Improving Recruitment and Avoiding Legal Costs with Interview Training
Written by HRCap
August 30, 2023
Rising Importance of Interview Training
With job seekers actively applying to job postings, employers must optimize their hiring process and train all hiring managers to ask the right questions, effectively screen for fit, and improve the candidate interview experience. Organizations that invest in providing a positive candidate experience see improvements in quality of hires by 70%.
However, most business leaders lack proper HR knowledge and 47% of hiring managers have never had interview training, which makes finding the right hire even more challenging.
[Related: Guide to Making the Right Hire]
3 Key Obstacles to Finding the Right Hire
Companies that do not implement interview training are facing key obstacles that inhibit the candidate experience and ultimately prevent them from hiring qualified candidates.
1. Asking Illegal Questions
When interviewing, many hiring managers do not know which questions are noncompliant with EEOC. When shown a list of illegal questions and asked whether they were legal, at least 33% said they were not sure. 20% of hiring managers and HR managers in the United States also confessed they have asked a candidate an illegal question.
2. Interviewing with Unconscious Bias
Additionally, hiring biases get in the way of making objective hiring decisions, whether interviewers are aware of it or not. Nearly half (48%) of HR managers admit bias affects their hiring choices.
3. Conducting One Too Many Interviews
Though multiple interviews may be necessary for executive levels, it is becoming commonplace for even entry-level roles to undergo 5 or more interviews. This not only diminishes the candidate experience but also reduces objectivity. 26% of hiring managers have said that a lengthy interview process can lead to subjective decision-making, while 24% have cited that it leads to biases.
Though these interviewing obstacles seem insignificant and harmless, they can have potential ramifications on the candidate experience and impact the overall business performance by requiring interviewers to take too much productive time away from work.
Ramifications of Improper Interviewing
Companies are also facing costly consequences that affect their recruitment, brand reputation, and bottom line.
1. Poor Candidate Experience
Candidates who experience a poor interview experience are more likely not to accept a job offer at the company. 45% of employees say they have rejected jobs after a negative interview experience. Additionally, 72% of candidates say they have shared negative candidate experiences online.
Asking illegal questions often deters candidates because it indicates the company culture is not diverse and inclusive. This is especially important since 92% of candidates believe a healthy, diverse, and inclusive company culture is integral to their job search.
2. Loss of Prospective Customers and Clients
Job-seeking candidates may also be existing or future customers and clients that provide possible business opportunities. If a candidate has a negative interview experience, they are likely to see the poor recruitment process as an outcome of poor business processes and negative corporate culture. One example is Virgin Media company, which reported that bad candidate experiences have cost the company over $6 million in lost revenue each year.
3. Weak Interviewing/Screening
Without the mandatory interview training, hiring managers will not be able to efficiently interview and screen for the right candidate. Only 7% of HR executives strongly agree their company’s hiring managers are consistent in how they interview candidates. Due to the lack of training and consistent interviewing practices, it is no wonder that 74% of HR professionals have said their companies use poor interviewing techniques, which contributes to the poor candidate experience.
4. Leads to Lawsuit Complications
Interviewers who ask illegal questions have put their company at risk of discrimination lawsuits. Questions regarding age, race, marital status, gender, religion, parental status, sexual orientation, and pregnancy status infringe upon various laws that protect employees against discrimination.
In FY 2022, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) agency filed 91 employment discrimination lawsuits and obtained nearly $40 million in monetary relief for 1,461 individuals. Though the average settlement for employment discrimination claims is about $40,000, depending on the unique circumstances, settlements can climb up to seven figures:
Jacksonville Plumbers and Pipefitters Joint Apprenticeship and Training Trust (JPPJATT) paid $207,500 for denying apprenticeship positions to African-American applicants.
Google paid $11 million to settle a class-action suit that alleged they discriminated on age.
Rent-Acenter, Inc. agreed to pay $47 million to 5,000 women plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit because the company actively declined to hire women.
GMRI, Inc. was sued because the general manager interviewed an applicant with a disability and asked various illegal questions related to the applicant’s disability.
Take Action Now
Conducting a proper interview is essential to finding the right candidate and avoiding costly pitfalls like poor hiring decisions and potential legal complications. At HRCap, we understand the critical role that interview training plays in building resilient teams and compliant organizations.
With our experience and industry expertise, we are proud to give back to our client organizations and the greater community by offering a complimentary HR Compliance & Interview Training session, which will take place on Wednesday, September 13, 2023, from 4-5 pm ET (1-2 PM PT). The online training seminar will be delivered in Korean with English content and will be by RSVP only. RSVP sign-up deadline is Thursday, August 31, 2023. (hr@hrcap.com for any inquiries)
Sources: HRCap, Glassdoor, Franchising.com, Business Insider, HRDive, CareerArc, Greenhouse, Inc., Goodtime, ERE, Recruiter.com, EEOC, Kingsley & Kingsley, AARP, CNBC
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