June 6, 2012 in Blog by Dawn Williams

How much should you coach a candidate for an interview with a hiring manager?

If you are in human resources or a recruiter and are the first step in the hiring process, you are in a position to coach and prepare a candidate for their upcoming interview with the hiring manager. But should you? There are two schools of thought here; where one says, help the candidate to be prepared and the other is to not help and see what their natural instinct is.

If you want your candidate to be as well prepared as possible, you should give him/her information on the personality type and type of interview that they are heading into.  Should you share with them information such as which questions are going to be asked and the answers that the hiring manager is looking for? Are you really helping the candidates by coaching them?

The argument for preparing them is that the candidate is a reflection of you and your choice and you want them to put their best foot forward. You want that candidate to be as well prepared as possible so that they stand out. Your interests lie in being able to place the candidate and fill the job. These are great arguments but you must ask yourself if it is also in the best interests of the candidates and your client.

The argument for not overly preparing the candidate is that this may not be the natural responses of the job seeker and what the client thinks they have hired may not fit what they get. This may be a good short-term tactic but may not pan out in the long run. It may end up being a forced match.

Your preparation should speak to how and when to bring up salary, dress code, expectations and of course doing research prior to the interview. You may also have to prepare the candidate for certain behaviours such as showing enthusiasm, toning it down and how they should sell themself.

It is my opinion, that we as recruiters, we should strive for long-term results and seek out the candidate who naturally responds in the manner the client or hiring manager seeks.