Job Interviews: An Opportunity To Build A Brand

An extract from a discussion of a software professional with a 40s something next door aunty:

Aunty: Where do you work?
Software professional: Aunty, I recently joined CISCO.
Aunty: ah ok! Why? You did not get in Wipro or Infosys?

Wipro, Infosys and likes, are companies that even grannies are aware of. But anybody who understands the software industry will surely agree that though the Wipros & Infys are great companies to work with, they are not the "only" good ones as the next door aunty believes.

Replace the aunty with a software professional. Having been in the industry, he is, of course, also aware of the CISCOs and Accentures. These companies can get a beeline of probable candidates eager to join them. What is making this happen is the sheer brand awareness. The lesser known companies, can by no means be ruled out of a job-seekers' list. They may also be good performers and may be offering their employees a great workplace. Yet, many a times, such companies lose out to the popular, branded companies and face situations where they fail to attract experienced and qualified professionals to even apply for their openings! In the present world, a popular "brand name" is not important to just attract customers, but it is also one of the key aspects to attract probable employees.

With the economy picking up in the last few months, software companies, both big and small, Indian and multinationals are going overboard trying to build their workforce. The job market is buzzing again! This brings up a challenging task for every company, every HR team, and every interviewer! The challenge, to add the best brains & minds to the company's roles. To take on this challenge, every company has designed a selection process, which they believe makes the right assessment of a candidate. The process itself is very specific to the company, it's culture, it's people & it's past experiences. Nevertheless, this doesn't solve the problem faced by the lesser known companies.

Such companies must adopt a strategy to become known in the region where they build the software, in addition to focusing on building a brand where they sell their software. The aim is solely to attract the best to the company. Though the approach in building a brand at "source"(read Development Center) is different from that at the "destination" (read Sales Centre), "word-of-mouth" is one common between the two, which has historically given consistent results. One of the most effective, yet neglected opportunities to trigger a positive "word-of-mouth" about a company, is through "interviews". Yes! interviews, apart from assessing the candidate, must aim to offer a good experience of the time spent and to convey the positive aspects of the organisation. Irrespective of whether the candidate is found satisfactory for the job opening, the interview must focus on impressing the candidate. With time, this will propel a healthy spread of word among circles of software professionals and the company will see encouraging results.

The investment required is not money. Its time & effort. Companies must invest time and effort in adopting activities to enhance an interviewee's experience irrespective of his/her performance. An interviewee who goes back with an unpleasant experience could spread the wrong word. The company may not find the candidate suitable for the vacancy, but at the same time, the company has hampered it's opportunities of meeting his/her colleagues and friends, who may be just perfect! Some aspects which may lead to an unhappy and frustrated interviewee:

• Too-short an interview.
• A long wait before or in-between interviews.
• Too many rounds of interview/test.
• Quality of interview/test.
• Long turn-around time on interview/test results

The interview itself between the candidate and the interviewer(s) matters a lot. An arrogant & feeling-less approach by an interviewer can not only result in under performance, but also send wrong signals about the whole organisation. The management, in coordination with the HR department, must take steps to design a process to achieve results. Some general activities which can help in evolving an effective process:

• Orient interviewers & interview schedulers towards the importance of "brand-building".

• Train interviewers to make the whole process a good experience to the interviewee.

• Train interview schedulers to be considerate and flexible. At the same time, they must be conscious not to overload interviewers.

• Evolve an attitude of "We need him as much as he needs the job" among all involved in the selection process.

• Brainstorm and bring out a few unique aspects which most employees enjoy in the organisation. Make sure that these aspects are mentioned by the first round interviewers apart from spending a few minutes speaking about the company.

• Request a feedback on the selection process from interviewees randomly.

Just like every finger print is unique, every company is unique in it's work culture, employee expectations, management expectations, financial support, growth strategies & market aggressiveness. A well thought off broadly-accepted "interviewee-experience" approach will reap a favorable outcome.

Few interviewees make up as employees, but every interviewee is a potential "brand ambassador"!