<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=395330474421690&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Platform
Plateform
Platform Overview
ai icon
AI
Why Workstream
Why Workstream
compliance icon
Compliance
Integrations
Integrations
fully-supported
Fully Supported
Product
Hiring
time & scheduling icon
HR
Engagement
payroll-1
Featured Reads
Webinar
For our customers: Product roadmap sneak peek
hiring
Restaurant Payroll 101
Learn how to tackle the hardest aspects of paying restaurant workers from taxes and tip reporting to labor law compliance.
How to hire more efficiently

How to hire more efficiently

HR, TA, and recruiting leaders have to balance hiring the best talent with creating processes that are effective for hiring teams and engaging for candidates. We partnered with our friends at Checkr to bring you actionable ideas for increasing efficiency in your hiring efforts. Our panel of experts discuss:

  • Tips for making the interview process both efficient and effective
  • How to shorten the feedback loops between recruiting, hiring managers, and cross-functional stakeholders
  • Ways to keep candidates engaged throughout the hiring lifecycle
  • Best practices to keep screening from delaying candidate start dates

Transcript:

Daniel Blaser (00:08):

Hello everyone. I just want to say welcome. We are going to wait a couple more minutes as people kind of file in, so we'll probably start in about two minutes. Feel free as you're joining, if you want to drop in the chat where you're joining this webinar from. Also, if you have any initial questions or thoughts about the topic, you can drop those in the chat at any time. You don't need to wait until the end. So anyway, yeah, I'd love to hear where you're from. We've got Oakland, California, Columbia, South Carolina, a couple folks from Texas. Another, we got a San Diego Love, San Diego, Colorado Springs, I think it was David. You're from Colorado I believe, right?

David Rudary (01:01):

Yep, yep. In the Denver area.

Daniel Blaser (01:04):

Okay, nice. Awesome. We have someone from India that might win the furthest Away award, at least from where all the panelists are from Another Colorado Springs. You can go out to lunch, the two of you after maybe. Maybe you already know each other. I don't know. Portland, another Oakland, another lunch. Get together, do some networking if you don't know each other. Ann Arbor.

Hyla Wallis (01:42):

Ann Arbor in the house. That's my hometown.

Daniel Blaser (01:45):

Oh, cools. What is Michigan like this time of year? Generally

Hyla Wallis (01:53):

Hot,

Daniel Blaser (01:54):

Humid,

Hyla Wallis (01:55):

Little sticky. Got a lot of thoughts, but it's also excellent. A lot of good outdoor time. Depends on where you are as well in the up or in the lower peninsula.

Daniel Blaser (02:10):

Nice. Cool. I think I saw a couple of Portlands as well maybe

David Rudary (02:18):

And in Brazil.

Daniel Blaser (02:20):

Brazil. That's awesome. I can't remember time zones, but I feel like it might be really late in Brazil right now. So we appreciate you joining Madagascar. That's awesome. Well cool. Looking at the clock, I think we can jump in and get started. Thank you so much once again for everyone being here. My name is Daniel and it's my pleasure to be the moderator today. Just to kick things off we little bit, we'll do some introductions and then we've got awesome panel discussion. We're going to focus all around hiring more efficiently and everyone here kind of knows that being efficient in our hiring processes, that's a huge way to get a leg up on the competition and it's also a great way to increase employee engagement, all that good stuff as well. So we've got this awesome panel. They're going to share their tips and their advice all about hiring efficiently and then we have a Q and a that we'll take care of.

(03:31):

We have about 10 minutes plan for that after the panel discussion. Like I said a second ago though, don't feel like you have to save your questions. If anything comes to mind throughout the conversation, feel free to drop those questions in and our awesome panel will address those. And one other reminder is that you do get SHRM credit for attending today, and so if you hang tight until the end of the conversation, we'll get you that SHRM code. With that, let's jump into introductions. My name is Daniel Blazer and I am on work Stream's marketing team. Workstream is a hiring platform geared toward hourly employees. We have a lot of customers that are in the quick service restaurant space, also hospitality. Those two industries are kind of our bread and butter. One other fun thing is that we actually had a product launch this morning, so it's been an early morning for me, but we just launched our workstream AI initiative, which is kind of bringing all that AI goodness into our hiring platform. So feel free to check out more at workstream us if you are interested. And with that, Leah, I'd love to hear your intro.

Leah Dillon (04:48):

Hey everyone, it's so nice to meet you all. Welcome from everyone all around the world. I guess as mentioned, I'm Leah. I am a recruiter and social media manager. I'm based out of Northern California, so I'm seeing a lot of Great Bay Area people representing currently right now I work at Teal as both social media manager and a recruiter. Teal is a free job searching platform. We have a wonderful resume builder, job tracker. You've probably seen us popping around on LinkedIn a few times. Outside of that, I've recruited for companies like Amazon and Mercedes and just trying to build a community of people who are being transparent about hiring and recruiting in this job search. It's stressful out there. I've been there firsthand, so just trying to be as transparent as we can and learn from my fellow peers. Thanks.

