Interview Prep: How HelloKindred Ensures Candidates Nail the Job Interview
29 Sep 2022
Often, the onus of interview prep is on the candidate.
But we prefer to approach the interview process slightly differently at HelloKindred. We believe a successful interview results from a synergistic preparation process between the candidate and our HelloKindred talent recruitment team.
Both parties work together to make sure the candidate leaves the right impression on the interviewer.
Here’s how Diana and the other HelloKindred Talent Acquisition Specialists make sure our candidates start the interview strong.
BLUF – Bottom line up front
BLUF is a military communications acronym that ensures speed and clarity in memos and reports. Simply put: share the most important details first.
We understand that candidates are busy and time is valuable. According to Diana, “that’s why we make sure our candidates are well-prepared and comfortable before they interview with our clients”. Here are some of HelloKindred’s essentials to prepping candidates:
- Candidates will know who they’ll be speaking to during the client interview, contact information in case of technical difficulties with the video conferencing platform and background information on the interviewer-team information, skills we staffed previously for this team, etc.
- They get a refresher on the role. This includes the job description, expected hours, and the skills the interviewer will look out for during the interview.
- And a refresher on the client’s company, their industry and the hiring manager.
Questions to expect during the interview
Diana and the team also share a question brief with the candidates. The brief informs the candidate about:
- The type of interview; conversational-type interview or otherwise.
- The skills the hiring manager would prefer for the role and how that informs the questions the candidate will be asked during the interview.
- The hiring manager’s management style and how the candidate can show how they complement one another.
- Areas of experience the candidate needs to emphasize during the interview.
Questions to ask during the interview
An interview is a two-way street. And we prep our candidates to lay down the marker on their side of the street.
The question brief also contains a section on questions that show the candidate understands the role, its needs, and the sort of impact the hiring manager is looking for from the person that steps into the role.
An example of one such question is:
“What are the biggest challenges this role could possibly help alleviate?”
The bottom line
Candidate prep is vital to the HelloKindred recruitment team. It’s not enough to get the candidate into the interview. A successful recruitment process is one where the candidate gets the job.
