5 Ways to Create a More Transparent Hiring Process

Finding a job is hard. It’s a vulnerable space to be in emotionally, putting yourself out there and talking about your skill set in hopes of getting a job. But it becomes even harder when organizations do not have transparent hiring practices and leave candidates unsure of where they are in the process or if they’re even being considered. There are ways that organizations can tighten up their hiring processes to help candidates manage their expectations and know what they can expect from the process.

List the Salary and Benefits

We’ve written about this before, but we’ll say it over and over again: salaries and benefits must be listed in every job description. It’s a frustrating experience for everyone to finish a hiring process only to realize that the candidate can’t afford to take the position because the organization never shared the salary. Candidates deserve to know if the organization can afford to pay them what they are worth. Putting the salary and benefits on the job description allows both the candidates and employer to have a transparent conversation about the financial aspects of the position and what benefits are and are not available. It’s also important for organizations to list out other critical aspects of the job upfront and on the job description, such as whether the position requires a lot of travel or includes a lot of night and weekend work. Candidates may or may not want to apply for the position if it isn’t compatible with their availability.

Be Clear About Your Timeline and Process

Being open about your timeline and process from the beginning helps all candidates manage their expectations. This starts with letting all candidates who apply know if and when they’ll hear back from your organization. If you’re unable to contact all candidates, just say that on the application and list a date by when accepted candidates will hear from your organization so that those who are not accepted can cease refreshing their email. At every stage of the process, candidates should know what the process looks like and when they can expect to hear back from your organization about whether they’ve made it to the next round or not. It’s equally as important to follow up with candidates whom you are not continuing with, as those you are, for their peace of mind, your organization’s reputation, and everyone’s expectations. The sooner you can let candidates know the better. No one likes to be strung along. No one likes to be ghosted—read our guest blog on why your organization should stop ghosting candidates.

Our recommendation is to let people know at each hiring decision point. This also means that your organization needs to have a hiring timeline outlined before beginning the hiring process. And if your timeline changes due to unforeseen circumstances, that’s fine, but be sure to update your candidates so they’re not confused. Again, this helps candidates know what to expect and saves them from having to send the awkward email asking about the status of their application several weeks after the organization already decided not to move forward or if you’ve had to delay the process by weeks, months, or indefinitely.

Share Some Questions Before the Interview

The hiring process isn’t a gameshow. It isn’t always about the candidates’ ability to come up with an answer to tough questions on the spot. While there are opportunities to ask about that, we suggest you send candidates some of the more thoughtful questions ahead of the interview so they have time to prepare and think about their answers. This allows those who are neurodivergent to prepare and all candidates the opportunity to come to the interview with thoughtful answers. Questions that your organization can send ahead of time could be scenarios for the candidates to respond to, their perspective on your organization’s campaigns or other work that they would be evaluating and leading, and values-based questions. This allows for better quality answers and helps you as a hiring manager evaluate the candidates more effectively based on their skill set and thoughts rather than their nerves or freeze response taking over. For more on this, read our guest blog about how to shift your hiring process to be more inclusive of neurodivergent candidates.

Prepare the Position’s Metrics of Success

A common question candidates have for a position is, What does success in this position look like? For some positions, there are clear metrics of success. By preparing and knowing what they are ahead of time, the hiring manager can share that with the candidate so everyone has a clear understanding of what priorities may look like for the role and what benchmarks the work is building towards. Of course, our movement changes quickly and the metrics may change, but usually, they do not change that significantly. Having clarity helps everyone understand the goals.

Be Open About Where Your Organization Is Learning and Growing

No organization is perfect. We’re all experiencing growing pains, transitions, and managing how oppression shows up in our workplaces. When candidates ask about the organization’s culture and where it is learning and growing, be ready to answer with an honest and clear answer. If the candidate asks about red flags, be ready to talk about what processes staff are engaging in to shift the culture. A hiring process is just as much about you auditioning the candidate as it is for them to figure out if your workplace is the right fit. Being upfront and honest allows everyone to ask questions openly and know what they’re getting into.

For more, read our guest blog on additional ways to create better hiring processes with transparent timelines.