While on-campus, the candidate wrap up is often an overlooked part of sealing the deal with a star candidate. During the final talk, this is a good time to go over the compensation and benefits of working at your university. What is your salary range? Does this position have great benefits? What type of retirement comes with the position? With the on-campus day typically being so busy, this is a good time to chat with the candidate and remind them of the benefits of working at your university. When having that final talk with the candidate, I also find that it’s important to get a true sense of what the candidate thinks of the position and university.
The sense I get from a candidate is a mix of art and science. Throughout the process, it’s important to be honest and transparent; the candidate will hopefully do the same. Ask them what they have liked about the day and what concerns or questions they have. This is a good way to start a dialogue and continue the transparency of the process. It’s important to compile feedback about that candidate from the day of interviews. One good way to do this is to have the candidate’s host compile information throughout the day and review it with you while the candidate is in their final interview. Then, if there are any concerns, you can find a way to ask the candidate about those concerns. I would consider this the science portion of the candidate wrap up.
The next part can be a bit trickier, which is why it’s an art. Hopefully, the candidate is up front about their job process, but there are other competing factors including nervousness, newness to the job search, and negotiating leverage. This part requires you to read the candidate and their reactions throughout the process and during the wrap up. It’s important to listen to their tone and inflection when they speak as well as their body language when talking to them. Many times, once you know what to look for, you can tell what they’re apprehensive or excited about. What can muddle things is that the wrap up happens at the end of a hectic day, so the candidate may be tired and more difficult to read.
Be sure to leave the meeting on a good note and make sure that all of their questions and concerns are addressed. This can be a crucial time for a candidate. If the process hasn’t gone right up to this point, even the best wrap up won’t convince a prized candidate to come to your institution. Good luck and hopefully this is the time when a lot of hard work over several months all comes together!
This post is part of our #SArecruits series, which will share experiences from a variety of #SApros who have hired new employees. We hope that these stories will give great insight for both professionals looking to improve their hiring tactics, and also those on the job search looking for an inside perspective. For more information, please see Bill Mattera’s intro post. Be sure to check out other posts in this series!
