Don't let a first interview feel like an awkward first date. Learn the reason why a lot of interviews can start off sloppy, how to create the best 60 to 90 minutes possible, and the primacy of actual live, back-and-forth conversation.

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Hi, and welcome to the Talent Trade.

This is Stephanie Maas, partner with Thinking Ahead Executive Search.

Today, I want to talk through one of my absolute favorite steps in our recruiting slash business development process here at Thinking Ahead, the client prep.

Most folks are pretty familiar with the candidate prep, but not everyone does what we call the client prep.

I have asked and asked when people don't do this, I usually get one or two answers.

Oh, I've worked with this client.

I know what they're going to do.

I know how they're going to do it.

I don't need to do a prep or, Oh, I don't think my clients would do that.

Um, no, yeah, we, it's okay.

I mean, I'll prep the candidate.

Let me encourage whatever your hesitation is to doing the client, get over it.

Said lovingly, this is a critical step in establishing ourselves.

Number one, as an expert in recruiting and attracting talent, it's also sets us apart from that vendor mentality.

This is where we start to really submit the idea that we are a partner with them.

And getting the right talent on board.

This is what most search firms will not do.

And that's why they get the reputation for being a vendor or a resume broker or whatever the case may be, which is not what we are here at Thinking Ahead.

Now, sometimes I'll get some feedback where folks go, Oh my gosh, I love this.

But I'm super nervous about setting it up.

I just get so intimidated sometimes when I'm talking to my hiring managers.

So let me start with that.

Let me give you an easy way to get this set up.

Whenever you do internet presentations, by the way, if you don't do candidate presentations and all you do is send over the resume, please look for that talent trade episode because that's critically important.

We work way too hard.

Especially in this talent crunch to bring good people to the table, to just send them over and resume for, we have got to be doing candidate presentations.

When you do candidate presentations, the way you set that up is you're already setting the tone that if you present a candidate, they're talking to them.

And then when you get, Hey, so I've got.

Pam Tuesday at two to interview with you, John Thursday at four and Eric Friday at whatever, 11 o'clock.

Okay, great.

You, you go through the logistics of getting that set up.

By the way, notice that that sounded like it was a call and not an email because it is.

We are very old school here at Thinking Ahead.

We try and do as many things as possible as makes sense through conversation.

There is so much you can learn when you are actually interacting with another human live.

Email and text can be great for certain things, but for most of us, it needs to be through conversation.

So you get the commitment on their interview schedule, then you say, Hey, one more thing, hiring manager, before I let you go, before you start.

This first round of interviews, I want to get on your calendar for 10 or 15 minutes just to walk through a little bit of a prep.

Surprisingly enough, when we get feedback from our clients, this step of the process.

It's one of the ones that they found most helpful.

So I want to make sure I do that with you.

So the first interview is Tuesday at 10.

What does Monday afternoon look like for you?

Notice here, we're not really giving them a choice to say no.

We're not saying, Hey, if you have time, if that works, how does that sound?

It is, Hey, third party selling.

This is viewed as one of the most important steps in what we do.

When can you make time for it?

If you do get pushback, Hey, I'm good.

I've been interviewing for 25 years.

I don't need your prep.

Hey, John, I really appreciate that.

I'm going to challenge you a little bit.

Part of what you're paying me for is this step in the process.

And there's some things I haven't been able to share with some of the candidates that I think would be important for you to know going into an interview situation.

So again, Promise you I won't need more than 10 or 15 minutes.

How's Monday afternoon?

And then you get on their calendar.

Now, at the end of the day, we can't control people.

If they blow you off or if they insist, they're not going to do it.

Fine.

That's their right.

And we're not going to throw a temper tantrum.

Okay.

But you also have to know if things don't work out in this search, this is something you can go back and point to.

You weren't letting me do my process.

That's part of the reason why this search went off the rails.

So let's say it's Monday afternoon, you've got the hiring manager on the phone.

What do you do?

Same thing as how we launch a candidate prep.

Look for that talent trade episode.

Basically, you're going to want to set a little bit of rapport.

Hey, is there anything new or different with the search since the last time we spoke?

I don't care if you spoke to them at 4 o'clock on a Friday, and it's now Monday at 9 a.

m., you ask the question, is anything new or different in regards to the search?

It's amazing what you will discover.

Oh, well, you know, it's kind of weird.

Uh, Friday at 5.

15, I got three other resumes.

from HR and it looks like instead of just interviewing your three candidates, um, I'm also going to be interviewing three other from HR.

Okay, good to know.