Daniel Blaser (05:42):

Thank you. I will say Leah's a great LinkedIn follow. I've seen some of your posts over just the last week and a lot of great stuff there, so definitely check it out on LinkedIn. LinkedIn, Hyla, let's hear a little bit about you.

Hyla Wallis (05:56):

Hi everybody, my name is Hyla. I have the pleasure of leading our talent operation team at Checker. We primarily conduct background checks but are at our core mission oriented organization, rooted in technology and serving as kind of a conduit to all HR needs. I've been in the industry for over a decade working at Stripe, Zillow, and now Meta. It's still hard to get used to the name change, but really excited to be with this group today to talk about efficiency and being a more empathetic leader in this space. So really excited for the conversation.

Daniel Blaser (06:42):

Awesome, and Cammas , let's hear a little bit about you.

Cammas Freeman (06:47):

Thanks. I'm Cammas Freeman and I currently own a boutique recruiting company based out of Boise, Idaho. And our primary focus is on helping clients optimize their talent strategy. So everything from top of the funnel, talent attraction to hiring and onboarding. My background is been a variety of HR and recruiting and some marketing, which of course lends well to our current environment, but I think primarily this topic is a great one with the demand and being efficient, how critical that is. So excited to be here. Thanks.

Daniel Blaser (07:34):

Awesome, thank you. And I have seen a couple of messages come through just as a reminder that we are recording today's conversation and we'll send out a recording and some other content following today's presentation so you can re-watch or share it with a colleague. And just in case anyone missed it earlier, you can get SHRM credit for this presentation. So hang tight and we'll share that at the end. And with that being said, I think we're ready to jump into kind of our first topic of conversation. Hey Dan? Yeah, can introduce myself real quick. Gosh, did I miss you? I'm so sorry, David. No problem. I was ready to go and I missed you, so my bad.

David Rudary (08:16):

I don't blame you. I'm ready to, but my name's David Rudary. I'm with Blend360 located in Denver, Colorado. I'm really passionate about creating efficiencies around the hiring process. I have a little bit over seven years of experience within the recruiting space, working with the largest privately held recruiting agency, getting some valuable training there. And then about two and a half years ago, at the end of 2020, moved over to Blend360 to open up their Denver office as they decided to expand geographically. And west in the United States we're a professional services company focused around marketing data and analytic talent. So whether you want to outsource a project, we have the ability and have a team that can work on those projects. Or if you want to keep it in-house, we provide a solution that fits your needs there. I specialize on the recruiting side or keeping it in-house, allowing you to tap into our bench of resources for project-based work or helping you find a new addition to your team, whatever you're looking for. And really excited to work with the panel here on these next couple of questions.

Daniel Blaser (09:19):

Thank you so much, David. I appreciate it. Okay, now I think we can jump into the first conversation topic. And the question for the panel is what tips do you have for making the interview process both efficient and effective? I feel like that can be a challenge is that balance between efficiency but also adequately screening applicants. So why don't we get started with highlight. I'd love to hear some of your thoughts on this one.

Hyla Wallis (09:51):

Yeah, much like in life, everything starts with clear expectation setting. So do you have a structured interview plan? If not, start there. Do you have clarity on the skills and attributes that you're assessing for and what success looks like? What is a good or a bad answer in assessing for that particular skill? If not, dig in and then does your hiring manager do your interviewers know what is expected of them, if not over communicate. So you don't need to, in many cases, overcomplicate things, but you do need to get really tight on the fundamentals and take that time early in the process to slow down so that you can speed up. And this is so critical, especially in high volume scenarios, but really universally across the board and wherever you can really make sure that you are influencing your leaders to deeply understand the value in that it's going to offer you a more efficient and effective solution.

(11:01):

And then I think from there, it's also how do you leverage technology, right? Like hey, how do you integrate all that fun AI into your process? But even more simplistically, how do you make transactions easier? So scheduling, right, scheduling, it's not really an experience that needs to be super high touch, but it does need to be super simple and easy to do. So what are things that you can do to invest in that space to make it really clean? What are the levers in technology that can offer that really clean solution so that you're spending more time in the moments that matter? So those are some of my tips.

Daniel Blaser (11:44):

A lot of great stuff there. Thank you, David. I'd love to hear some of your thoughts about making the interviewing process efficient and effective.

