As a recruiter, many a times you feel powerless as you can’t really control what happens in an interview. It’s as if your performance is being judged based on something you cannot completely control. While it’s true that you can’t take the interview for your candidate, you can certainly do things that will dramatically increase your chances of filling an open position.

Though this is the ultimate make-or-break moment, all your hard work could result in nothing if you aren’t prepared, respectful or fail to build a rapport.

5 Crucial Things To Keep In Mind Before Interviewing For An Open Position

As per a survey report, 83% of candidates mentioned that a bad interview experience can make them think otherwise of the role. So, here are a few things recruiters must keep in mind.

1. Make Sure The Candidate Shows Up On Time

This might seem silly but we can’t even count the number of times a candidate has showed up late for an interview or not shown up at all! This is an easy but really valuable problem to solve, Just set a reminder to call your candidate a couple hours before his interview to nudge him to go.

2. Send Details About The Company & Job

A day before the interview, just email the candidate a bunch of information about the company and specific role he/she is interviewing for. Nothing’s more embarrassing than not knowing exactly what you’re interviewing for or what the company does.

Further Resources: 10 Interviewing Tips For Recruiters.

3. Talk To Your Hiring Managers More

Get hiring managers to tell you exactly what kind of a person they’re looking for. This is not their fantasy of a perfect hire but someone you meets the minimum bar. Expectations have to be set upfront. You can’t expect to pay $40K a year for a VP with 20 years of relevant experience.

4. Understand What Each Candidate Is Looking For

There’s only one thing worse than clients not liking any of the candidates you send: A selected candidate not joining because he doesn’t feel like it. Spend time figuring out if the candidate actually wants the job, this will save you a lot of heartache.

Read More: A guide to recruiting efficiently.

5. Send A Personal Note

Send a personal note to hiring managers before the interview highlighting the strengths of the candidate and why they’ll be a great fit for the company. Works like a charm, always! 🙂