Interview flexibility

[swissrollisntswiss]

I’m currently recruiting for two positions. I work a mix of office and home based but I am happy to be in the office on any day that works for the candidates. However, a number of the applicants can only do early (7am) or late (6pm). I am assuming they don’t want to take any time out from their current employment.

I know it’s not the easiest situation to take time out for interviews. I am not trying to be difficult, I have childcare constraints so being available at these times requires additional childcare organisation.

How flexible would you be? Part of me questions their interest in the role/company if they are not willing to work with us to secure an interview. I am not bowled over by the cvs but I really do need to fill these positions asap.

I'd offer to hold the interview online. Assuming it's the kind of job you can do online too.

I am jobseeking at the moment and admit I try to be as flexible as possible for the new employer but I have had multiple interviews and it’s not possible to get time off every time.

Can you interview virtually at all? Maybe after kids bedtime? Or trim the list down via phone interviews so you only have one or two face to face?

As a candidate, I would expect an interview to be within 'office hours' and would factor that into jobs that I was applying for etc.

But I do take Skype's point that this is tricky if you're attending multiple interviews.

Although I do think that if I REALLY wanted a particular job, I would like some way of ensuring that I would be able to make an interview during office hours.

I may be just bitter though, as I have been unsuccessfully job hunting for many, many months....

I think the interviewees need to make more of an effort to be available in office hours. There are ways to make yourself available. And the hours they are requesting are ridiculous.

When interviewing I adjust my flexibility depending on how hard the role is to fill and how good the candidate seems.

If I'm using a headhunter to find someone with really specific experience to fill a niche role and the candidate looks good then I'll be as flexible as they need and just ask when they can do.

If I've got loads applications for a less niche role then I offer 8am-6pm with 1-2weeks notice. If they look good and come back explaining they can't do those times then I offer a choice of time slots outside that window that work for me.

Before putting boundaries in place I found that everyone wants 6pm interviews, before they didn't want to take time off work or do it on their lunch break.

I try my best to be available but I'm relying on the wages from my current job to live on, if I take time out of work for every interview I'd struggle to pay for the basics. I also have childcare constraints. It's a really difficult situation especially when you're talking about multiple interviews.

That being said, I always expect interviews to be within office hours. If you did offer a later or earlier online interview that could be very helpful though.

I have been for lots of interviews recently. I am lucky in that I have left my last job so am able to do them but if I was working it would be near impossible to take time off for them. It's disheartening to have spent loads of time prepping and all the anxiety of the interview only to not get offered the job so if I had taken a half day annual leave as well I think I would have been doubly gutted!

Working in a small team can make it impossible to have much flexibility with days off especially if the interview is at short notice. It's tricky. I had to turn down an interview recently as it was three days notice and would have been impossible for me to get the time off.
It was for a role within a school and there was no flexibility with interview dates.

Meant to add that it was for a role I was very interested in so its not necessarily lack of flexibility = lack of interest. What would have helped would have been more notice.

Not everyone can take time off work whenever they want, no matter how serious they may be about a job opportunity. And there are only so many emergencies/doctor/dental visits one a person they can have. So I think you need to be flexible if these are candidates you're seriously interested in. We tend to do first round interviews over the phone/Zoom and only get people in for face-to-face from the 2nd round onwards. It mitigates some of the time wasting (both yours and theirs).

@Spyke

I am jobseeking at the moment and admit I try to be as flexible as possible for the new employer but I have had multiple interviews and it’s not possible to get time off every time.

Can you interview virtually at all? Maybe after kids bedtime? Or trim the list down via phone interviews so you only have one or two face to face?

Yes if you're not bowled over by the cvs request a telephone interview first. If you work 9-5 then the interviews should be in that time.

If you can find someone good for the job by interviewing during normal hours you absolutely should. If you have to be more flexible to get the right candidate then I guess you do. But this is your job too so why should you have to pay for childcare or rearrange your life to accommodate someone who wants to be considered for employment? Unless they are one of a kind and it’s a niche position I don’t think that’s how it works.

Thanks all for your responses. I think my HR contact is finding me a little difficult when I have pushed back so I really didn’t know if I am being unreasonable. I do feel for the candidates but I also expect them to meet me halfway, e.g 4.30pm start so they only have to take an hour or so out of work. Not seeing any stand out cvs isn’t helping my enthusiasm for rearranging my childcare but we’ve had the ads open for a while and I think is all we get.

Online is an option. I did a round of these during covid when there was no other option. It wouldn’t be my first choice but I hadn’t actually thought of using it as a shorter preliminary interview to narrow down the number of face to face interviews. Thanks for this suggestion.