David Rudary (11:53):

Yeah, so I mean I definitely agree with what Hyla had to say. Setting the clear expectations is such an important part. But I also think the other piece is also the clear communication, both internal and external. I think that part is probably the most important part through the process. One on the internal side, making sure you have an understanding on what you have approval for and what you have the ability to hire. Especially in today's market, you don't want to set candidates through the process if you don't have that approval, it can set a bad candidate experience. So making sure that the communication is there with all internal parties. So whether it's working with your HR team, your direct manager, and a variety of other people if you need anything for checks and balances. And then really evaluating what do you need for the role versus what you want in a candidate for the role.

(12:47):

So whether there are things that you can train on or provide training or upskill versus some of the technology or experiences that you absolutely need that translate well as well as the type of position that you need. So whether you need somebody full-time, part-time contract to hire, there's just a wide variety of different solutions out there. So making sure that you evaluate what works best for you and your team and make sure that it's in a timely manner. And highlight, actually even hit on this too, but having a structured interview definitely helps. Rather than shooting off the cuff, you don't want it to be too repetitive. Again, a lot of this is the candidate experience and making sure that you get all of your questions answered. If everybody's asking the same questions, there could be something that slips through the cracks. And so making sure to make sure that those things are set out. And the final thing I wanted to add is having the right people, which kind of goes hand in hand with the structured interviews is making sure the people that these individuals or candidates are going to be working with that are there. And you're not just throwing a bunch of people in the process just to fill gaps. You want to make sure that you're using everybody's times effectively and making sure that the people who have a say and will be working with this individual, we'll be a part of that process.

Daniel Blaser (14:07):

Yeah, I love it. I feel like we've all probably had experiences as candidates interviewing with a bunch of random people and kind of wondering where it all fits in. So I think that's a great tip. I Leah, I'd love to hear your thoughts next.

Leah Dillon (14:22):

Yeah, definitely. Echoing on both what Hyla and David said, communication is key, especially when you're opening a role or building out a team, understanding with the hiring manager leadership, what is the overview of the pipeline from end to end? What does creating a role look like and what does onboarding a role look like? Because recruiting and hiring doesn't stop at opening the job description and having candidates supply, it doesn't stop at the end of the interview when you get an offer, it's a whole end to end process. So kind of understanding what is the goal, what does that look like? And also establishing that relationship with your hiring manager, the ones who are hiring this person, this is the person joining their team, so what does that look like? What does success look like for that candidate if they were to take on this role?

(15:08):

So just understanding what's your overall goal and setting those expectations and ensuring the interview panel is trained and ready to go for the interview. And it's not this guess of what are we going to ask? All the panelists should have some sort of training and unconscious bias so we can recognize our own biases when we're reading through resumes, when we're interviewing people, understanding and interviewing diverse candidates and ensuring we're providing inclusivity in our hiring process and also providing accommodations. I feel like accommodations is the one thing that could be lacking in hiring processes. How can we provide accommodations at the forefront if someone should ask? We should have that answer ready to go if we cannot provide accommodations. Having that very transparent in our job description, that's key. And I think another way to take it a step further for the candidate experience, just making it a little bit more effective and efficient, setting out expectations for what the first three months look like for a candidate.

(16:09):

What are some of the interview questions? I know for us at Teal, we're making it an effort to, we provide all the questions that we're going to ask the candidates prior to the interview so that way you're not nervous, what are they going to ask? It's more conversational and you have that clear expectation of what we want from you and what we're looking to get from you as a candidate. Our goal is to hire a qualified candidate. We're looking for the basic qualifications and working our way up from there. So how are we starting from day one to onboarding with that with our candidates? I think that that helps make a well-rounded relationship with the hiring team as well as starting that candidate experience from those first initial conversations.

Daniel Blaser (16:51):

That's great. I love it. Cammas , last but not least. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Cammas Freeman (16:57):

Yeah, well first of all, they all nailed everything. And I think probably the common theme that we're going to hear is communication throughout setting the expectations and having some process. And so I think all of that applies personally. One thing I've noticed particularly working as an external recruiter with managers is, and I think David brought it up about the ideal candidate versus maybe more a realistic or the core skills. And I find when we really identify what that hiring manager needs to know to want to talk to that person at the beginning, and we can provide that to them, it saves a lot of time, which I think we're all appreciative of throughout this process. But that's something I think has helped from at least an efficiency standpoint at the beginning of that recruiting process.

Daniel Blaser (18:02):

Yeah, I think that's a great tip. Alright, I think it's time to jump to our second question. I just want to make sure anyone else have anything they want to add before we jump on or move on. Okay, cool. Let's move on to the second prompt. So as we know feedback loops, that can be a huge challenge when you're jumping between recruiting, hiring managers, cross-functional stakeholders, shortening those feedback loops can be really important when it comes to trying to have an efficient process. Leah, let's start with you. I'd love to hear some of your thoughts and your tips for shortening those loops.

