It is true that the focus at any interview would be on the candidate or the interviewee. However, to portray your own organization’s professionalism and respect towards suitable candidates, it is essential that staff of HR and members of interview panels follow good etiquette in the new normal setting.
01.Interviewing from Home
It is all too easy to be too casual and relaxed when interviewing a potential employee from home. The correct etiquette of being professional and official must be mindfully practiced to avoid a pitfall. A smart candidate who is looking for an opportunity in a professional environment may get disheartened by an interviewer that is ‘too casual’ and in the eyes of your colleagues (the rest of the panel) such an approach may not bode too well. Here are a few things to be mindful of:
· Wear something formal or at least smart casual
· Keep the video on at all times
· Have an appropriate backdrop or a virtual background
· Sit up and look interested
· Read the CV before hand
02.Punctuality
An interviewer should not feel superior when interviewing a candidate. One way of showing this superiority complex in an impolite manner is being late for an interview. If any interviewer is getting late, the candidate should be notified, and the time slot should be moved to one that is convenient for all.
03.Post Interview Discussion
Ensure that a separate link is used to join the post interview discussion or be 100% sure that the candidate has dropped out of the call before making remarks. Since the candidate can rejoin with the same link, it is better to use a different link for this purpose or consider taking a normal conference call. Never make remarks during a period that the candidate’s line gets interrupted during the interview. Hardly anything cruder than hearing a disparaging remark or even a good remark that was not intended for your ears, during an interview.
04.Notify Candidates of the Outcomes
Irrespective of the outcome of the interview, the candidate has every right to know what it is. The HR team should obtain a clear direction from the panel and notify the candidate. If selected, what happens next is clear, but if not selected or if the panel wishes to keep the party on hold for a while, choose to say something along these lines:
Thank you for taking time off your schedule to connect for an interview with us. However, we regret to inform you that you have not been selected to continue with our recruitment process. Should there be any openings in future, we would be pleased to reconnect.
Or
Thank you for taking time off your schedule to connect for an interview with us. We are currently carrying out interviews with the hundreds of others that showed interest in starting a career at our company. Once we are certain of the outcome of your interview, we will keep you notified. Please bear with us, as this can take up to two to three weeks.
This shows respect and consideration towards these professionals, and they will appreciate it. Ideally, this should be done within 02 days of the interview.
Write to us at fullofetiquette@gmail.com if you would like help in creating your own templates for these emails or if you would like to discuss other good practices when interviewing a candidate.
Till I return with ‘Full of Etiquette’ next week, stay safe!
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Praveeni Jayasekera is the Founder and Editor of fullofetiquette.com; she is a regular advocate on the subject. She is an ACMA, CGMA; holds a BSc. Economics and Management; PG in IT and Diploma in Social Sciences. She is employed full time in the capacity of Chief Operating Officer at CL Synergy (Private) Limited; a Sri Lankan freight forwarding company. She is an ardent fan of the written word and has compiled content for numerous websites for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes, corporate profiles and blogs. She has experience in training corporate professionals on customer service and business etiquette. She conducts coaching sessions on etiquette for school children every now and then.