I had this issue when I was interviewing from a few candidates. I checked their cvs and as they weren't amazing, I declined.
I was ok to do 8.30am or lunchtime but at the time I had a young DS to pick up. We managed to fill the role with people who were prepared to interview in normal work hours.

I do feel for the candidates but I also expect them to meet me halfway, e.g 4.30pm start so they only have to take an hour or so out of work.

I think it depends on your industry as to whether a 4.30pm start is only taking "an hour or so out of work" and also where the candidates have to travel from. A 4.30pm could start could actually mean having to almost take a half day! In my office-based industry interviews are usually 8am or 6pm onwards, or occasionally lunchtimes if people work nearby. 6pm is not considered late! I don't think you're being entirely fair here OP but I guess you're the interviewer so you can be an unreasonable as you want.

As an interviewer, I've interviewed between 7am and 9pm. And the same when I've been a candidate. This is for office-based professional roles, with 'standard' hours of 9am-6pm (although most people start earlier and/or finish later).

Recruitment is hard just now. Its a job seekers market. If you want the best candidates then you as the employer are the one that has to be flexible.

Why can't you do the interviews online? Far more cost effective and a better use of everyone's time. You could always do a final interview in person if you really feel that is essential.

@swissrollisntswiss

Thanks all for your responses. I think my HR contact is finding me a little difficult when I have pushed back so I really didn’t know if I am being unreasonable. I do feel for the candidates but I also expect them to meet me halfway, e.g 4.30pm start so they only have to take an hour or so out of work. Not seeing any stand out cvs isn’t helping my enthusiasm for rearranging my childcare but we’ve had the ads open for a while and I think is all we get.

Online is an option. I did a round of these during covid when there was no other option. It wouldn’t be my first choice but I hadn’t actually thought of using it as a shorter preliminary interview to narrow down the number of face to face interviews. Thanks for this suggestion.

I think the thing is, if none of them are making you want to rearrange childcare as their cvs aren't good enough, I'd question whether it's really worth their while missing some work to come to interview? I used to work in recruitment and I have also applied and interviewed for lots of jobs in my lifetime. I think some hiring managers love to interview, but forget how it affects the candidates.

I'd offer to do the interview online or ask someone else to interview them until second stage or if you want to hire

I would do round one interviews online and only call for in person interview a candidate or two that you are sure about

I've been doing a lot of recruitment recently and though online, all within office hours. Never out of hours, never even crossed my mind! (Never been requested either).

My organisation generally do online interviews these days. I've just been arranging a round of interviews, the only times we can offer are between 9am and 4pm. It's tricky having to work around the interview panel and the interviewee. For instance, I can interview from 6am onwards but not between 4pm and 8pm. The others in the panel can interview between 9am and 7.30pm.

However, we have a lot of applicants. We can afford to only interview within these times as we still have a lot of suitable candidates.

There are some jobs that if they get even a whiff of you going for interviews your work life will become hellish. Can you not understand that some employees are faced with that sort of situation? I was so lucky that I was able to do 7 am interviews with them.

My current role had quite a gruelling interview process, it was a major organisation doing a multiple hire at entry point level. However they gave lots of notice and made it clear how long the process would take.

I agree with the points about not interviewing for the sake of it. Yes, you want to fill the posts quickly, but not with unsuitable candidates.

Offering an online interview to candidates who seem most likely as a first round seems sensible.

But if there are only a couple of 'possibles' out of the CVs that you've received, don't interview other candidates just to make the number up.

It's an absolute waste of everyone's time and horrible for candidates who were never going to be appointed anyway to be given false hope.

@HundredMilesAnHour

I do feel for the candidates but I also expect them to meet me halfway, e.g 4.30pm start so they only have to take an hour or so out of work.

I think it depends on your industry as to whether a 4.30pm start is only taking "an hour or so out of work" and also where the candidates have to travel from. A 4.30pm could start could actually mean having to almost take a half day! In my office-based industry interviews are usually 8am or 6pm onwards, or occasionally lunchtimes if people work nearby. 6pm is not considered late! I don't think you're being entirely fair here OP but I guess you're the interviewer so you can be an unreasonable as you want.

If I start an interview at 4.30pm I should be able to pick DS up from nursery at 6pm which is the latest I can collect him. I have no other childcare options, we live abroad with no family here. In order for me to stay later, DH would have to change his hours at work. I really don’t want to be unreasonable, these are my circumstances. Pre-child I would have interviewed at any time.

A few have mentioned not wasting people time. I totally agree and I will revisit our short list. I certainly wouldn’t meet anyone who didn’t have relevant experience or qualifications. From experience, I have found that some people don’t present themselves well on paper but can in an interview. I have also interviewed people who look amazing on paper and then have not come across so well in person.