Leah Dillon (18:46):

Yeah, it's a great question and I'm always going to be, the firm stance of it starts from the first initial conversation. So how can we identify and document what a successful candidate looks like before starting that hiring process and knowing what a successful candidate will look like will help when we're writing our feedback and speeding up that process and setting clear expectations with hiring teams on timelines and also holding them accountable. This is your role. We are partnering with you to help you hire your team. So if you are taking days, weeks, months to respond to feedback to let us know if this candidate aligns with what you want, we're going to move as high of priority as you want us to go, but we also have candidates that we have to answer to at the same time. So we need to be holding those hiring teams and interviewers accountable.

(19:36):

Recruiters move fast A day to a recruiter is not a day to a candidate and it is certainly not a day to a hiring manager or interview. We move fast, we're working with multiple roles, we're handling multiple candidates and we're trying to streamline the process as fast as we can. So having those clear expectations with hiring managers, we're going to move fast. Can you accommodate that? How fast do you want to go And set those clear expectations ahead of time. If this is a priority role for you, we'll get this done as fast as we possibly can, but you also have to meet us halfway. And the same thing goes with answering candidates, setting our own expectations and holding ourselves accountable. If we're going to say we're going to respond to a candidate in 72 hours, set a reminder on your calendar, make sure that you're following up, preset out a response to a candidate.

(20:25):

A no response is also a response. So if you have no update, let the candidate know I don't have an update. I'm still reaching out to the hiring team. That just kind of helps streamline the process a little bit better and establishes with the candidate that we're still working with you, we just need a little bit more time. I know time to everyone is a little bit different. So just setting those clear expectations and also understanding what does one targeted conversation in an interview mean to several loosely formatted interviews. What can you get out of one conversation without having to ask the same thing over and over again in an interview process and making sure that interviewers are structured in their interview panel, that every question has meaning behind it and has weight. I think that can kind of help streamline and shorten the interview loop as a whole.

Daniel Blaser (21:18):

Yeah, a lot of great stuff there. I appreciate that highlight. I'd love to get your take on this.

Hyla Wallis (21:25):

And before I dig in, I'll actually answer one of the questions that was in chat, which actually I think was loosely just answered, but it is when there are multiple rounds of interviews and candidates are getting fed up with answering some of the same questions, how do you resolve that? And that starts with, again, having a structured interview. Does each interview have an intention to measure a very specific skill or attribute versus interviewers just coming in to say, oh yeah, I'm here to see if you're the right person for the job, but without clarity of what precisely that means in practice. And this dives back into the question of how do you shorten that interview loop? It's having that structured interview, having each interviewer have a very intentional element that they are measuring against, and then they're assessing against that skill against those expectations versus other candidates.

(22:26):

The time in process measure I actually think is one that I hope we all end up spending a little bit more time focusing on where it's not just time to fill, time to fill is of course a measure that we focus on in the industry. That's the time from when we receive that request from our hiring manager to the time that we're able to fulfill it with the most qualified candidate. But when we think about that candidate experience, the most important measure for them is actually time and process. I want to either know that it's not me or I want to know that it is and I want to know as quickly as possible because I might have other irons in the fire or I might just have other life things going on. So what are the ways that we can build that structure, those expectations, measure against the skills and measure intentionally each interview? Again, not just like a hodgepodge of questions, but like, Hey, I want to measure this very specific thing that is rooted in this business need and then take it from there. And again, back to the beginning, it's all about expectation setting and over communication. So that's what you're going to hear from all of us probably in slightly different ways, but it is the essence of everything.

Daniel Blaser (23:49):

Yeah, that's great. David, what are your thoughts on shortening

(23:53):

Feedback loops? Yeah, I think what the

David Rudary (24:02):

Previous two panelists said are exactly dead on setting the expectations and having that open communication. As you can kind of tell, that is definitely going to be a theme throughout all this. But actually to kind of even run through a scenario that I recently went through is since we've actually all been, or I shouldn't say everybody, but I'm sure the majority of people have been candidates on the other side waiting for feedback or hoping something's going to happen. In this scenario, I had a candidate interviewing for a marketing position on a team, and since we're an outside third party agency, the internal recruiting team was actually also working on it. They had a candidate in process that they really liked and had a referral for that candidate. The internal candidate kept going through the process and they kind of put our candidate on hold. With that being said, there was some communication on it they wanted to go through, which I think is very important to at least let the candidate know like, Hey, they do have another candidate.

(25:04):

They have worked with X, Y, Z person within the company before, so they do want to see where this process goes, so at least they know. So they did a great job there, our client. But then the other piece too is this candidate went all the way through the process and ended up declining an offer. So I think another really important piece is to make sure that the candidates have that experience and have that speed through the process as well. And in decreasing that feedback loop is that if you have another candidate that is qualified that you're interested in, that you should also continuously interview multiple candidates because you put all your eggs in one basket. Then what tends to happen is that if a candidate, you're delaying that process. So I think it's very important to have that communication and whether it comes through putting calendar events in candidates calendars so that way you can give them more specific feedback, maybe areas for improvement.

