I've been getting a lot of questions from people who are in interviewing
processes that either they they are concerned there are other candidates
they're getting hurried they're getting slowed down they're just wandering or
the employers are letting them know that there are multiple candidates one of the
things that I want everybody to know and I tell you this as a recruiter who
handles folks in these interviewing processes and somebody who has worked
with hundreds of companies who handle people in these processes I have not
found a company or an employer who was not willing to share this information
with you and the reason that is is because they want to know from you what
you've got going on and and where they fit in your overall job search and they
know that you want to know the same thing as well so the first the first
thing that I want you to do for anybody who gets into any interviewing process
is right up front I want you to tell and ask so here's what I would do as you get
into your interviewing process now some of you are passive candidates some of
you are only interviewing with one company some of you are feverishly
looking for your next role regardless of what your situation is when the first
things that you should do when you are going through the screen whether it's a
HR person the hiring official the recruiter or whoever is you want to let
them know where you stand as far as your job search goes so if you are only
interviewing with them then you let them know that if you are interviewing with a
number of other companies you want to let them know that I would also go so
far as to tell them who the companies are what positions you're interviewing
for and where you are in the process and if you're wondering why you want to do
that every organization wants to know where it stands with you because if they
love you they're gonna make accommodations to try to make sure that
they're handling you appropriately in the process whether they're moving you
forward slowing it down or trying to make sure
that you have a great chance to to win the job with them and it is it is
setting a precedent from you that you are you were giving them a high degree
of communication you were open you were honest you were trustworthy and you are
simply informing them do not for one second think that you are coming off in
an inappropriate manner fact matter is hey I want to share what I have going on
and I will be honest with you about this throughout the entire process and as
things change I will immediately notify you they'd love to hear that nothing
hurts an employer more than when they have somebody who's going through their
interviewing process who they love who all of a sudden calls them up or emails
them and says I've taken another job when they would have loved to have known
that you had something in hand or you were considering something because they
might have made alterations so let them know right away hey here's where I stand
I'm not interviewing with anybody this is the only you're the only organization
I'm interviewing with I've got three things going on here's what they look
like and so on and then what I would do the moment I get done explaining that to
them is I would say here's what I have going on I would also love to know what
what your candidate what your what your candidate pool looks like your candidate
pipeline looks like or how many candidates are being considered for this
position or however you want to phrase it it's okay to ask them where are you
in the overall process and you could even you could even you can even build
that one up a little if you want how long's the position been open how many
candidates have you been interviewing how many are currently active and so on
what can you share with me about this position and and in its history or its
current current events basically the great thing about this is you will find
a ton of intelligence about it if this is a position that's been open for a
while and they've been interviewing many many candidates on the one hand that's a
terrible thing because either they're super picky or nobody likes them or
whatever million things could be going wrong but what it does give you an
opportunity to do is to surface immediately why they have not
hired somebody and what's been missing in the candidates that they have been
interviewed but my first point with the TEL and the ask is make sure to
immediately exchange that information so you want to make sure that you're
getting that insight immediately and if it's appropriate and in the dialogue is
going you know kind of smoothly with the screener at this point it's okay to ask
some questions on top of that initial question so what then which leads me to
my second point which is you know where where are those candidates in the
process so are they yet are they finished are some currently active you
know what has been what has been number three what has been great or missing in
any of the candidates that you have seen the reason you want to surface this is
because you're gonna use this to immediately start selling yourself so
those of you that are in the boot camp and those of you that are in the
interview intervention course you know I talked about or even if you've seen
three keys to a sending job interview I talked about this a little bit there as
well you always want to surface information that you can use immediately
in the job interviewing process to sell yourself so what has been missing from
the candidates your current you've you've interviewed or you are currently
interviewing surfaces the gaps that they have not been able to fill so when you
ask where they are in the process and and and what's been you know positive or
or missing from those candidates what you're doing is you are surfacing
information that you are gonna make sure you use to ultimately ultimately sell
yourself so you now know what what are the gaps that you need to cover
how can you articulate that you do not have those gaps and also and also how is
it that you have the strengths that they're looking for so these these
assets and skills and whatever that the other candidates have you got to make
sure you have them to or you've got something similar analogous or that can
compensate for or if they have some skills that you don't
have then you've got to have other things that are overwhelmingly awesome
about you that make up for your lack of skill that somebody else might have and
then you need to make sure that you highlight for them how it is that you
cover the gaps that they've had so far and what's been missing from all the
other candidates so that's extremely important but this is something that you
should be asking throughout the entire process so I want you to tell them where
you are ask them what they've got going on but
don't just ask them how many you know do you have candidates in the process you
don't want a yes or no answer there and you don't want how many candidates are
in the process you want to know how many but you also want to know what's the
history been like where you know how many have you interviewed what have you
loved what didn't you love what you know the position is obviously still open so
what is it about it being open what is it about being open that you that you
can take advantage of so it just it's very important that you're exchanging
and then as you progress through the interviewing process you want to make
sure that you are asking especially your hiring official hey Jane Smith the
recruiter let me know that you've got a couple other candidates in process
that's great I would expect that you know what is it about these individuals
if you you know have you spoken with them and if you've spoken with them what
is it about them that you're that you like and is there anything that you feel
has been missing so far from all the candidates that you've interviewed I
would love to know that that is okay to ask don't ever hesitate to ask questions
like that you are being open and honest you're asking for the same in return and
the way that the employer responds to you is going to tell you an awful lot
about their character their integrity whether you can trust them whether
they're you know kind of staying true to their word these are all great signs as
you continue to evaluate the employer so I want to make sure that you know to do
that so that's that that's that's point number one
today I just I've been getting that question a lot you know you know people
have been frustrated that you know processes have been taking too long or I
mean we had some on the Facebook group I think people were asking me about
you know one one guy I can't really the exact story but had to do with hey I
interviewed and they told me that they want to keep interviewing and I know the
process is going to take some time or they they want to go find some other
candidates or something of that nature but this is you know all of this
information is stuff you should surface immediately and continue to ask along
the way there's nothing wrong with it so I want to make sure we're clear on that
that you need to do this
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