Limited time, multiple hiring managers and administration coming out of your ears: Does that sound like your interview experience?

If it does, these 5 ways to improve your interview processes might be what you’re looking for.

1. Create interview feedback templates across your organisation

Different departments are going to have different requirements and expectations. However, recording interview feedback fairly across all areas of your organisation is vital.

Creating templates provide hiring managers with a structure for noting down interview feedback. This helps to ensure consistency across multiple interviews, and ensures managers are assessing all candidates against the same criteria and in a similar manner.

Making a template available across your organisation will enhance cohesion across different departments and the Recruitment & HR function. Consistent templates also make it easier for hiring managers to share and compare their feedback with colleagues.

2. Invest in interview training for hiring managers

Interviewing effectively is a skill – and not everyone has it. Your hiring managers might be incredibly experienced, knowledgeable and generally fantastic in their role, but they may not have the interview practice to conduct one effectively.

By investing in interview training, you can help hiring managers to become confident and comfortable conducting interviews. Crucially, this also ensures the candidates have a better experience.

Well-briefed and trained hiring managers will strengthen your efforts in attracting and engaging with candidates in the run-up to their interview. From your careers site to your candidate emails, you’ve worked hard to communicate your employer brand and company culture – and you want that to be reflected in interviews.

3. Encourage a ‘Meet and Greet’ for candidates

To further enhance your candidates’ experiences and promote your company’s working culture, set up a brief ‘Meet and Greet’ session for your interview candidates during their time at your office.

Whether it’s a short office walk-round, so they can gain a sense of what it’s ‘really’ like to work with you, or an initial handshake and hello with the interview panel when they first arrive, this kind of interaction can help to break the ice and forge a more personal connection with candidates.

Don’t underestimate the power of the human touch.

4. Manage your candidates’ expectations

The cornerstone of candidate experience is communication. Be transparent with candidates without over-promising when they might hear from you.

To manage their expectations, offer a provisional time-frame for when you’ll feedback. If you adhere to this, it will give candidates confidence in your organisation, even if the outcome of their interview is unsuccessful. This may mean they are more likely to apply for another role with you – or to share their positive experience with peers.

5. Make your ATS do the legwork

Make use of your Applicant Tracking System, if you have one. Initial administration can be alleviated through tools such as automatic interview scheduling and self-selection tools, where candidates can choose their own interview slots.

Your ATS should also enable you to send interview reminders. There’s nothing worse than spending time and resources preparing for an interview or an assessment day, only for some candidates not to attend.

Using a method where a candidate can reply quickly and easily – such as 2-way SMS technology – can help to improve your interview attendance rates and further strengthens that pre-interview communication and connection with a candidate.

Interviews take time and hard work to conduct effectively.

By implementing some of the above tips, it should make your interviews a little more effective, and hopefully a little less time-consuming.

And when that fantastic candidate shows up, already engaged with your organisation’s values and brand, impressed by your Meet and Greet, and interviewed by fully-trained hiring managers… well, it makes the hard work worth it, doesn’t it.

Find out more

The little things that tell candidates a lot about employers

Defining success: How to measure your Quality of Hire

How to reduce your recruitment advertising costs