In part one of this series, last week, I summarised the first two steps that accountancy firms and other ambitious professional service firms need to consider if they want to attract and retain the right people to work for them.
After those two preparatory steps we can now move onto the interview stage and what follows on from that:
3 – Positive Interview experience. Obviously you need to clarify whether the candidate has the skills and talents you require. Effective interview technique is critical and other assessment tools may be helpful too. My focus here though is on what you say and do to ensure the candidate will accept your job offer if you decide to make one. In the final part of this short series I will outline an idea that can also be used during the interview process to evidence your commitment and that you’re not making empty promises.
Equally if you have a two stage interview process you want to endure that your chosen candidates will want to come back for part two. This all involves clarifying what matters to the candidate, ie: what are their aspirations, motivators and needs? Do not make the mistake of thinking it’s all about money.
4 – Immediate follow-up. You need to strike a careful balance between apparent desperation and genuine interest. I used to write to candidates directly as well as feeding back through the agent that I had enjoyed the interview and thought it was worth taking things further.
I will outline the fifth step in the final posting of this series next week. In the mean time I would welcome comments and suggestions as regards the third and fourth steps I have summarised above.
Reflecting back on this post almost 7 years later I wonder what impact Linkedin could have on the recruitment process and winning the war for talent. It didn’t exist in my day but, used wisely, I’m sure it could be useful. You would need to avoid causing any concern that you are stalking candidates you engage with online.