(26:07):

At the end of the day, we're all people and we want to have that open communication to help each other succeed, I think is a big piece. And then the timely feedback and setting up specific durations. I think even Hyla mentioned whether it's 24, 48, 72 hours at the end of the day, as long as we're moving candidates through the process, even if it's not exactly what they want to hear, it's important to at least relay that information to them so that way they have an idea like, Hey, they're still interested in the opportunity. A lot of times, even if it isn't the greatest feedback, they're still interested in the company and the position overall, I would say if it meets their requirements on what they're looking for. So just keep that communication going throughout the entire process.

Daniel Blaser (26:52):

Yeah, thank you. Just want to acknowledge that. I've seen, there's a couple of questions that have come in. We definitely see those. I think we're going to hold those maybe towards the end of our conversation, but we appreciate them keep sending the questions our way. With that, let's jump to the third topic. All of you recommend keeping candidates engaged throughout the hiring lifecycle. We've talked a little bit about that. Hilo, you were talking about, it's time and process to think in those terms. I think that's maybe a great way to kind of frame some of this, but yeah, maybe David, let's start with you, is what do you recommend for keeping candidates engaged?

David Rudary (27:36):

Yeah, I think candidate engagement is the initial touch point, what candidates have with a company, and it kind of sets their experience and you always want to start off on the right foot. So having that standardized process that we've talked about, but also showing some interest in them in regards to their interest level on the opportunity, making sure what are they looking for in the next opportunity and making sure that it aligns with the opportunity that you're presenting to them. So consistently asking questions on their interest level

(28:27):

About the company.

Daniel Blaser (28:31):

I think we're running into some difficulties with David's audio. Unfortunately everyone else can hear me. Okay. It's just making sure it's not on my end. Okay. Sorry David, maybe we'll jump back to that in a second if we can resolve some of the issues. But in the meantime, Cammas , I'd love to hear your thoughts on keeping candidates engaged.

Cammas Freeman (29:07):

So I'm having a little bit of issues too, so I don't know if, can you hear me okay?

Daniel Blaser (29:14):

Yes, we can. There was a little bit of zoom issues earlier for you, but I think it's been okay to follow.

Cammas Freeman (29:20):

Okay. Well if I don't respond to you, ask me because I have a little bit of a delay, so just know that. But yeah, I mean, again, the common theme here is communication. I think Leah said or Hyla said over communication and one of the things is like we set an expectation with those candidates, and I think David mentioned this as well about when we would communicate and we call it Fridays, that we make sure all my recruiters, no matter what's going on, whether we do that, are communicating with them. And again, also a no ghosting rule. I don't think that's a huge surprise or people would not expect that as well. But I think the other point is I always tell candidates if you need an update, if you need some sort of information in time,

(30:25):

We want them to feel like

(30:27):

They can do that. A lot of times candidates are hesitant to reach out and so we sure they know that they can do that at any point in time, and I think that's part of this kind of relationship building through the process.

Daniel Blaser (30:46):

Yeah, yeah, I love that, especially the no ghosting rule. It's so simple, but it just is so important. And David, I've seen you pop back on not sure if you were able to iron some of that out.

David Rudary (31:01):

Yeah, sorry about that. I'm hard plugged in now. I'm

(31:05):

Sure what happened there. Sorry about that. But yeah, I think the last thing that I just wanted to bring up is I'm not sure if you guys heard me in regards to sending articles about what's going on with the company, any new products coming out, any new initiatives, things coming out from the CEO or just any initiatives overall I think is important to make sure that they have that insight. And as you get to the end of the process is even sending 'em some of the benefits if you think you're going to extend an offer to them.

Daniel Blaser (31:34):

Yeah, yeah, I love that. Any other thoughts before we jump to the next one? Any other thoughts about candidate engagement from anyone on the panel?

Leah Dillon (31:46):

I can throw some thoughts in there. Yeah, over-communicating is just the theme I think for all of hiring, setting those expectations with the candidate, how much do you want us to communicate with you is also important. Some people just want, give me the job, give me the salary and I'll go through the process myself. Some people want prep calls right before a panel interview or technical interview. So over communicating with them, especially early on, also letting 'em know how do you want rejection? How do you want it? Do you want through a phone call? Do you want to hop on a zoom call? Do you want an email? A lot of companies have things in place where they cannot share direct feedback, but if you'd rather me give you a quick call or just send you an email and letting you know, let's set those expectations ahead of time so that way you're receiving the news in a way that you feel most comfortable.

