the role. Neither of the interviewers had much knowledge of the role they were interviewing the candidates.

The consequences

Both of our clients told us that the interviews were so badly run that they decided afterwards that they would not accept an invitation to attend a second interview if asked.

They both questioned the judgment of an organisation that would allow the candidates’ first experience with their organisation to be so shambolic.

A total waste of time for these excellent candidates and also for the recruiters.
And most importantly, a lost opportunity for those two public sector organisations to hire these great people.

The cost of a bad experience

68%* percent of candidates would reject an otherwise attractive job offer if they had a bad experience during the interview process.

Each contact point during the process, from the job description to the job offer, is an opportunity to gain or lose excellent candidates.

Want to get it right?

Check us out at Hilt | Developing People | Elevating Organisations or contact us at info@wearehilt.com to get our highly practical advice on how to ensure your candidate recruitment and evaluation process is designed to get the right results.

Image Credit: Photo by Freepik