how many interviews are too many? by Alison Green on October 10, 2022 A reader writes: I’ve seen a lot of questions on your site about interviewees who feel that the interview process is too lengthy or burdensome, which got me thinking about my practices as a hiring manager and how many interviews will scare off strong candidates. This 2016 letter writer from the archives was subjected to […] Read the full article →
I don’t want to interview a candidate who took 5 days to respond by Alison Green on September 26, 2022 A reader writes: We posted a job opening on Indeed and emailed a potential candidate to send us days and times available for an interview. We did not hear from this candidate for five days! This is not acceptable to us as prompt communication is essential in our line of work. There was no explanation […] Read the full article →
should we hire a candidate who talked non-stop? by Alison Green on September 21, 2022 A reader writes: We’re hiring for a candidate to fill in for me while I’m on maternity leave. The strongest candidate we’ve had so far has a great resume and industry experience, which is rare for us. But she was so talkative in the interview it was staggering. An interview that typically takes 30 minutes […] Read the full article →
how should I handle friends who apply for jobs with me? by Alison Green on September 12, 2022 A reader writes: What’s the best way to handle a friend who applies for a job not just at your company, but working with you? This has come up a couple of times now. In both cases, the friend in question would work with me, so I was involved in the application process, but they […] Read the full article →
are we asking for too much work from job candidates? by Alison Green on August 31, 2022 A reader writes: I’ve recently read some pushback on employers that ask candidates, as part of the hiring process, to complete assignments that may take many hours to do. At my law firm, we have recently moved to giving legal research and writing assignments to our attorney candidates. I would not be surprised if these […] Read the full article →
how can I tell a job applicant we rejected them for being rude? by Alison Green on August 29, 2022 A reader writes: I work in retail and accept applications in person. It’s a great vetting tool to see how applicants introduce themselves to the sales staff. When an applicant looks down on sales staff or is otherwise pushy or rude to them, we treat that as a signal to not proceed to the interview […] Read the full article →
candidate showed up in-person for a Zoom interview “to demonstrate their interest” by Alison Green on August 1, 2022 A reader writes: As part of my job, I’m responsible for hiring processes for director level positions. We first conduct a phone screening, then a Zoom interview, and then pay for finalist candidates to visit our city for the the final round of interviews. Recently, following the phone screenings, I scheduled Zoom interviews with our […] Read the full article →
candidates who say they’re open to relocation … but really aren’t by Alison Green on July 25, 2022 A reader writes: I’m hiring for my small company. We have found a candidate for one of our teams who would be perfect. The role is based in New York and our candidate lives in LA. Before initiating the interview process, I asked my candidate if she would be open to relocating. We prefer to […] Read the full article →
my relative is lying about race to get a job in my department by Alison Green on July 25, 2022 A reader writes: A relative I haven’t spoken to in years is fraudulently applying to my department at a large university. To put it simply, this is a potential Rachael Dolezal situation. “Connie” is applying for a research and teaching position in my department. Her mother was married to my uncle for about 15 years […] Read the full article →
is rejecting people by phone more respectful? by Alison Green on July 20, 2022 A reader writes: I am just finishing up a highly competitive hiring process. We flew in the top two finalists for in-person interviews this week and have decided who we’ll extend an offer to. My question is around best practices for notifying the other finalist that she didn’t get the job. In the past, I’ve […] Read the full article →