A few years ago, at the height of the economic slowdown, the hiring balance tipped wildly in favor of employers. Job seekers flooded the marketplace, candidate competition increased, employee negotiating leverage dropped, and hiring managers held most of the cards. When this happened, some managers pressed their advantage to an extreme. Believing the salad days would never end, they put candidates through unnecessary hoops related to the application process, specifically interviews. Interviews became overly long, inefficient, repetitive, and sometimes demeaning.

But if you fell into this pattern during the fat years, it’s time for a change. Here are some of the ways your interview process may be alienating top talent, and how you can adjust course to stay competitive and flexible.

1. Stick to three rounds.

Interview each candidate no more than three times. This includes an initial phone screening. If you waste or devalue their time, the best candidates will lose interest. Only the desperate will keep coming back to your office for round four, five, or ten.

2. Keep your questions meaningful.

Ask questions that directly assess the candidate’s aptitude and cultural fitness. Don’t wander off topic (if you can avoid it), and don’t use indirect or insulting formats (for example, asking the candidate what she might take to a desert island, or attempting to fluster the candidate in order to “test his sense of humor”.)

3. Avoid redundancy.

If you’ve covered specific ground in one interview session, don’t retread that topic in the next. If you’ll have multiple people interviewing each candidate, find a way to share the data from each session so you can make the most of each minute the candidate spends on site.

4. Partner with an experienced staffing agency.

Enlist the help of a professional staffing team that can review your candidates based on application and supplemental materials, targeted testing, and a proven screening process that filters out inappropriate matches before they ever step across your threshold. Keep your talent and productivity levels high and keep your staffing problems to a minimum by hiring the right people in the first place. Contact the hiring professionals at Expert and arrange an appointment today.