Bringing a Personal Touch to the Hiring Process Gives you a Competitive Edge

What I learned in bringing kindness and empathy to my first time hiring for a full time role

A: You started working at Culture about two years ago as a software engineer. Recently, you found yourself a part of a pretty big hiring process to fill a new engineering position on your team. Was this exciting for you?

S: It was! I’ve always been interested in the hiring process. I’ve helped with a lot of intern interviews in the past, but I’d not been a part of filling a full time position. It really was exciting. (By the way, if you want to know more about why I joined Culture, here’s a great post on that very subject.)

A: You helped source the candidates, conduct the preliminary calls, and usher them through the process keeping track of everyone along the way? It sounds like you already had an idea of how you wanted to go about this.  

S: I did. I’ve been through these processes throughout my career over the past seven years. I’ve seen them run at companies, and there were times I didn’t like the process from a candidate’s perspective. It was gratifying to implement my ideas and be able to make it all less robotic and impersonal.

A: I’m guessing genuinely liking where you work helps with that.  

S: Absolutely! Some days I was making ten back-to-back 30-minute phone calls in a day. It was a lot, but my enthusiasm for Culture helped bring energy to each call, which was crucial. I was genuinely excited to share the culture at Culture. 

A: I would think a company called Culture wouldn’t lack in that area. What did you like to point out?

S: Haha, it’s a reference to biology, but point taken. For me, it comes down to the people. My love for working here has a lot to do with their kindness, empathy, curiosity, and personal touch. The culture at Culture revolves around these values in a way bigger companies just aren’t able to. I really tried to get this across. 

A: What else did you feel was essential to present in those calls? 

S: I really wanted to bring a personal touch. Feeling like I’m just one in a million shuffling through the paces has always been a turn-off for me. I wanted to make it was clear that’s not how we are. We set that tone in the initial outreach email we sent out, which was our first impression on “paper.” The call was an opportunity to show it actually translates beyond that email.

(By the way, are you wondering what’s up with the format of this blog post / interview? Check out the first post!)

A: You mentioned the first contact generally coming from an outreach email. What purpose does this email serve? Is this simply a hello and letting them know you exist, or is it something more? 

S: It should be something more. A lot more, really. As your true first impression, your template email should stand out from the crowd in a big way. Point out what's unique about your company. Why do you like working there? Is it the culture, is it the technology, is it the process? Once you figure out your niche to highlight, don't be afraid to iterate on it a few times. Try to drill down what it is about your company and the job opening that's special. I realize this could come across as such obvious and trite advice. “Just stand out! Stand out!” But I think people may overestimate what it takes to stand out. At Culture, we focused on how we strive to cultivate empathy, kindness, curiosity, and not being a “Bro-y” startup. We also highlighted that the engineering work we do is different from typical Silicon Valley companies. It paid off. We got a lot of great feedback about that email. 

A: That’s a solid nugget of advice. Without giving away too many of your secrets, can you touch on anything else revolving around that initial email you find valuable? 

S: As I just mentioned, it doesn't take that much for a company to clear the bar in an outreach email. I find three things to be particularly helpful. First, it's great if it comes from the founder or someone close to the founder. When a candidate receives an email that shows someone higher up in the company is interested in them and not just a recruiter, it piques a higher level of interest. 

A: Assuming they have a relationship with their inbox anywhere in the vicinity of the one I have with mine, they’re skimming through pretty quickly. 

S: More than likely. If they are actively looking for a job, they may get ten or more offers a day. That can quickly become a lot of emails to sift through. A founder’s name will stand out in a way others won’t. Unfortunately, companies are catching on to this idea and are sending out mass emails like this, trying to pass them off as genuine. To avoid being swept into this crowd, personalize the email to the candidate. It takes 30 seconds to one minute to write a personal note. So many outreach emails feel like a computer could have written them. If you include the right personal touch that shows a human wrote it, you’ll get a much bigger response rate. 

A: How do you personalize the email? If it was a letter, you could handwrite a message, but what do you suggest in the world of email?

S: You could speak to something they might be looking for. Or, if they're not quite a fit for the role, recognize that. Call that out right away. Let them know you see that they have most of their experience in a different area. They may not be a precise fit for the position, but it might be interesting for them to test the water. People respond well to that. It shows honesty and a personalized interest, making it clear it’s not coming from a robot. 

A: Not only are you giving them a personal nod, but you’re also showing them a way the job may work that they may not have thought of before. These are good! What else you got?