(32:37):

And if you want to hop on a call later, that's also great. I just think checking in throughout the processes is also beneficial just throughout the hiring life cycle. After our initial call, you're now handed off to several other people, and so I just get to monitor from the backend. So calling after your call with the hiring manager, how did that go? What questions do you have? And also trying to understand where you are in your own hiring process. Are you close to an offer for another role? Let us know ahead of time so that we can try and expedite the process. We'll try and move as quickly as possible or as slow as we can as you would like to go. We may not be able to do an interview in one day and say, here's an offer. We may not be able to extend it a three month period, but we'll try and accommodate you as fast as we can within the constraints of our own process.

Daniel Blaser (33:30):

Yeah, thank you so much for sharing. I love the idea of asking about preferred communication method. That's great. All right, let's jump into our fourth and final topic. And this one is all about how can we keep from delaying candidates start dates? What are some best practices, some tips for avoiding that as much as possible? Cammas, let's get started with your thoughts

(34:03):

On this topic. May have a little

(34:11):

Zoom issue there. Hi, let's start with you.

Hyla Wallis (34:16):

Yeah, I think it starts with understanding the

Cammas Freeman (34:20):

Rest, right?

Hyla Wallis (34:24):

All right, I'll dive back in. So I think it starts with understanding the rest of the ecosystem. We as recruiters, we're not working in our own silo and we need to understand what's happening with our partners, those that we rely on in order to achieve that last leg of this phase of the employment life cycle. So I think that it's understanding the needs of those operational partners. What does your IT team need? What does the rest of maybe your people ops team, right? Assuming size and scale of your company, do those teams exist? Are you that team? Whatever that might look like. But understanding the constraints of your partners I think is critically important. Wherever you can kind of norm expectations of, hey, if you get whomever hired before a certain date, we are committed to achieving kind of a smooth outcome to assure that they can start and having contingency plans.

(35:26):

There are going to be exceptions, there are going to be urgent business needs when those things come up, when not if, do you have a plan in place for who should be involved in order to expedite what are the options that you have in front of you? So if you can go through that mental exercise and document wherever you can so that everyone can agree on like, all right, yes, this is the game plan, it can really help lower the smoke when those inevitable fires come up. So again, clear expectations, clear communication organization, and my favorite documentation, my team will tell you. So yeah, I think that those are just some of the ways to help get ahead of those potential delays or avoid them wherever you can.

Daniel Blaser (36:19):

Yeah, a lot of great stuff there. Cammas, I want to check in, see if you're able to resolve some of those Zoom issues.

Cammas Freeman (36:29):

Well, we'll see. Can you hear me okay?

Daniel Blaser (36:31):

Yes, we can. Maybe

Cammas Freeman (36:32):

If I stay off of video

Daniel Blaser (36:34):

Maybe so.

Cammas Freeman (36:35):

Yeah. Yeah. So I apologize. I was messing around with that a little bit, so I didn't hear everything that Hyla said. But I think one of the things that I've noticed causes a delay or is often the case is at the point of, and this is a little bit more specific, but at the point of offer, the process that happens to get them offer paperwork, things like that is often delayed. Which one causes concern with a candidate, and you feel like, okay, if they're actively interviewing with you, they may have been actively interviewing with somebody else. And so if they're not getting that actual offer letter for 2, 3, 4, sometimes a week because so-and-so's on vacation, things like that, that confidence in the process can definitely be affected. And I find when that part of it is really dialed in, it can make all the difference.

Daniel Blaser (37:39):

Yeah, I think that's a great point, David, let's get your take on this one.

David Rudary (37:48):

Yeah, again, with the communication piece is making sure all the key stakeholders, whether it's the HR team, the hiring team, the IT team, are all informed, and then also making sure if there's any relocation needs or visa needs, making sure that you time those out properly to set reasonable expectations. I know we've had to onboard people who have had visa transfers and those tend to take some time. So making sure that you're setting those expectations properly along with any other relocation or additional things that a candidate might need to do. So kind of going on to working with the IT team, making sure equipment is ordered on time, that is one thing that I've probably seen the most where it's something that seems to be like a check the box and sometimes it happens a little bit late. You might think you have computers lying around, but a lot of the time making sure that you do submit that request to make sure that their equipment arrives on time and even early so that way you can set it up for them. So having those processes in place. And then I would say finally is then setting touch points with the candidate, making sure they have everything they need, they have all their questions answered before they even start, whether it has anything to do with benefits, onboarding, start time attire, and making sure everything is set. Sometimes it can be repetitive, but I will say it definitely tends to help to make sure everything goes over smoothly.

