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It’s been my personal experience, throughout my years as an AI Recruiter in Talent Acquisition, that one of the best indicators of a candidate’s success is their belief in ‘the vision’ of the company and opportunity. 

I’ve hired some of the strongest AI candidates while working with large Fortune 50 organizations, unicorns, and seed-level startups, and across the board, I can attest that the candidates who succeeded most, the candidates who created the best ROIs for their hiring managers, were those who fell in love with the company’s vision. 

The key word here is vision. It’s not always the reality of the company in its current state. Sometimes, a great candidate can join a company working out of the back of a warehouse. Still, if they believe in something greater, if they believe in the POTENTIAL of a company or opportunity, they’re willing to do whatever it takes to fulfill that vision. Work late? Check. Work weekends? Check. Sacrifice different elements of their personal life? Also, check. 

While we might not want our new hires to have to sacrifice part of their lives, the fact they’re willing to is the most crucial aspect. Time after time, it’s been my experience that the AI candidates most in love with the vision, the ones most bought in, consistently put in the extra work, and do what it takes to help elevate the company. 

So, how do AI Recruiters identify these candidates? Sometimes, they’ll come knocking on your door via referral. They’ve had a conversation with someone in the company who believes in the mission, and they’ve bought in. 

Sometimes, they’ll identify your company as an ideal based on research and apply directly. While sometimes, as recruiters, we over-index scarcity/passivity for candidates, it’s been my experience that these “hungry” candidates who have done their research are, in many cases, some of the best you can hire. 

That being said, it’s been my experience in AI Recruitment that the very best candidates are created, not found. What do I mean by that? Do you have a special lab where you make people? Of course 😉 

It’s called the interview process.

Even the uber-passionate prospect can lose interest during the interview if it is not appropriately handled. Yet, I have had countless experiences where passive candidates became true believers of an opportunity during the process for which they’ve done things that would otherwise sound crazy. With the help of a robust AI Recruitment process, I’ve seen numerous AI candidates take less money, turn down offers from FAANG companies, or take individual contributor positions instead of leadership roles to join what they’ve come to believe is the “perfect opportunity.”  

How is this accomplished in AI Recruitment? It’s achieved by establishing a relationship with the candidate that reflects how you want that candidate to view the company and role. I believe this is accomplished through four critical objectives within the interview process. 

1. Excitement
   1. The first step to AI Recruitment, attracting candidates and cultivating excitement, comes from a number of factors. For starters, there is compensation. If someone is able to make a substantial pay bump from their previous salary, they are likely to be highly motivated once they join the team. 
   2. Another factor that excites a candidate is added responsibility. Getting a job that makes you feel like you’re growing as a person and professional is exciting. Whether that’s moving into a leadership role, a role that allows you to better execute your vision within a company, or one that lets you manage people, that added responsibility will motivate candidates to prove to themselves and their employer that they made the right decision.
   3. One of the better indicators of someone’s success in a position is their faith in leadership. Do they approve of their direct manager? Do they believe in that person’s supervisor? The idea that you’re working for a company you can trust makes all the difference when dedicating one’s time and energy. Knowing you’re in an environment where things are being done for the right reasons makes putting in that extra time a little bit easier. It creates a system of trust, connectedness, and the belief that one’s hard work will ultimately pay off since there is faith in the process one must go through. 

2. Trust
   1. You establish trust with a candidate by being honest and consistent throughout the interview process. You fairly set expectations. The AI Recruiter and hiring team are in lockstep in terms of the process, so there is nothing that the AI Recruiter can’t prepare the candidate for. If there are issues, missteps, or miscommunications (which should be avoided at all costs), the AI Recruiter should always fall on the sword to insulate the trust being fostered between the hiring team, org, and the candidate. Yes, there could be a level of dishonesty in “falling on the sword” but if we’re being completely honest with ourselves, the AI Recruiter could have always done more to prevent whatever misstep from occurring. The other key to establishing trust is having a fair interview process. Ask the right questions, don’t do redundant rounds, have consistency in evaluating, and have leveling/compensation guidelines locked down and commensurate with the market. 
   2. In turn, the candidate will learn to trust the AI Recruiter, the hiring manager, and the company. If trust can be established, a candidate will feel a sense of fairness in the process and be comfortable with the role. They’ll be easier to close, but most importantly, once they join, they’re more likely to have faith in the work, process, etc. Faith in the recruiter is the most important at the outset of the process, but as it evolves, it becomes the least important of the 3. 

