What your interview process says about you…

I’ve been talking to a number of people who are interviewing right now and found some facinating things going on in the hiring world today.  One person up for a Vice President role was given an application to fill out – no really.  He was suppose to send his social security number on the form via email.  Really?  In this age of identity theft, he was going to send his social security number through an insecure media like email?  He declined.  Next, he had to put in his high school and college, extra-curriculars at both and grade point at both institutions.  This individual has been out of high school 20 years!

Come to find out, this is a practice in several local companies here as it is the application that goes with Top Grading.  Now Top Grading is a whole process to selecting people – not just a form – but the two companies I have heard of just used the form.   But that’s not what I want to talk about.

So this friend of mine is well liked by his peers, clients, and people in his community.  He’s looking for a job because he has been laid off so everyone knows and is concerned for him.  When he got the interview, he was very excited and called a bunch of us.  We all were excited, checked out the company, and started talking about it.   Great PR for a local company in just the space they want for their customers!!

Then, he got the application.  Suddenly, he’s wondering, is this weird?  Why are they asking me to risk personal information as well as bringing up stuff I haven’t thought of for years?  Not to mention he would have to go look up his GPAs since that’s not something he remembers.  So he calls those same friends to get their opinion.  What do we think?  LAME.  How would it matter that a 18 I got an A in chemistry?  Nothing about my job involves chemistry today and I didn’t enjoy it.  So he went to the interview.

Upon arrival, he was greeted by the receptionist. Very polite, professional young woman who seated him in the lobby.  While he waited they chatted a little and then she got a phone call. She then spent the next 20 minutes complaining about the accounting department and their procedures!  Needless to say my friend was shocked – he now knew things about the company he should never know.  By the time he got into the interview he had already decided he didn’t want the job and it was over quickly.

So the morale of the story is, be careful how candidates perceive your company!!!  The people you hire should be your biggest sales team and that can start before they are ever hired.  Be sure everyone knows they are part of the process and don’t let people choose to not work for you because of unintentional problems.  Really think about how it all appears to the outsider. And if you think you’re exempt because you are an executive recruiter, think again!  You have the added challenge of all the baggage people have about recruiters.  So view your process from the outside in and make sure it is all in support of your marketing.