Daniel Blaser (39:17):

Awesome. Well thank you for those great perspectives. Anything else before we move on from our final topic and into audience questions? Anything else anyone want to share about not delaying candidate start dates? Cool. Alright, well I've seen a handful of great questions come in and why don't we start with maybe one of the trickiest, because that seems like a good place to start. Does anyone have tips on how to handle a situation where the hiring manager has not moved forward with a candidate due to

(39:55):

Bias? Anyone want to

David Rudary (40:04):

Get

Daniel Blaser (40:04):

Started? Yeah. Okay, cool. Let's hear

David Rudary (40:05):

It. I'll jump in on it. When it comes to the bias side of things, I think especially now, we want obviously a diverse culture, but we also want people who are most qualified for the job. So eliminating somebody for diverse reasons. I think a lot of times when it comes to that is I would put a hold on that job and I really wonder if that's a true priority on that. We want to make sure that we have that unconscious bias that we have talked about earlier, making sure that we do have that diverse workforce. So making sure that we do our best to really interview the people who are best for the job and making sure that the hiring manager understands that side of things as well. Really just kind of having an open conversation with them and making sure that you're doing what's best for them and their team and making sure everybody's on the same page. But yes, that can be a very uncomfortable conversation and scenario to be in, and it's probably happened to a lot of HR and recruiting and recruiters in their career,

Hyla Wallis (41:09):

And I'll pop in there. Yeah, it's a hard conversation, but it's also one that needs to be had. So I think that in the case where you're seeing a hiring manager is blatantly making a hiring decision based on their own biases first, from a point of curiosity, I would engage the conversation to ask them, Hey, are they aware? Could they further explain why they are making this decision to offer space for that awareness? Biases by definition are oftentimes some of them are unconscious and some of them are conscious. You also want to understand to which they're rooted in their decision-making in that moment, and then address that, what are the principles or fundamentals of your organization? How do those align to that decision? And being willing to have that hard conversation to advocate for building a more representative workforce, for advocating for your candidate, should they be one of the more qualified people, make sure that we fairly assess their skills and not other elements of their personhood that may not be relevant. So I think it's hard. It's a hard conversation, especially when you're managing power dynamics, but it's an important conversation and if you feel like you can't have that conversation, maybe it tap another member of your team, your leader, to address those scenarios because the worst thing that you could do is not address it because unfortunately that is how those things continue to live on within our culture, our community, and it will likely impact further decisions down the line.

Daniel Blaser (42:57):

Yeah, like you said, it's difficult, but I think both Highland and David, hopefully their perspectives might help those out. Leah, I think there's a question that's sort of directed a little bit at something you were talking about. I think the question is basically asking how do you make sure that the answers that a candidate is giving are authentic and honest? If you're giving them the questions beforehand so they can kind of prep, how do you kind of strike that balance?

Leah Dillon (43:30):

And that's a really great question. So first and foremost, interview questions are structured not to be a yes or no. This is the right answer, this is the wrong answer. These questions are structured to give us a better understanding of how you think, how you approach problem solving, how you communicate, how you project, lead, or manage people. We're trying to pick up that information through those answers. That's why you'll see a lot of questions about, tell me about a time when or pulling from your past experience, because we want to see how you are using your past experience and how that can apply to the work going forward. Because your goal is to help drive the product, the mission, the company forward in some way, not to just join in, but to drive it forward. So for example, we're providing questions ahead of time just so you get a better understanding of what the overall goal is and expectations for that specific interview.

(44:23):

If you are using platforms to help answer questions for you, I love to say if you need help or a platform to help answer or structure, use those, but use that as a foundation and then build upon, because a lot of times in the interview process, we'll ask you to tell me about a scenario. So if you're going to pull a scenario that is completely made up, we will most likely be asking follow-up questions. We want to learn why you did that, what was the result, what was the data to support that? Was there anything that you could have done differently? So if you're going to be making up something or providing falsehoods that actually can be pinpointed throughout your answers. A lot of times companies will be typing up notes for your interview and those flags will come across of these stories don't seem to line up, or if you're using the same story for different interview answers, those may not line up. So that does cause concern for us about credibility. So it's something that we take into consideration. Now, if we're asking technical questions, sometimes there's different approaches or different answers. Ultimately, our goal is we want to see how are you working and how are you approaching those questions. Doesn't have to always be the right answer, but it's how you approach it, how you think. That's what we're looking for and ultimately what helps us make those decisions for progressing forward or making that eventual often.

Daniel Blaser (45:45):

Yeah, I really like that. I've been involved in interview panels before and the recruiter just emphasized kind of like what you're saying, it's more kind of getting to the thinking and the reasoning behind the decisions they've made, right than the actual specific strategy and whatever their field is. So I think that's a great take. I'm going to keep us moving along if that's okay. We have a lot more questions. I think this is a good one. What is a standard kind of answer if a candidate asks, why were they not selected? I know that can be a little bit tricky. Any thoughts on that one?

