Bob Geldoff sang it years ago: Tell me why I don’t like Mondays. Most people I know tend to not cope so well with the Monday morning blues. Is it because the weekend is over? Or because the new weekend is so far away? Or just because your alarm clock is going off so early? Tell me why!
You’re a recruiter, and last week you’ve invited a bunch of candidates to come for an interview this week. Not realising you’d be having such an amazing party weekend, you’ve planned 3 interviews back-to-back from the moment you come into the office. These poor candidates never had a chance, no matter how well they’re prepared. Why? Because there’s also a few candidates coming in on Friday, and those chats will be great! Everybody’s buzzing with excitement for what’s supposed to be an even madder weekend than the last one, so get ready to hear about the most legendary plans ever. The difference between these interviews is massive – not only does the small talk vary, but so does your attention and the energy that you use to ask the questions. How do you begin to compare a moody Monday interview to a frivolous Friday one?
The best way to compare one thing to another is by making them comparable (duh, right?). You can’t compare apples to oranges, as much as you can’t compare two candidates who’ve been asked different questions during their interview. Instead of randomly having a chat and see where it goes, the first step to a great interview is making sure everybody gets to answer exactly the same questions. Sounds fair? Let me go one step further: You can even make sure every candidate gets asked the exact same question in the exact same way. It doesn’t matter what day of the week it is when you’re using video interviews, a candidate will always see the exact same version of the question. That’s what I’m talking about when I say structure, and that’s how you make your apples comparable to apples.
On that note, we’re a big fan of recruiters recording their Story and their interview videos. Because the videos are going to be the same for every (potential) candidate, I would recommend to make some videos like a rock star. Make sure the light, camera and sound are good and there’s nothing in the background that could distract from the picture or sound. Oh, and make sure you’re not recording while you’re on the Monday morning blues, of course – do it on a Tuesday instead.
You’ve now added structure and personal, happy, videos to your interviews – happy days. In doing so, we’ve made sure that each candidate has a chance to answer the same questions that are asked in the same way. However, there’s one more way to make sure every candidate gets the same opportunity, and that’s by optimising your reviewing process. It makes sense that you would review (video) interviews as much as possible at the same time. Of course, sometimes this might be more difficult to realise than others, but it’s a good practice to get into. Another way to ensure equal chances is by having multiple reviewers. Having candidates record their video interviews allows reviewers to review candidates at a time slot that works for them, so you don’t need to worry about synchronising all these calendars!
Let’s face it, Monday mornings aren’t everyone’s cup of tea (I strongly recommend coffee in the morning anyway, but that’s a whole different story). As recruiters, we want to make sure we give each candidate the same opportunity, no matter at what stage in the week we find ourselves. Let Cammio help you beat the Monday morning blues by adding structure to your interviews, creating authentic videos and getting colleagues to review your candidates.
Happy hiring!
