Employer Advice

Here is some employer advice based on what I've learned as a recruiter in terms of feedback that job candidates have given to me and in terms of things that I've noticed when I've been working with hiring managers like yourself to help fill open positions. When you're hiring staff, please always do the following:

1. Always have an accurate job description of the position you're trying to fill. I can't tell you the number of times where the hiring manager keeps adding in "must have" skills as the job search progresses or where they otherwise drastically change the job description as time goes on. This is especially frustrating for both recruiters and job searchers.

2. When you start advertising for a position, don't suddenly put the search on hold and take several weeks to read through resumes. I know you're busy but guess what? Recruiters and job searchers are busy too. There are few things worse than having a hiring manager tell a recruiter that they need to fill a job as soon as possible and then after the recruiter quickly gets several suitable resumes sent over, you put the job on hold or let us know that it will take you a few weeks to set up interviews. Value our time just like we value yours.

3. Don't start interviews with the "tell me about yourself" question. Okay, it's not exactly a question per se but opening an interview with this statement tells me that you're not a very good interviewer. Interviewing is not easy, that's for sure but if you can't conduct an interview properly, please find someone who can. This "question" adds absolutely nothing to the interview. If you want to learn about the person you're interviewing, read their resume and ask the right questions.

4. Read the resume of the person you're interviewing before the interview. I know some hiring managers don't read resumes very carefully (if at all) before an interview especially if the resumes are handed to them by HR so please read them over and put forth an effort to learn about the person you're interviewing before the interview takes place.

5. Show up to the interview on time. Job interviews tend to be stressful as it is without making the job searcher wait for you in your company lobby 20 minutes after the interview was supposed to start because you're somewhere else.

At the end of the day, the best employer advice I can give to hiring managers like yourself is to treat potential employees and recruiters the way you'd expect to be treated.