Recruitment is always in flux. Workforce shortages, changes in global compliance, laws around hiring, and best practices shift before we know it, significantly impacting the hiring process. Keeping employees involved in the talent acquisition process engaged, compliant, sharp, and up to speed on the latest hiring methodology is a never-ending cycle. Luckily there are tons of interview training tools online to make your job easier.

Interview training for employees is a crucial component of any good hiring strategy for many reasons. First, it ensures that everyone involved in the hiring process is on the same page and understands their roles and responsibilities. This results in improved coordination and a smoother interviewing process. Plus, it helps make the hiring process fairer and more objective by minimizing biases and providing applicants with a structured and unbiased hiring experience.

Next, it equips employees with the necessary skills and training to evaluate talent. Effective hiring is a skill. Like a kitchen knife, you gotta keep honing it to stay sharp! Interviewers need to learn how to identify relevant skills and qualifications, ask the right questions, and evaluate candidates holistically.

Finally, interview training for interviewers; which includes anyone in the screening and interview process, helps create a more uniform, smoother candidate experience. Candidates will be nervous no matter what the interviewers do, but creating a positive encouraging candidate experience will result in a better impression of the company and applicants who are excited about working for you.

Managers, don't think we're leaving you out - interview training for managers is equally impactful on a company's hiring strategy and culture- if not more so, but we'll revisit this in the next section.

Regardless of how you look at it, interviewer training will give your company a competitive edge in finding the right people and building a great company culture. Today's market for talent is hyper-competitive. Attracting and retaining top talent is no easy feat,  and a comprehensive interview training program will give your company the tools to stand out from the competition.

Don't know where to begin? Check out Pillar's interviewer insights. When paired with our interview intelligence software, customers have reported a more than 30% decrease in employee turnover and a more than 40% jump in diversity hiring.

Interview Training For Hiring Managers

So, what about interview training programs for managers? Interview training for hiring managers is as important if not more so than the training of employees. Managers are critical to the selection and hiring process as they are often the face of the company to potential candidates and have a direct influence on whether an applicant chooses to work for your company or not.

Hiring managers also have a significant impact on the company's culture. How they conduct interviews, ask questions, and evaluate candidates sets the tone for what is valued within the company and what type of employees are hired. Hiring managers who receive the proper training will be far more equipped to make great hiring decisions than those who don't.

The role of managers in interview training extends beyond mere participation in online interview training. Hiring managers set the standard for interview criteria, alert the team of their role in the hiring process, and define the hiring strategy, building the framework for the team to follow. This makes them an instrumental part of the hiring process, underscoring their significance in shaping candidate expectations.

In a previous role, I worked for a hiring manager that was phenomenal at what he used to call, "setting the stage" for candidates. He'd send out candidate intro emails to panel interviewers, brief us on Slack before each scheduled interview, pasting the company goals, job description, and our role in the hiring process into a channel with the other panel interviewers. He created a simple document in Workspace that he used to include links to their resume and LinkedIn profiles, told us what stage they were at in the hiring process, and what was next, so we could answer the candidate's questions and walk them through their next steps. In this way, he "set the stage" for the interview, ensuring that the candidate felt prepared, welcomed, and valued from the start.

This made the candidates feel like they were more than just a number. They mattered to us - and we put the effort in to prove it. This type of training and preparation for interviewers makes all the difference in creating a positive candidate experience, which ultimately leads to better hires and a stronger company culture. So, don't overlook the importance of interview training for your hiring managers. It's just as essential as training for employees, if not more so!

Here are some takeaways and items I'd recommend you include in your hiring manager interview training:

1. Create templates and resources for your team to use during the interview process, such as candidate intro emails, Slack briefings, and Workspace documents. This systemized the process and made things easier.
2. Set expectations for what is valued within the company and what type of candidates you are looking for by involving hiring managers in defining interview criteria.
3. Encourage open communication among the interview team to ensure a smooth and coordinated process.
4. Ensure the interview panel is diverse and seek to eliminate any biases before they arise. This is more challenging than it seems, but having a diverse panel to review candidates can help prevent unconscious bias.
5. Provide training on how to conduct an effective interview, including asking the right questions and evaluating candidates holistically.
6. Alert your interviewers as to where the candidate is in the hiring process, let them know what the next steps are, and equip them with resources to answer applicant questions.

By investing in proper interview training for hiring managers and teams, you are setting your company up for success in attracting top talent and building a strong company culture. Remember, your managers are the first line of defense against bias, and keeping your interviews compliant is one of the most important roles you play.

Interviewing Skills Training For Recruiters

Now let's switch our focus to recruiters. When breaking down key roles in the hiring process into stages, in many companies the recruiter primarily handles selection and screening, hiring managers are involved in the initial and final interview stages, while panels play a key role in the middle of the process. But I realize that this is not the standard for all companies. Some recruiters play a much larger role than selection alone. They may also be involved in the interviewing process and play a vital part in shaping the candidate experience, much like hiring managers.

Recruiters are often responsible for identifying top talent, building relationships with candidates, and communicating job offers. As such, they need to have strong communication skills, interview skills, and an understanding of what the company is looking for in potential hires. This includes more than just a job description -  recruiters need to have a deep understanding of the company culture, values, and goals in order to find the right fit.

A recruiter will see the beginning and end points of the interview process. This unique perspective gives the recruiter a 30,000-foot view of the challenges a hiring team may be facing- enabling them to address misalignment in the hiring criteria and job descriptions, identify bottlenecks in the process, and distinguish patterns or issues that others in the hiring process may be too close to immediately see and address.

Given this high-level perspective, recruiters are particularly valuable in recognizing the need for and recommending targeted solutions, such as training software for employees, programs, and video courses for interviewers. These resources can address specific skill gaps, enhance interviewing techniques, and ensure consistency in the assessment of candidates.

Another important aspect of interviewer training is information and cyber-security. There are many training videos for employees online and this LinkedIn article is a great place to start. Incorporating security-related training programs for your interviewers and recruiters can help you mitigate phishing, scams, and other cyber threats that can leave your company vulnerable.

In conclusion, continual interviewer training for hiring managers, recruiters, and teams is critical to creating a positive candidate experience, promoting diversity and inclusion, and making informed hiring decisions. Don't underestimate the importance of investing in this key aspect of the hiring process. Your hiring process not only reflects your brand and team culture, it also sets the tone (or) shapes the expectations and experiences of your candidate - which will reflect in positive reviews on Glassdoor and other sites that candidates will view before applying.

If you'd like to see how Pillar's interviewer insights can help you make better hiring decisions that grow team performance and culture, book a demo today. We'd love to show you how our coaching tools can help you supercharge your interview intelligence and create a hiring process that attracts the best talent.