Interviewing Candidates: They’re Just Not That Into You

It happens all the time; you meet the person of your dreams and you fall all over them like you're at Junior Prom. This is the person for you! They're perfect! You've already made up your mind that any of the other men and women dressed in tuxes and ball gowns can't possibly compare. When you are with them everything is rainbows and butterflies. In your mind, it just couldn't get better. But what if they don't feel the same way?

Humans have struggled with rejection since the dawn of time. It's in our nature to want to be liked and more importantly needed. While our emotions can get the best of us when falling for that special someone, in a business setting we need to be honest with ourselves and focus on facts and logic.

Over the last year, the market for highly skilled software developers and IT professionals has outshined the macroeconomy with unemployment as low as 2% in some areas. This is great news for people in the technology industry, but it also means that great candidates are hard to find and in demand. Most importantly, these candidates have options. Just like the Prom King and Prom Queen, these A-players can have their pick of the litter when it comes to potential employers.

I'm not saying to give up on your dream candidate! But be honest with yourself about what you can offer, both tangibly and intangibly, and how you can best communicate this information to your candidates. That's right, you have to sell.

I know, I know: you didn't sign up for a sales gig when you were up until 3 AM working on computer science problem sets, but if you want to win talent in an increasingly competitive market, you need to know what makes your candidate tick and, just as importantly, when to walk away. Follow these three easy steps to land your ace:

1. Make a Good First Impression: What is your goal when doing a first interview? Is it simply to determine whether or not this candidate is worth your time, or is it a balanced give and take? You may be halfway through your technical phone screen when you suddenly realize that this candidate is the real deal. You may have had a dozen bad interviews, but this is the candidates' first interaction with you and you need to make sure that if they are the type of person you want, you started on the right foot. My suggestion: meet them in person and spend a few minutes telling them your story and what your company is all about. This still leaves plenty of time to tech them out. You don't have to spend any more time than you would on the phone, but if they are a viable candidate and you want to move forward it will be easier to do so once they have met you and have already began to "buy" you.
2. Get Ahead of Yourself: Whoever said "don't get ahead of yourself" didn't work in the fast-paced world of talent acquisition. It's imperative to start answering questions early and often. Figure out what makes your candidate tick and what motivates them. Are they most interested in cash/equity or are they primarily concerned with spending more time with their family? Do they want bleeding edge technology or proven systems? Knowing this before a second or final round will increase your chances of landing the candidate or cutting your losses before you're in too deep.
3. Introduce Them to the Right People: It's counterintuitive to have a senior developer doing the first round interviews. Unless you (the hiring manager) have complete faith in your staff to represent the company ideally, answer questions accurately and appropriately and communicate why in the world anyone would want to work there, then do the interview yourself. Once you have a candidate on the hook and they are willing to commit 2-3 hours for a second or final interview, have them meet the team and the senior executives. This will provide a balance of people for the candidate to meet with, from your skilled technical group to a strong and seasoned leadership team.

The most challenging obstacle to securing the best talent is to shift your mentality from "I am interviewing this candidate" to "this candidate is interviewing me." At the end of the day, you get to choose who you want to make an offer to. You just can't forget that they will choose whether or not to accept.

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