How Many Interviews Are Enough to Find an Employee Match?
September 23, 2019 | Staffing Blog
In today’s tight labor market where there is a shortage of qualified talent to fill critical roles, employers need to shore up their recruiting and hiring tactics.
One important step is focusing on your recruiting tactics to have the right talent in your talent pool for available jobs. Another important step is knowing how many interviews are enough with qualified talent.
Some employers move too early hiring a candidate after just one interview, creating the risk of unwanted turnover. Other employers ask candidates to jump through too many interview hoops, losing a qualified candidate to another company. Here’s where you can find the sweet spot of conducting the right amount of interviews.
Set an Interview Plan That Aligns with Your Business Structure
If you are hiring for a position that will have multiple touch points within the organization, you need to be smart about structuring the interviews.
For example, if you are hiring a warehouse logistics coordinator, this person may interact with the warehouse manager, the executive VP overseeing the warehouse department, the actual warehouse employees performing the work, and other department leaders that interact with the warehouse department.
A sample interview structure would be:
- Preliminary job interview with your HR department to screen the candidate
- Secondary job interview with the warehouse supervisor, VP, and other department heads
The secondary interview could also include a trusted warehouse worker to gather additional perspective from all stakeholders.
Typically, this is enough interviews with a candidate. Some employers want a third interview just to make absolutely sure that the candidate is the right match, but there is a possibility of losing the candidate, especially if you are asking the candidate to wait weeks in between interviews.
How to Support the Job Interview Process
If you are stuck in a middle ground where you’ve conducted two interviews, but still think you need to conduct a third interview to make absolutely sure that the candidate is the right match, then consider an alternative tactic.
Instead of calling the candidate for another interview, follow up with their references, take another look at their pre-hiring assessment results, or call an internal meeting with the employees who sat in during the second interview to gather additional input.
When you sense that you’ve scheduled enough interviews with the candidate, use the resources available to you to make an informed decision.
Still Not Sure How Many Interviews Are Enough?
If you find yourself not having success in this tight labor market, consider taking a completely different tack with your hiring process.
Instead of handling the interview and hiring process on your own, consider outsourcing the process to a staffing agency such as Allegiance Staffing.
We have a robust talent pool of workers available to fill critical positions. Through our 3-Phase Hiring Process, we ensure that all on-boarded candidates showcase reliability, character, and dependability. We also provide employee orientation and safety training for all employees before being placed in a role.
We know this process works because 99 percent of the employees we place in a company are asked to return to their initial assignments.
Because we handle the interview process with candidates to build up a talent pool of strong workers, you don’t have to ask how many interviews are enough anymore. We take care of it for you, allowing you to better manage your workforce to generate more profits for your company.
To get started on a labor solution for your company, contact us today!