Lengthy, Non-transparent Job Interviews Aren’t Scoring Points with Potential Candidates

You have killer benefits and competitive salaries. You offer flexibility and autonomy. You showcase your company’s culture, values, and mission. You have development opportunities in place. Maybe you are doing everything that is required to attract top talent in 2023, but once you have their attention, is your interview process turning them away?

Hiring, onboarding, and training is an expensive process, so obviously, companies want to make sure they hire the right talent the first time around. And with a highly competitive job market, companies want to thoroughly vet their candidates and eliminate bias with the goal of reducing turnover. Unfortunately, there is a misconception that the longer an interview process, the more complete the evaluation of a candidate will be. Candidates on the other hand see it differently.

Interview fatigue. It’s a real thing. Job seekers in 2023 are experiencing long and draining interview processes-some up to 10 different interviews within a company. And keep in mind, they are probably interviewing with multiple businesses who are running them through the same rigors. For a candidate, a lengthy interview process can be a warning sign that the company doesn’t really know what they want. The fact is, according to Google’s research, 94% of the time, a hiring decision remained the same whether the candidates were interviewed four times or 12 times. The same research indicated that anything more than four interviews is likely to lead to interview fatigue.

There is also the argument for transparency and responsiveness during the interview process. As the process gets longer it also gets muddied. There is often no clarity about salary, job descriptions, the onboarding process, or when the candidate can expect to hear back after the interview. The layers of interviews, the lack of clarity, and the inadequate response time mean less interest from potential candidates. I’m sure you’ve heard this cliché a million times: a job applicant is interviewing a company just as much as the company is interviewing the job applicant. And how a company conducts itself during the interview process speaks volumes about the company, its culture, and its priorities.

So, how can you create an interview process with more intention?

Training hiring managers to conduct effective interviews that can zero in on long-term talent fit and streamline the interview and assessment process is crucial.

Hiring managers’ skills and expertise lie within their department’s specific business function and they’re probably relying on the same role-related interview strategies they always have. In today’s hiring landscape, that process is outdated, ineffective, and just plain looooong.

Giving your hiring managers the tools and training they can use to really dig deeper to see if a candidate is someone they want on their team, will not only give your talent a better interview experience, but it makes the process faster and easier for your entire team. But not all interview tools are the same.

Use one with a proven framework that uses science-based competencies and questions that are expertly created so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel with every interview, like People Strategies’ Interview Guide Builder.

With our Interview Guide Builder, you’ll: Utilize science-backed competencies and questions.
Manage interview content more efficiently.
Structure interviews for consistent hiring.
Build and share interview guides seamlessly.
Accelerate the interview-to-hire process.

But it’s not enough just to provide the right tools. Again, hiring managers should have the appropriate training so they know how to develop a consistent interview process, ask questions that focus on role-based competencies, predict future job performance, and pinpoint with more accuracy, candidates who fit within your culture.

Don’t risk losing candidates with a lengthy, non-transparent interview process. Start your free trial of our easy-to-use online interview guide builder today and start building your first interview!