16
Aug

How To Attract The Best Talent During The Interview Process

You’ve secured some impressive candidates to interview for that role you’ve been eager to fill. Once you’ve got them through the door, you’re confident they’ll want the job – it’s just a case of picking the best candidate from the talent pool, right?

Not always. Employers sometimes forget that interviewing is a two-way street, especially for more senior positions. it’s not just the employer interviewing the candidate, but also the candidate scoping out whether the company is the best place for them. 

Don’t lose out on top talent because of your 1 way interview process – read our tips for securing the best talent, from our experienced oil recruitment directors.

Here are 6 strategies for attracting the best talent in the interview process:

1. Ask the candidate questions early

Too often in interviews the employer will spend the first 80% of the interview talking about the company, leaving the final 20% of the time left to actually get to know the candidate and their abilities. Why is this so bad? It’s a common complaint we hear from candidates. It sets a tone of a company who put their employee’s needs last – never a good selling point! It’s also important to give them time for questions at the end, so they can assess the fit to their own career needs.

2. Explain how you facilitate great opportunities 

A potential employee will be keen to know that your role offers an abundance of career growth opportunities, and that your company has clear aims, strategy and responsibilities for the position they are interviewing for. To help attract them to the job, be prepared to talk through your vision and mission, and have a handful of stories of how you’ve facilitated current employees in your company to achieve great things. This could be from giving employees autonomy to bring in new projects or revenue streams. Providing examples will instigate excitement and will make it clear the opportunities are there for the taking. 

3. Give them confidence in job security 

Leaving a job often feels like a risk, even more so if you’re leaving for a position which involves setting up a new team or division in a company. The candidate needs to feel confident that this job and its funding are secure – so be the first to highlight the stability of the company and the long term plans for the position. 

4. Sell the workplace culture

More and more we’re seeing workplace culture being cited as the number one driver for accepting a new job, outweighing the more traditionally attractive benefits like pay and bonuses. Workplace culture is clearly important, so should be used as a tool in your hiring process to attract great employees. Ask around current employees to find out what they think the best aspects of your workplace culture are, or better yet, conduct an internal survey so you can be armed with data on this, to showcase to your potential new employee. 

5. Show how you champion personal development

Training opportunities, mentorship, a clear framework and progression plan – highlighting that these are in place at your company will help to entice potential candidates, showcasing you as a business who is dedicated to investing in employee personal development. Include some examples of current employees whose personal development has flourished whilst at the company.

6. Be open to negotiation

If you’re faced with an exceptional candidate who may be asking for a higher salary or flexible hours outside of what you’d originally planned for the role, then consider whether that extra investment in time or money would be worth it. Coming to a fair agreement, which needs both parties needs, will give you a better chance of securing more exceptional talent in your business.

Finally

When you’re about to interview a potential new employee, think about what they’re looking for in a new workplace. Generally they’re looking to further their personal development, make a positive impact and work with a collaborative team. The interview is an opportunity to cover off all these points to ensure they walk away feeling confident that this is the career move they need to make, and that you, the employer, are prepared to meet a fair portion of their needs to hire them.

Thanks for reading. If you’re hiring in the oil and gas industry then speak to our experienced & networked team today about our technology-backed recruitment methodology. We can help you to reach your ideal candidate – find out more on enquiries@abnresource.com or request a callback below.

To read more articles like this, view our oil industry blog or sign up to our newsletter.