Candidates Are Assessing You Too

A few weeks ago, I sat in on an interview. Three C-suite executives and one candidate – an impressive panel.

The candidate was already employed, well paid, and had been headhunted. He did not need to be there. He came out of curiosity.

For forty minutes, the panel interviewed him thoroughly. Probing questions, real depth. They knew their stuff and he matched them, answering with the quiet confidence of someone who has nothing to prove and an equal depth of experience.

I could see his responses were landing well. The panel looked suitably impressed.

What struck me was this: at no point did anyone sell him on the role, on the organisation, or on why he should choose them over anyone else. No one spoke about the team, the challenge ahead, or what made this place worth leaving somewhere good for. The interview ran its course, both sides performed well, and then it ended.

He is employed. He has options. He walked out of that room with no compelling reason to say yes.

This is not unusual. It happens at every level, across every sector. Hiring managers invest significant energy in assessing a candidate and very little in considering what the candidate is assessing in return. The assumption, often unconscious, is that the role speaks for itself. Increasingly, it does not.

The candidate who is currently employed, performing well, and being approached rather than approaching – that person is evaluating your leadership style from the moment you open the conversation. They are reading the room. They are asking themselves whether the people across the table the kind of people are they would want to work alongside, report to, and be stretched by.

And if nothing in the interview answers that question for them, they leave with nothing to hold onto.

The moment a candidate walks in, you are being interviewed too. That has always been true. The difference now is that the best candidates know it, and the ones you most want to hire are the least likely to wait around for you to figure it out.