“Best practices” usually applies directly to business. What method of investment is going to get the best ROI? What’s the best way to maximize the productivity of employees? Recently, however, there’s been a bit of a shift towards best practices in etiquette — as in, what’s the best way to behave when it comes to other people in business? In a candidate-driven market, recruiters need to focus on the right kinds of candidate experiences, especially the ones they can control. Before, during and after the interview, there are several ways for recruiters to make a good impression on promising candidates and hire the right employees.

Do you value your candidates’ time?

An easy way to make things easier for everyone when it comes to interviewing is cut down on time. Ask yourself:

How much of your interview process do you really need?
Do you need four interviews for every candidate?
Do they need to be separate, or can you have multiple people sitting in on a single interview?

Making sure you value a candidate’s time is paramount to how the candidate sees you. If a candidate sees you’re taking your sweet time between interviews and following up (more on that in a sec), they’re not going to stick through the whole process.

Video interviewing can help make this process much faster. Cataloging a candidate’s responses to each interview question lets every hiring manager and recruiter see responses without the need for separate interviews, and cuts down on travel time for the candidates. With both sides asking and answering questions on their own time, this reduces interviewing time, and candidates leave interviews feeling confident and respected, which benefits your employer brand.

Do you respond to candidates in a timely manner?

If recruiting is like dating, then communication is essential in both. Just like one partner should keep the other partner updated on what their plans for the relationship are, employers should communicate their intent for an interviewee after an interview. This means following up as soon as possible. Candidates are busy, and if you’re not following up, they are just as likely to move on to another employer as to stick around waiting for you to get in touch with them.

The biggest pain point for 60% of candidates is when an employer doesn’t let them in on their decision regarding the job after the interview. Being open about your recruiting plans is important to building reputation as a recruiter, even when you’re not delivering good news to an applicant. Use a simple FAQs page to inform prospects about your process. Take it one step further and send your candidates an immediate follow up and use a marketing automation system or CRM to remind your team to make a decision (and inform them of it) by a specific date!

Are you listening to what your candidates are telling you?

Every candidate worries about something different heading into the interview. Some worry about how they look, others worry about having a verbal slip, and others still worry about salary negotiations. The latter is a common worry for candidates, who are afraid that if they don’t bring it up themselves, they won’t be able to negotiate their salary. Employers can get so caught up with talking about themselves, their benefits, and how the employee will love working for them when they make the offer that they forget to talk facts.

Make sure to carve out a time in the interview for salary negotiations. Mention this as part of the interview process, and candidates won’t have it on their minds the whole way through the interview, which will make the process a lot better for them. Also, discuss benefits, schedules and how you’ll track success. This is closer to the offer stage but it certainly doesn’t hurt to bring it up early on.

Respecting your candidates, whether that means communicating, valuing their time, or assuaging their fears, means a better employment brand, which means more and better candidates. Candidate experience doesn’t have to be a huge complicated process, it can be as simple as being cordial to candidates at every step of the process.

This post originally appeared on the GreenJobInterview blog.

Bio: Greg Rokos, CEO

A 20-year veteran of the recruiting industry, Greg Rokos provides strategic direction for GreenJobInterview® and is responsible for marketing its video interviewing software through client meetings, conferences, speaking engagements, key channel partnerships and other activities. Alongside fellow co-founder, Theo Rokos, Greg is one of the pioneers of cloud-based video interviewing.

Greg has been interviewed by NBC, CBS, Fast Company, HR Executive, HR Magazine and many other media outlets. He also has been a featured presenter at various national industry conferences including ERE Expo, Taleo World, Kenexa World Conference and conferences held by the Human Capital Institute (HCI). Greg has participated as a speaker at several national talent acquisition meetings including those held by Fortune 500 companies such as Walmart and PepsiCo. Greg holds a bachelor’s degree with honors from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

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