3. Belief
   1. To sell a vision to an AI candidate, the belief in said vision needs to be palpable. There needs to be a level of excitement about the direction of a company that is evident at every step of the interview process. If the AI Recruiter, Hiring Manager, and VP are all “bought in,” but the mid-level 2nd round interviewer doesn’t take the company seriously, that belief can easily be broken. This is easiest when working with a company that does an excellent job internally fostering culture, but it can be accomplished anywhere. 
   2. If an AI candidate is surrounded by people that they respect in the interview process and who fervently believe in an opportunity/company, they will begin to see things through a similar lens. This shared lens creates a shared vision, which the candidate will fight for. 

4. Storytelling
   1. To sell the vision, one doesn’t need to simply believe in it; one needs to communicate it effectively and paint a picture. What does a world look like post-X? How do we get there? Why is that important? Why is this company uniquely situated to achieve this? Why is this role uniquely crucial in the journey? The key to storytelling is understanding what story the candidate wants to hear (understanding values and how to position the company) and communicating that narrative throughout the process. Let the hiring team know their drivers. There’s nothing wrong with emphasizing a company’s benevolence if that speaks to the candidate, just like there’s nothing wrong with speaking to market share, innovation, or culture. 
   2. Once again, this is about building a shared lens. If someone sees the bigger picture with themselves in it, and it’s a picture they like, a candidate will run through a wall for you. They’ll take less money and make the aforementioned sacrifices, but only if there is a consistent unified belief, and the candidate is made to feel valued throughout the process. 

5. Value
   1. A strong AI candidate needs to feel valued in the interview process. This means you can’t let perfect be the enemy of great. Sometimes, we have a tendency, when finally given the opportunity to hire, to want to hold out for the ideal candidate. The problem is, in doing so, we’re undervaluing the great candidates in the process that would otherwise BECOME perfect candidates if the process were handled better. Why should Candidate X value this role if you’ve been interviewing other people for the past three weeks before making a decision? To this end, an AI Recruiter must have a “white-glove” approach to handling candidates. Make them feel as invaluable as you claim they are for being able to fill your open position and make a positive contribution to the organization. Be uber-responsive. Other keys are to negotiate fairly, be willing to have extra conversations during/after the process, and take their inputs seriously instead of taking the “my way or the highway” approach some managers and companies insist on taking. 
   2. When a company makes an AI candidate feel valued, the candidate, in turn, values the employer. Too many of us have had dead-end jobs where we were seen as cogs in a wheel, and that’s exciting for no one. We want to make an impact and be appreciated, and by feeling our work is crucial, we have a deeper tie to the org, mission, team, etc. 

While there are some ways to identify ideal candidates, it’s been my experience that the best AI candidates routinely undergo an effective interview process.

Although many companies and hiring teams view the interview process as merely a tool for evaluating AI candidates, they’re missing the bigger picture. The bigger picture is that an interview process is an opportunity to sell, earn trust, and foster the type of talent that will best serve the team and org. 

This is because the thing that makes humans take risks, make bold decisions, and achieve has nothing to do with logic. A role can logically make sense, and you can feel nothing about it. The key is when a role/company builds an emotional connection with the candidate centered around a vision. It creates something greater, dare I say love. 

At the end of the day, that’s what it boils down to: How do you get a candidate to fall in love? You effectively share a vision with trust, belief, storytelling, and demonstrating value. 

Trust our AI Recruiters to support your hiring. Analytics Search offers a complete hiring solution across the breadth of Data Science & AI, Advanced Analytics, and Data Technology disciplines. Speak with our AI Recruiters today. 

Written by Alex Gutterson