While everyone is resigning, analyzing how the hiring process works!!!
The life of a hiring manager is not easy. You need to judge the candidate on 30–40 minutes of an interview and a resume that looks identical to most of the candidates.
The question that we (hiring managers) face on regular basis is “What do you look for in a candidate?”
The answer to this question is pretty simple, we look for everything but the most influential decision-maker is the attitude of any candidate.
A hiring manager is a person who interviews a candidate to see if he/she is the best fit for that role. For one single job, there can be 3–4 hiring managers who all interview and then submit their feedback.
A look into the conventional hiring process
Usually, the hiring process has four parts:
- Screening of candidates
- Skill Assessment
- Final Interviews
- Salary Negotiation
Screening of Candidates
The first part is to screen the candidates to find the potential candidates who are the best fit for the job. It involves a quick interview by HR, resume screening, giving preference to candidates who are referred by fellow team members & so on.
Often, there are a lot of candidates for few jobs and thus there are a lot of resumes that need to be screened. HR looks at the keywords of the job description and glances through the resume of the candidate. She spends 1–2 minutes per resume to see which one looks more aligned to the job role.
The trick to success at this stage is the similarity of the resume to the job role. Smart candidates usually make their resumes targeting the job. They emphasize the skills that are mentioned in the job description. They try to cover as much as possible and sprinkle the entire job description in their resume.
The majority of candidates who pass the initial screening are fit for the job role as they possess adequate experience & skills, and qualify for other eligibilities.
Skill Assessment
The second part of the hiring process is to assess the skills of any candidate. It usually involves written tests (or as per the job role). These assessment exams are aimed at identifying the best candidates from the pool of potential employees.
The candidates that don’t do well in the skill assessment test are rejected and a list is prepared for the candidates who passed the exam. The passing criteria are different for each job role. Sometimes it is 90% and sometimes it can be as low as 40–50%.
The test is only to benchmark candidates against each other and doesn’t eliminate them from the competition as long as they are not dumb.
Interviews
The list of candidates from the skill assessment test is shared with the hiring managers with a priority to candidates who scored higher.
That’s when the hiring manager comes into the picture. The candidates who are selected after the first two rounds are usually good ones and know the basics.
What makes difference is their attitude towards the job. The aim of interviews is to identify candidates who can go one extra mile to get good results. The hiring managers discuss various aspects of the job conditions and normal day-to-day questions to identify if a candidate is serious about the job or not.
The candidates who are there for the money, position, etc. are rejected unless there is a strict demand from the operations. The focus is on selecting candidates who are interested in the job and they usually belong to two categories.
Candidates who need this job Vs Candidates who want this job
Usually, the preference is given to candidates who want the job because it clearly indicates their interest. The candidates who need this job might not need it in the next 2 months and may decide to move on. While the candidates who want the job are the ones that are interested in the lifestyle of this job. They would make a difference by creating a good environment. Desires usually show the alignment of an individual. The candidates who want something have goals in that direction and that is good to have a thing for any company.
The questions are framed in a way to identify the interest of the candidate. The questions such as:
“Where do you see yourself in 5 years?”
“How would you respond to ….(future job scenario)?”
are perfect examples of the questions that pull out the interest of a candidate.
Salary Negotiation
Multiple candidates are usually selected in the screening round and then interviewed. There is a list of candidates who are a good fit for the job and they are then approached by HR regarding their expectations.
These expectations include salary, work location, work-from-home preference, job role, etc. The HR selects the candidate who is the best fit for each criterion. It includes the one that is best in skill assessment, good at interviews, demands a low CTC, and is very flexible on the joining terms.
The rest candidates are not rejected but are dropped. The HR can connect with them again in some time if there is a similar vacancy or the currently selected candidate refuses to join.
Once you know how the hiring process works. Now you can control your answers to get into the job that you desire. Happy Job Hunting
