Hiring Teams: understanding Candidates' motivation for applying | Responding to "Why should we hire you?" | LinkedIn Poll

Happy Monday all - hope you have an amazing week ahead! On this week's edition of my LinkedIn Newsletter:

• Why its important for Hiring Teams to understand what motivated a Candidate to apply/interview with them
• Responding to: "Why should we hire you?"
• Vote on my LinkedIn Poll!

Hiring Teams: Understanding Candidates' Motivation for Applying

I was at an event some time ago where I was chatting with a Hiring Manager and they were asking my advice on a situation they were experiencing with a Candidate they were highly interested in hiring. Long story short: everything seemed great and the Candidate seemed very eager about the opportunity early on in the process, but now at the 3rd and final stage of the interview process, they seemed to be having a low-level interest in the opportunity at the Organization.

"We just can't figure out what happened - they seemed really eager."

My initial reaction to this was: there's a disconnect between their expectations and the overall career opportunity with this organization. So I asked them: "What initially motivated them to consider the opportunity to work with you?"

Hiring Manager: "Well we're working on some really exciting things and we have a great team environment, and our offer package is very competitive..."

Me: "Is that what YOU think motivated them to move through your process, or did they actually tell you that?"

Hiring Manager: "Well...uh...."

Look - its completely natural for us to assume what others might be thinking and in the case of any Recruitment Cycle, to assume what specifically interests a Candidate about an opportunity. This is especially the case when YOU work at the Organization and you start thinking about all the reasons why YOU love working there. But the fact is, if you're not asking your Candidates this and you're making assumptions, then you're going to have a difficult time troubleshooting potential changes in responsiveness or behaviour from Candidates as they move through your process. Interest levels might fluctuate and you need to find out why when this happens. And the best starting point to troubleshoot this is: what motivated this Candidate to apply for this role and continue interviewing with us in the first place?

Having an understanding of this, the above Hiring Manager, when noticing a change in the Candidate's interest level can open up that discussion by revisiting their initial motivation for applying and interviewing:

"I know you initially said what interested you most about considering this role was X-Y-Z. Do you think you'd be getting that here with us? How so?" Etc.

By addressing what motivated them in the first place, you can open up, identify, and have a real discussion about any possible disconnects or misunderstandings which might have resulted in their interest level dropping or fluctuating. You can now start asking further probing questions to investigate the cause of the drop in interest level - but it starts with the initial motivation.

So Hiring Teams: understand the Candidate's motivation for wanting to apply and consider your Organization in the first place. NEVER assume this. This is one of the best starting points for examining any drops in interest level, if you're actually taking note of it.

If you're an Organization anywhere in Canada looking to find and recruit IT Talent, reach out to me and find out how I can personally help. My email is dean@techrecruiters360.com - or send me a message on LinkedIn.

Responding to "Why should we hire you?"

In my most recently weekly Live Stream, I addressed my thoughts on how you should be responding when the Hiring Team might ask that dreaded question:

"So - why do you think we should hire you?"

If you want to watch the full replay of my Stream where I discuss my thoughts on this, go here - but here are some key takeaways:

1. Understand the essence of this question. What they're really asking is not for you to relay some memorized script you found on Google with a whole bunch of fancy-sounding verbiage. What they're really asking is: "How are you going to help us and what sets you apart from other Candidates we're considering?"
2. You have to speak to the problems/challenges/outcomes the Hiring Team is looking to address by hiring you.
3. You can accomplish #2 above by studying the Job Description in detail, requesting intel from your point of contact at the Organization, or by conducting your investigation at the Interview itself, throughout.
4. Bottom line: your response MUST speak to the Hiring motivation in order to get their attention and impress.

Again, you can watch the full replay here for my expanded thoughts/perspective.

Missed it Live? No problem - I go Live every week on Wednesdays @ 11AM ET so mark your calendars and visit my LinkedIn profile during that time every week. I also respond to all of your Job Search or Recruitment related questions posted in the comments during the Stream. See you there!

Vote on my LinkedIn Poll!

Have you voted on my LinkedIn Poll yet? If not, I'd appreciate if you took a few minutes and did so - I post this same poll every now and then to get an idea of the major, TOP challenge Job Seekers face in their Job Search.

Can you do me a favour and get your vote in? Here's the link - thanks in advance! I'll discuss the results in next week's Newsletter!

That's it for this week - see you next time!

Any topics you want me to cover in a future Edition? Let me know in the comments - don't forget to Like + Subscribe if you haven't already!

Dean Kulaweera - IT Recruiter | Director, Recruitment & Sales | Tech Recruiters 360

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