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Understanding and improving your interview process is crucial for any organization. In this guide, we delve into the intricacies of interview process optimization, demonstrating how it can be a double-edged sword.

While it’s vital for ensuring quality-of-hire and filtering out unsuitable candidates, many companies inadvertently design a hiring process that repels exceptional talent.

Let’s explore effective strategies to refine this process, ensuring you attract and retain the best candidates.

#1 Create Your “Secret Shopper” Candidates

The first step in Interview Process Optimization is to create a roster of fake candidates. This innovative approach is part of a comprehensive Hiring Process Improvement strategy.

Ask these people for their resumes, and give them fake names. Create new email addresses for each resume, and apply to your open positions.

If you want to get even deeper into the interview process, buy a few pay-as-you-go phones to test the screening process.

#2 Apply to Your Open Roles – And Your Competitors

The next step is to take your fake candidates and apply to relevant roles.

Naturally, you’ll want to see how your recruiting team responds to the candidates. When applying these fake candidates to your open roles and those of your competitors, you’re not only optimizing your own interview process but also gaining insights into industry standards for recruitment process improvement.

You can also apply to competitors, which can give you valuable intel on how their process works in comparison.

#3 Analyze the Results

After some time has passed, you’ll want to review your results and draw insights.

The analysis phase is critical in interview process optimization. Review how your team handles candidates and compare it with competitors. This step is key in understanding where your recruitment process stands and how it can be improved. Were any strong candidates screened out based on their resume? Now is a great time to explore why that’s happening and what you can do about it.

Did you or your competitor require more interviews? A company requiring less interviews may have the edge when it comes to recruiting highly-qualified, busy candidates that are already gainfully employed.

Did you or your competitor ask a candidate to complete a big project, or otherwise jump through various hoops? Again – this may be a great way to weed out bad candidates, but could lead you to lose quality candidates.

This approach is a powerful way to provide real-life evidence of how your screening and interview processes are succeeding – or falling short!

If the problems are being caused by hiring managers, this can be a great way to demonstrate the real-world impact it’s having on your talent acquisition process.

If you’re serious about addressing these challenges and more, schedule a call with us today to learn more about our platform for turning one-on-ones into your most powerful performance management tool.