How you behave during a hiring process is just as telling as what you say in an interview. When patterns of behaviour emerge they can dictate whether a candidate moves through a process or gets switched off.
Are you polite to the EAs organising the interviews? Do you cancel interviews at the last minute? These are all things that get noticed and ultimately help people form a view of a prospective candidate. Any touchpoint with a candidate (either through the recruiter or directly with the client) is a data point that is collected and considered.
Here are my top tips:
- Don’t be rude. This may seem obvious, but you’d be amazed by how many people are rude (either when we’re reaching out to them, or when they’re in touch with an EA organising an interview). Some of you might be charming to a Partner but rude to that Partner’s (less senior) colleague. That information is going to be shared. There’s no need to be rude. Also, karma.
- Cancelling at the last minute. Some things are unavoidable. A crisis at work means you get called into a client meeting when you have an interview scheduled. That’s OK. But if it happens multiple times, that’s a problem. If you’re interviewing with an executive search firm, where the flow of work can be intense and demands on your time are high, part of the job is about managing your workload, having clear boundaries and setting expectations with colleagues. If you can’t do this in your own process, how are you going to manage this effectively for your clients?
- Are you leaning into this opportunity? If the client or recruiter is having to chase you for times for interviews, for feedback or for you to do your psychometric tests, they will be asking themselves how much you really want this. Clearly, the impression you’re giving is that you’re not that bothered. And maybe you’re not, which is fine. But if you do actually want this job then you must demonstrate that through your actions. Part of the job requires hustle and being proactive. Can you make things happen? If you’re hard to get hold of and generally uncommunicative, then again the client will wonder if this is what you’re like with your clients and colleagues.
- Attention to detail. Part of any executive search role involves creating documentation for clients. If your written communication to recruiters and clients is littered with spelling and grammatical mistakes, it won’t inspire much confidence in your ability to do the job.
- Negotiating. When you get to the offer stage, bear in mind that what you ask for and how you ask for it can rapidly change the mood music. Of course, it makes sense to push back on any elements of the offer that you’re not happy with. But you must be selective about what you look to contest. Pick your battles wisely: there is little point expending goodwill on trying to get an organisation to bend rules that apply to all employees, such as holiday allowance, notice period, pension contributions etc. For other areas, explain your logic for a particular request. If it’s around comp, it’s worth producing some data points to support any argument that the offer should be increased. Manage all negotiations through your recruiter: it’s not worth creating friction by debating these points with your prospective line manager. At all times ask yourself whether your requests demonstrate a long-term mindset where opportunity trumps year one cash compensation. If not, the firm you are interviewing with might change their opinion on your suitability for the role.
