Even top quality candidates can get rejected after an interview.
As a Recruiter it’s part of your job to help pick candidates back up and not let their confidence take a knock so the next interview you send them to is much more likely to be successful.

Here are a few suggestions of things you can do to ensure your candidate’s attitude remains positive and that they are self-assured in order to secure their ideal role – and so that you can make a solid placement!

Don’t waste time over analysing
Whilst analysing why an interview was unsuccessful with a candidate, it is important to remember that there is little point in spending excessive amounts of time mulling over the ‘what ifs’. By doing so, candidates are unlikely to be any wiser about what specific part of the interview was unsuccessful.

We suggest that you prepare a brief set of post interview questions to help both of you determine exactly what went wrong and how they can specifically improve their technique for the next interview.

Here are a few examples of questions you can ask to help aid this process:

– Did you have trouble answering any questions in particular? If so, what were they and how do you think you could prepare for these next time?
– Based on your responses, what impression do you think you gave the interviewer?
– What was your general rapport with the interviewer? Do you feel like you could have conducted yourself slightly differently?

Gain some perspective

It’s also helpful to realign a candidate’s focus after a negative interview experience, as it can be easy for one to lose sight of end goals.

Ultimately a job offer is just one step towards achieving their long-term career goals. It’s incredibly rare that anyone will get offered his or her idea of a dream role after attending just one or two interviews and not have to face any disappointment along the way.

So remember to emphasise that failure is a fundamental part of one’s journey to success!

Don’t put all their eggs in one basket

One way you can directly take pressure off a candidate is to have multiple opportunities for them to begin with.

If you line up several interviews for them and one doesn’t work out, you are able to minimise the risk of acute disappointment whilst still increasing your chance of making a placement.

For more helpful tips and recruitment guidance, check out:

SourceBreaker on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sourcebreaker
SourceBreaker on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SourceBreaker-801223143234297/
SourceBreaker on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sourcebreaker