Or, you know, it's weird, over the weekend I got a call from, uh, Sally over in XYZ department and she wants to raise her hand for the position.

Okay.

Good to know.

We now have an internal candidate or, Hey, you know, I want to, I do want to interview these candidates, but I did find out from my boss that we might be going on a hiring hold.

Well, I'll know more by the middle of the week.

Okay.

Good to know.

It's just amazing how quickly things can happen.

And the onus is on us to ask the questions.

Not everybody understands what kind of information recruiter needs to make a search effective, but we know what we need.

So we need to be the ones to initiate the exchange of information.

Great way to start hiring manager.

Has anything changed since the last time we spoke in regards to the search?

Okay.

Hey, real quick, just a quick reminder of why we're chatting.

Number one, I want to go through, just highlight a couple of things from each of the candidates you're going to be talking to this week.

Really make sure you maximize.

The time that you spend together also want to share with you a couple of thoughts or questions on how to approach the candidates for some of the information you're hoping to get.

And then remind you lovingly that we are in a talent crunch and it's going to be very important that even though we are absolutely doing the interviewing, we've got to have our selling shoes on as well.

So I just want to prepare you for a couple of ways to do that, that candidates have really appreciated in the process.

How does that sound and they're going to go, okay, that sounds great.

Whatever.

Super.

Hey, real quick, before I jump in, anything on your mind as it relates to these interviews and just wait.

Well, you know, Stephanie, now that you ask, you know, I was thinking more about Eric on Friday and I don't know, some of the guys at my firm, they're not sure, you know, they knew him from X, Y, Z, they're not really sure he's the right guy.

Okay.

Then you talk through that, talk about how to answer that, but you get what's on their mind.

Most of the time they say, no, it's all good.

Okay.

Well, then before we dive in real quick, let me just confirm all the logistics one more time.

So you're meeting this person here at this location.

You just go back and confirm everything.

Yep.

Yep.

Yep.

Hey, just real quick, hiring manager.

Will anybody else be joining you for those interviews?

Well, not that I know of.

Okay, could anybody jump in?

Well, you know.

Sometimes if my boss is around, he likes to just jump in.

Oh, okay.

Well, what's that like?

How much heads up do you get?

Or does he just pop in?

What's he looking to accomplish?

And you get information there.

If they go, nope, it'll just be me.

Okay.

Well, hey, let's dive in then.

Again, I've got everything written down.

That I want to share with you, but as we go through that information, if anything comes to mind, hiring manager, please interrupt me.

I want to make sure that we speak to all of your questions or thoughts and our time together.

And I promise you, I won't forget anything on my end.

All right.

First and foremost.

That's going to sound like a silly question, but what is your goal this week with the interviews?

And then shut up.

Don't ask them leading questions.

Don't give them multiple choices.

Just ask them, what is your goal with the interviews this week?

And listen, and they go, well.

I'm not really sure what you mean, what do you mean by my goals?

And then just stay quiet.

Give it three to five seconds of silence, they might start talking again.

What's important is that they start thinking about what are they actually trying to accomplish in this time together.

Then you can say, Hey, for most of the folks that I work with, their goal is skill set evaluation, cultural fit evaluation, and affordability.

Okay.

So in the past, how have you typically accomplished that?

And again, Be quiet.

They may go, well, what do you mean?

Like what's my interviewing style?

Sure.

And then they'll tell you, well, I like to bring out their resume, ask them about the different moves they've made, blah, blah, blah.

And they're going to tell you their agenda and their style.

This is the information that you can then bring to the candidate prep.

And again, the idea isn't that you're prepping for best interview gets the job.

This preparation is about maximizing the candidate and the client's time together.

Most interviews are 60 to 90 minutes long.

That's it.

And a yay or nay decision will be made if they move to the next step based on that 60 to 90 minutes.

You have most likely put in hundreds of calls, profiled a dozen folks.

And saturated the market with your effort to find these candidates.

You want that time, that 60 to 90 minutes to be the best possible 60 to 90 minutes that it can be for your candidates and your clients.

That's why we do these preps.

So you get them talking about their style, their agenda.

Listen for any inappropriate questions.

Some folks are really up to date with what is legal and not legal to ask.

If they want to ask something that you know is not going to land well, talk through ways to ask that differently.

Or, hey, when you ask that question, I'm curious.

What are you trying to learn there?

Help me understand.

Then, Get them ready to put their selling shoes on.

Hey client, one of the things that I will prep the candidate for and that we have found is a huge selling point for opportunity is the quality of people that they're going to have a chance to work with.

So one of the questions I'm pretty sure you're going to get asked is about you, your background, what brought you here?