David Rudary (46:28):

Yeah, so well,

(46:30):

I can jump in on this one then. Cool. When it kind of comes to a standard answer, they decided to go with an additional candidate that have either met the skills or maybe it's that they have found somebody that has fit in with the team or has had more relatable experience, because normally one of those things will tie out on why they chose a candidate more than not, and most of the time it's going to be somebody else with more relatable experience. Tends to be the piece that I have seen on why candidates get chosen over another.

Daniel Blaser (47:09):

Just to kind of follow up on that, has anyone here had a candidate that maybe they're really motivated to learn and grow and try to improve in the process, and they've kind of started to ask, try get a little bit more details. How do you strike the balance between providing helpful, detailed feedback and obviously not delving into something inappropriate?

David Rudary (47:33):

Yeah, great question. I didn't know if one of the other panelists wanted to give it a crack.

Cammas Freeman (47:39):

Just add to that. I think it's a really tough thing for both recruiters, hiring managers give that feedback and especially when a candidate wants it, because that's a good thing. I think focusing on what they did well and that really the decision comes down to, and I think this is pretty much what David said, is qualifications and experience. If there was something specific that they could have the opportunity maybe to work on if they were maybe really nervous or came across nervous in the interview, some things like that, I think it's appropriate to say, Hey, here's some suggestions or resources that can help you relax before the interview or something like that. But yeah, it's a tough thing because you definitely have to be cautious in giving too much feedback, but I think it's appropriate to give feedback where you can.

Hyla Wallis (48:45):

Yeah, I think if also you have clarity on again, what you're seeking to assess, how you're hoping to assess it, and then what is a good to great answer, then if your interviews are structured in a particular way, then you'll have more insights into why someone may not have been as successful in an interview and something that is again, rooted in the core of the business need meets the skills and attributes meets the questions that are intended to measure that versus some of those other things of culture fit. What does that mean? Or other elements of how somebody may have showed up in a particular day because there are elements of behavior that are situational. Interviews are a very stressful experience for most people, but how people may show up, there needs to be space for a little bit of difference of what that looks like in practice.

(49:53):

So again, wherever we can carve out our own biases and work to enable others to carve out theirs, we can actually focus on, again, what are we seeking to measure what is truly important, what is a good answer versus a great answer versus a neutral answer so that you can provide pointed feedback where appropriate. There's a calendar on the screen, but yes, where you can give more pointed instruction. Now also, different organizations will have different policies, and it's rooted in how risk averse are you. There is inherent risk in providing feedback to candidates because you might not do that very well, or the information that was collected from the interview might not be particularly robust, and everything that you share can be published on the front of the New York Times, like that general guideline. And so there are other constraints that you should consider. But again, all the way back, if you can commit to policies that are rooted in a structured assessment, it'll offer the most amount of flexibility and reduce your risk over time.

Daniel Blaser (51:18):

Yeah. Well, thank you so much for tackling that question. I'm looking at the clock and I think we're unfortunately out of time for questions. I know there are a few that were left unanswered, but I'll check with Jordan and our friends at Checker. We will figure out if there's a way that we can kind of maybe address a few of the questions that we didn't have time for today. We do have a poll question that we'd like to share with everyone here, and I'll kind of let that pop up. So pretty straightforward. We're just wanting to gauge if anyone is interested in learning more about checker work streams, stack Rock, blend 360 teal, or all the partners that were involved in today's webinar. Hopefully you found it valuable, and that can translate to maybe wanting to check out a couple of the teams that we hail from.

(52:19):

I'll let that poll go for another minute while we wait for the poll,

Hyla Wallis (52:38):

Just because it's the last question that's over here. It was

(52:42):

Tips for choosing between two qualified candidates. I think that it's a challenging scenario. Hey, you have two resumes that look largely the same, and then of course their assessments, again, hopefully rooted in core skills and attributes. But then I think it's also what are parts of that person's lived experience that might be additive? Particularly as we think about building representation within our workforce, it is actually the benefit of the difference of our lived experience that offers us differences in perspective that can build better businesses, build better products, build better teams. So something to consider when you have those two qualified applicants. What might make the lived experience of this person more additive to our organization, and could it be that their lived experience is actually different than yours or the hiring manager and that being a benefit, an inherent benefit that should be advocated for. So something to consider.

Daniel Blaser (53:56):

Yeah, that's great. I'm so glad you're able to weigh in on that one. I think that's a great, great perspective. Thank you everyone for participating in the poll. Just wanted to make sure everyone here saw the SHRM credit code that's up on the screen also in the chat, so make sure you copy and paste that so you can get that credit. And with that, I think we're about out of time. I just want to say thank you personally. I've learned a lot from our awesome panel today, so thank you to all four of you. And then thank you for everyone that joined us in your great questions. I look forward to hopefully doing another one of these soon, hopefully with this exact panel. All awesome. So thanks again.

David Rudary (54:43):

Awesome. Thank you, Daniel.

Leah Dillon (54:46):

Thank you guys.