Do you, as a recruiter, “coach” candidates prior to an interview?
During my first conversation with a job candidate, I brief them on the position and gather the information necessary to determine if he or she is a fit for the position to be filled. At the conclusion of this conversation, if I view the candidate as qualified, I tell them so, and ask that they inform me the following day if they wish to proceed to the next step. To aid their deliberations, I email them a detailed position description and a link to the employer’s website.
Unless the candidate contacts me again to ask for assistance prior to the interview, I don’t prepare or coach them. My feeling is that, if I have searched for and found good candidates, and each candidate has reviewed the position description and the employer’s situation, nothing more need be done and everything will work out fine.
I realize that recruiters often coach candidates in the hope of increasing the candidate’s chances of receiving a job offer. However, it is not clear that this preparation has any effect–positive or negative–on the outcome. But even assuming the recruiter can pass along specific, inside information which improves the candidate’s interview performance, none of this coaching will improve the candidate’s work performance.
My concern is for the long-term. My reputation as a recruiter rests on how well the employees hired through me perform on job. Rather than coach a marginal candidate in an effort to improve their interviewing performance, I would rather continue searching and find a well-qualified candidate capable of earning the job offer with no assistance from me, and more likely to perform well on the job.
In any event, I prefer to downplay interviewing as a means of evaluating candidate qualifications and rely more heavily on candidate reference checking and in-depth, background research.
Filed under Interviewing |