S: The third point is to make the process as easy and simplified for the candidate as possible. Remove all barriers to getting meetings set up. I use Calendly, which is really great. You send people a link, and they can automatically schedule something with you—the less back and forth, the better. You can’t discount speed here. The quicker you respond, the better. Capitalize on that. It’s vital to react quickly. 

A: Say you caught the candidate’s attention, and they set up a time to chat with you through the handy link you provided in the email. How do you transition to the initial phone call? What are things to keep in mind?

S: A script is your best friend here. Prepare a script and get to know it. When you’re comfortable with your pitch, it allows you to have fun with it and not sound canned. I mentioned earlier about bringing the excitement and energy you have for working for your company. You need to maintain that throughout the process. You want to have the same spirit in the last call of your day as you did in the first. Candidates, especially the ones you’re most likely to be interested in, are having a lot of these types of calls. You want to be memorable. You want that person to hang up feeling really good about your company. If you’re dealing with a candidate on the fence, this will more than likely nudge them one way or the other.

A: It sounds a bit like Groundhogs Day. I imagine having your script down is helpful, but I’d think it'd start feeling a bit dry or lacking at some point. What did you do to keep it fresh?

S: I had to keep not only the candidate interested but myself as well. Having my pitch nailed down allowed me to go off script fluidly. I could add in little jokes here and there and switch it up without leaving out anything of importance. I could explain things differently or vary them slightly here and there when it started to feel stale. Enthusiasm matters more than you might think. In the first calls, you're not just giving information and evaluating the candidate. If you are really interested in a candidate, this call is ultimately a “sell call.” You need to bring that kind of fire to it.

A: You want to sound engaged and fired up but also relaxed and not too salesy? 

S: Definitely. Even if you are giving a sales pitch, you want it to feel like a conversation. I would start my pitch by giving some background and the basis for the call. After that, I would transition into getting information about them. I followed up with a question to get a little more specific. When people give you an answer, it’s great to tell them what you think of it. Not in a pass or fail kind of way, but engagingly showing them you were listening and that you’re interested in what they have to say. I've been in interviews where I would give an answer, and there’s simply a nod of a head and an “okay” given before moving on. It’s so cut and dry and feels like I’m just speaking into the void. Making it conversational is pretty easy and adds so much more value. 

A: You don’t want them to feel like they’re taking a test. You want it to be engaging.

S: Exactly. Taking it a step further, I would ask how much of a fit they thought the role was for them at the end of the call. I felt like that was a nice way to tease out any hesitations they may have had. It allowed me to assuage any misconceptions, maybe boost their confidence a bit, or save me a lot of time. If I found out they weren’t interested, I didn’t need to worry about sending a follow-up email or tracking them again. 

A: That leads back to the idea of speed and flow within the process. If you can either pull out hesitations that may come up later or eliminate a candidate right away, you make your life easier. 

S: You got it. It’s about keeping the process as fluid as possible. You want everything to keep moving. That includes your personal touch. It’s important to understand that it doesn’t end with that preliminary call. Hopefully, the subsequent interviewers bring kindness and empathy into their approach as well. But then there's checking in with the candidate throughout the process to see how things are going and if they have further questions. 

One thing I offered candidates was to put some time on my calendar to chat. If they were nervous about the interview, I would use that time to talk them through it. I had some of them take me up on that. They felt it was beneficial to have a relaxed chat and for me to break down what they could expect. That went a long way in the extension of personal touch. Letting them know that I was available any time and offering to connect them with other folks on the team helped show them the culture I was promoting in the interview process was authentic. It gave them a broader perspective, helped them feel more comfortable, and lent a hand to persuade them to take a deeper look at Culture. 

A: It’s those little things that really do go a long way. 

S: They really do. Taking a moment to show you care is not only the kind thing to do, but I believe it also helps you win the best candidates to your team. Even after you make a candidate an offer and they say yes, we have folks reach out with personal messages of support. Even after they sign the offer, keep the excitement going! The process doesn't end until the day they start. It's great to keep that personal touch going. Send them some swag or share a couple of pictures of excited coworkers with a note letting them know everyone's looking forward to working with them. 

A: I have to say, after hearing the thoughts and ideals backing the company, I’d be pretty stoked to go through the process and be hired by Culture! It seems to be a company that follows through and backs up its pitch.

S: Absolutely! There’s no smoke and mirrors. Culture is a “what you see is what you get” kind of company that values ingenuity, empathy, curiosity, and kindness. And we just so happen to have a few open roles to fill! Check out https://www.culturebiosciences.com/careers for current openings.