We are currently living in a candidate short market. Talent retention is a key goal for many companies and trying to find high-quality, loyal talent is not getting any easier for many organisations.

The hiring process makes a huge impact on a candidate’s desire to work for a company. As they apply, they are not only trying to impress anymore, they are also thinking ‘wow why are they asking me these questions twice?’ and ‘hmm, that’s a lot of interviews I have to go through' and maybe, if it’s the case, ‘why aren’t the hiring managers very responsive?’. In fact, the list of potential faults goes on as candidates realise they have so many options and that they can choose to work for people who treat them well, with respect, and with whom they can have an enjoyable hiring experience.

This means all businesses need to step up their hiring processes! In this article, we will look at how to ‘sell your workplace’ at the interview stage in a way that will have candidates wanting to work for you.

Share your current employee experience

A great way to give a candidate insight into your work culture is to discuss your current focus on the employee experience and what it might be like for them. To take the initiative to talk about your company culture shows a candidate that you are not only able to be reactive about your employee experience, but that you have a proactive mindset when it comes to focusing on employee engagement and satisfaction.

Discuss opportunity and growth

An enticing prospect for a candidate is a company in which they can grow and develop their career. Whilst talking about the role, and the ways in which they will be adding value if they were to be successful (also another great thing to discuss with a candidate you like), you can also go on to explain how this role could lead into other opportunities or areas when the time was right, or their skill level has reached that point. Allowing a candidate to see how they could make a difference and develop with your company is a big green flag.

Highlight benefits and current implementations

This should be part of standard recruitment practices to share what your employee benefits are as well as what you have recently implemented off the back of employee feedback or other reasoning. This could be anything from your flexible work policy to your parental leave options or anything that might be unique from other company’s standard practices.

Be positive and enthusiastic

There is nothing worse than a negative interviewer (who may not appear happy in their job), or even someone who is keen on intimidation (who wants to work with someone who thinks being scary is a good way to start a conversation?). By keeping an essence of professionalism, you can show your character through the interview process. After all, many times the hiring manager is someone who the employee will directly report to, and they need to be given a true example of your personality in order to have the appropriate context to make their decision. If you are warm and positive you are more likely to leave a good impression.

Be clear and transparent

Don’t leave it up to the candidate to awkwardly ask what the salary is. A very attractive business is one that will be open about what the salary and benefits are for the role so not to waste anyone’s time (yours included!).

Keep in contact

Whether you want to hire a candidate or not, it always bodes well to keep connected and let them know about the remainder of the hiring process. Word of mouth is real, and even unsuccessful candidates can have good things to say about your hiring process if you do it right!