What keeps you here?

What do you like?

What are the challenges?

So I'd really encourage you to think through that.

So that when it gets asked, you have thoughtful answers, by the way, I don't want you to be anything other than honest or sincere.

Every organization has challenges.

I'm not saying air all the dirty laundry, but I do think it's important for folks to know, hey, there's a lot of great things here.

There are also some challenges when we don't share challenges, people quit 2 or 3 weeks into the job, but when we do, they take the role.

Knowing what they're going to be up against, and they've accepted that as a part of the position.

Be prepared to talk about your leadership style.

This is also a great opportunity if you've got a talker to talk about being clear and concise.

Then be specific with each candidate.

Hey, when you meet with Pam, here are the two or three key things about this opportunity, role, organization that really attracted her.

To wanting to talk to you and you better know those and you should if you do a proper profile See another episode of the talent trade if you do a proper profile, you're gonna know why she's interested Make sure the hiring manager knows that make sure he's prepared to talk to that Remind them how the candidates fit Hey, by the way, if you remember you had asked for eight plus years of XYZ skill set Just wanted to remind you Pam's actually had 12 Four years at one organization and eight years at another organization.

We take for granted that people spend time preparing for these interviews, but most of them don't because they're not professional interviewers.

They're running and gunning.

And then the last minute says, Hey, don't forget you had that interview with Pam today at two and it's 1 45.

They're inhaling their lunch.

Cause it's been a crazy day.

And they're like, yeah, yeah.

And they literally glance at Pam's resume.

And then just start talking when she walks in the door.

That's sloppy.

Help them.

Give them the highlights.

Hey, when you talk to Pam, make sure you talk about these three things.

The other thing you need to do is remind the clients about the candidate's compensation.

A great way to do this is after you've highlighted why they're interested, why they're a fit, say, hey, hiring manager, let me also remind you.

They are currently at a base of 162 with an annual bonus of 15 percent that pays out in cash in March, and then be quiet.

Listen to their reaction.

By the way, you already know if they're affordable or not, but if the hiring manager goes, 162, huh?

Hmm.

Hey, I hear a little hesitation.

Help me understand that.

The last time we spoke, you shared with me the range on this was 155 to 175.

But now I hear at 162, there's some hesitation.

Great.

More information.

And then when you do share the comp, it's a great way to say, Hey, hiring manager, when you get into the interview situation, let me strongly encourage you not to talk about money.

You already know what they're making.

They will be direct with you if they're interested, but I always liken this to being on a first date and things going really well.

And then you go, Hey, I'm just curious if things were to work out, what kind of ring do you think you'd want?

Do you want a big wedding or a little wedding?

Most of the time, it's going to freak them out.

It's way too soon.

And besides you and I both know if you start talking about money, your HR department's going to have your head.

So again, the candidates fit in the range.

We know that they do.

And if this person ends up being the right person.

I promise you, we'll do our best together with HR to deliver a fair and reasonable offer.

Sound good?

Then you say, Hey, I know I just shared a ton of information with you.

Any thoughts, questions, feedback, and then listen, listen, listen.

And then, okay.

I really appreciate your time.

This is why I enjoy working on your behalf, dot, dot, dot, Hey, real quick, before I let you go, let me get back on your schedule for 10 or 15 minutes after you've had a chance to interview all three candidates.

So you last speak with Eric.

On Friday at 10, can I grab you Monday at 11?

In that call, I will already have all the candidates feedback from you.

And be prepared to share with you their thoughts.

And then you make that appointment so that you're not chasing your client trying to get feedback.

Well, some people blow you off.

Absolutely.

It's the nature of the beast, but you're more likely to get on their calendar if you're actually on their calendar.

So make sure you set that up before you finish the call.

None of us are perfect.

If you forget, follow up right away with an email.

Oh, Hey, hiring manager.

Thanks again for your time.

Brag out of a little bit.

I mean, this is why it's such a quality organization, quality people like yourself winning to spend time trying to attract the right talent.

Hey, one thing I forgot to do is make sure I got on your calendar on Monday for a debrief.

Dot, dot, dot.

How's 11 o'clock sound?

Not a huge deal.

The most important thing with a client prep.

Is, I hate the term fake it till you make it because I think that's insincere, but we do want to be confident.

This is where we add value.

This is our difference maker.

This is why they pay us what they pay us.

This is what makes us not a resume broker.

This is coaching.

This is training.

This is part of our process.

That allows them to attract and actually hire the best talent in the market.

They do their job like pros, they interview like pros and they execute like pros.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the talent trade.