Interview Questions that Reveal Your Employer Brand

Interview Questions that Reveal Your Employer BrandInterview Questions that Reveal Your Employer BrandInterview Questions that Reveal Your Employer Brand RossheimWhen youre interviewing candidates, its easy to simply scan their resumes and ask for more detail on relevant roles, responsibilities and accomplishments. But thats no way to sell your company and the career opportunity. And in 2016s tight market for top talent, effective selling is critical to the recruitment goals of yourinterview process.So how do you know what interview questions to ask to burnish your employer brand? We spoke with a few experts who offered many great suggestions about how to conduct brand-promoting interviews.Invite candidates to air their perceptions of your employer brand. Ask candidates about their impressions of your company if you dont, youll risk them spreading wrong ideas about you. Whether interviewees have a good experience or a bad one, they may immediately post their reactions on Facebook or Instagram, says Richard Mosley, global vice president of strategy at grundmenge Global in London, England.So dont settle for candidates fawning compliments dig in for detail. Building an employer brand has become a much more personal, social process, Mosley says.Sample Interview Questions How would you describe our company? What is attractive about working here? Do you have any negative impressions?Ask questions that invoke your employer brand. Dont just tell the candidate what drives your organization lead themwith the questions you ask.Companies tend to emphasize their employer brand with new hires, but less so with applicants in the midst of the candidate experience, according to Mosley. Its good to plan to bring out the companys brand signatures in interviews, he says.Sample Interview Questions How would you feel about working in a place where everyones voice is heard? How would you feel about working in an open environment? Could you landsee yourself being a mentor to others?I llustrate your company culture through the type of questions you ask. We ask candidates to talk about an experience where theyve received feedback and how theyve responded to it because its part of our organizational culture for everyone to be able to get and give feedback, says Rod Adams, U.S. recruitment leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers.Sample Interview Questions We like to keep communication channels open at our company. How do you feel about working in that type of environment?Go deeper than the conventional trappings of startup culture. If youre lucky enough to interview a candidate who probes for what is unique about your company, dont respond with cliches. Everyone is trying to copy everyone else everyone has free snacks and a hammock, says Matuson. Experienced workers know they wont have time for a nap anyway.Instead, savvy candidates want to know what kind of people they will be working with, how the company might react to emerging disruptions in their market space, and so on.Shape questions to experience level. Show that you respect the candidates career arc by posing questions that demonstrate your understanding of the candidates current situation and long-term potential. We ask different questions of someone with 10 years of experience versus a campus recruit, says Adams. But all the questions are looking for the same underlying attributes.Sample Interview QuestionFor an experienced candidate In your experience, how would you handle a situation in which your team tookthe wrong approach with an important project?For a new-to-the-job candidate How would you handle a situation in which you realized that the work you did on an important assignment was wrong?Vary your line of questioning according to the candidate. Start with a basic set of questions, but respond to candidates answers with more questions. A lot of companies have actually made their interview process less flexible, because they want to apply metrics in hiring and deliver consistent resu lts but this becomes counterproductive, says Mosley. If you dont show flexibility, it affects your employer brand.Adams adds We take cues from each candidate about which parts of our value proposition are most important to the individual.Encourage candidates to ask substantive questions. Find out whats on candidates minds by probing for any reservations they might have about the opportunity youre offering. And use your response to brand the career opportunity.Its important to impress on hiring managers that the interview process is a two-way assessment, that they need to sell the candidate on the job, says Mosley.Sample Interview Question Based on what youve heard in our interview,Im interested in hearing how you feel about this job opportunity.Offer interactive activities that candidates will value. Remember that directed interaction can have a bigger branding impact than a simple exchange of information. We do experiential activities, hold on-campus workshopsin how to get feedback , how to project confidence, says Adams. This frames our firm as focused on development. We try to show them, not just tell them.Train all interviewers. Remember, for most recruiters and hiring managers even those with good interpersonal skills effective interviewing doesnt come naturally. We do training and provide a lot of prep for anyone involved in the interview process, so hopefully everyone is delivering the same messages, says Adams.Teach everyone in your organization about your employer brand. Your recruiters and hiring managers cant ask questions that reveal your employer brand if they cant articulate what that brand is.I dont think the employer brand is on the radar screens of most people at small and mid-sized companies, says Roberta Matuson, author of Talent Magnetism How to Build a Workplace that Attracts and Keeps the Best. You need to teach your people the importance of creating a connection with the company brand.