“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
― George Bernard Shaw

Today’s workforce requires more and more emphasis on social interaction and the „feel good“ angle when it comes to recruitment. It’s becoming more and more of a prevalent topic in talent acquisition but also in employer branding as it naturally increases the chances of leaving a good impression on the younger generations’ expectations. But just how would a recruiter go about the general presentation of themselves and their company in a recruitment process? The idea seems kind of easy and simple at first but once you go down that rabbit hole, you see that it taps into a combination of psychology, marketing, sales and personal effort. Somehow the process of interviewing is slowly transforming into a casual talk rather than an hour of interrogation tactics with twenty open-ended questions. Let’s get right into it and see what matters the most and how a recruiter can ease into presenting the company in the best possible light catered to younger generations.

But hey, salary matters the most, right?

Sure, we could say that in the end the salary matters the most, even to younger generations. The catch is that the younger generation wants the social aspect to be as best as possible because in an event that it’s not, the bad presentation will negatively offset the salary and reject the possibility of working in the prospect company. It’s best to think of it as the whole package, we want every aspect of the offer to be good, even something as simple as an interaction or an e-mail in an interview invitation. But how would a recruiter go about that? What exact steps should be taken into consideration and execution?

Everything begins with a call and an e-mail invitation

That first call is what creates a good or a bad first impression. I always try to speak with a clear diction and tone as well as mixing in the interaction of a rough combination of professionalism and familiarity. It puts the candidate at ease and that first ice is broken by us, taking the pressure of breaking it from them. What a recruiter wants here is to project the „friendly“ atmosphere from us as well as automatically creating the same inevitable assumption of the company culture we present. We should be as accommodating as we can in regards to getting them to the right location and in time, helping them choose the time slot (which we offer of course) and making sure they understand the concept of the interview. This will let them know that we value the candidature that they present which we want to get to know and possibly employ. What amplifies the aforementioned is the e-mail invitation that follows the conversation. We have to make sure to let them know that we will immediately send them an e-mail with all the necessary details so they have everything in place. That invitation doesn’t have to be anything too fancy but rather simple and precise; make sure the subject of the e-mail consists of the following: company name – title of the opened position/vacancy – interview (name, surname). The content of the e-mail should mention the following: when and where will the interview take place (address/location), exact instructions on how to get there (which floor, reception, call etc.), participants of the interview, concept and duration of the interview. This should suffice in getting them thoroughly interested. Then comes the toughest part which is projecting this demeanor into the effective social interaction.

Smile, smile, smile

The actual interview can go either way but it’s a job of a recruiter to present themselves in the best possible light to candidates. As previously mentioned, I try to use a combination of familiarity and professionalism combined with a huge smile so candidates feel more at ease. You have to remember, the candidates are nervous no matter how they spin it, some more, some less. It’s our job to make them feel like they would belong into that culture. The younger generation will want a modern, coffee shop conversation without too much building up of the pressure. The actual intent from us here is that we want to get to know them as a person because the more they relax, the more information will start to flow from them and incidentally the „feel good“ atmosphere will work in our favor if we want to employ them in the end. Yeah, the emotions are the key factor today and rather than talking about psychological philosophy, we can just chalk it all up to being as friendly as possible in these interviews, but not to the point where we cross professional boundaries. The general guideline or concept is this: smile after every question, familiarize with similar interests, let them speak, throw in a friendly banter/joke accordingly. Sounds easy on paper but it also depends on what kind of a person the candidate is. A good speaker can control these aspects with anyone, I just might do an article specifically on that in the future.

End it with how you started it

Every interview should end with specific information on what they should expect from the recruitment process. To make it simple, they would want to know when they will get the feedback and if they would get it at all, sadly (yes, it became a challenge for today’s HR professionals). Specifiy a general period of time when they could be expecting it and make sure the previous  tone of the communication in both verbal and written scenarios stays the same, even with the rejection letter. We want to stay in good memory, not burn any bridges. All candidates are a walking employer branding drone, for every company.

Takeaway

To summarize, all recruiters should be observant on how friendly they communicate with the candidate, no matter the medium. It’s one of the few parameters which drive today’s candidates towards the company, or far from it. We should be cognizant of the fact that emotional support in these interactions sells the product, which is the company in this case. Even if it doesn’t work with the candidate we want, it still counts as a recruitment marketing strategy which can spread a good amount of employer branding.