Synchrony is a phenomenon that appears in nearly every iteration of life on earth. It is present between lunar and tidal rhythms, in the steadfast migration of orcas in Puget Sound and the Salish Sea, and in the poignant vibrations of a string orchestra.
Many modern tech recruiters dream of this phenomenon gracing their job interviews — for the candidate and company to walk away aglow in perfect alignment.
With candidate experience at the forefront of the contemporary hiring conversation, recruiters are in pursuit of this symbiosis between potential employee and employer. Now, more than ever, HR professionals are interested in securing the elusive mutual connection between both parties.
“Companies often forget that interviewing is a two-way street, and candidates are interviewing the company as much as the company is interviewing them,” Viome Head of Recruiting Lilit Sloyan told Built In Seattle. “Showing our candidates that we see them as equal partners seeking to explore a relationship is key.”
At Viome, Sloyan aims to provide candidates with an equitable stake in the interview process by empathizing with their experience.
“As a recruiter, you are likely juggling hundreds of candidates at any given moment — but for every candidate, your company and your job opening could be the only one they are shooting for at the given moment,” Sloyan said. “Keeping that in mind and making your communication as open, and frequent as the candidate prefers is critical for delivering a high-quality candidate experience.”
Viome is on a mission to prevent and reverse chronic diseases. Viome is a high-growth biotech startup that applies AI and machine learning to biological data — microbiome, transcriptome and metabolome data — to provide direct-to-consumer personalized dietary and lifestyle recommendations for healthier living. Head of Recruiting Lilit Sloyan is a champion for the candidates who interview at Viome. She describes the interview process as a dynamic, two-way street — one in which the candidates are considering the company as carefully as it is considering them. To facilitate this open channel, Sloyan believes in connecting candidates with the right people at the right time. “Connecting them to the right people internally so they can better understand what they are interviewing for is key,” she told Build In Seattle.
What is the most important thing you want candidates to learn about Viome?
Our mission. We are on a mission to build a world where illness is optional. Viome is one of the most mission-driven companies I’ve ever had the pleasure to work at, so making sure we help candidates understand and get excited about it is key.
What is even more exciting about Viome is the way in which we’re working to achieve this mission. We’re disrupting multiple industries and changing the way people — and the science world thinks — about human biology. While it is challenging, the opportunity we have to change the future for humanity is well worth it!
In your opinion, what are three ingredients that create a great candidate experience?
Respect, communication and predictability. Last but not least, everyone hates to be surprised when walking into an interview. Knowing if you are going into a behavioral interview, a skills assessment or just a casual meet and greet helps calm the nerves and gives the much-needed predictability everyone is seeking ahead of any interview process.
Knowing if you are going into a behavioral interview or just a casual meet and greet helps calm the nerves and gives much-needed predictability.”
How has your candidate experience changed over time?
As with any fast-growing company, you start out in the beginning with your founders being closely involved in the hiring process, sometimes being the first person every candidate talks to.
As the company gets bigger, more people get involved in the hiring process so structure and careful planning become more important. With a large group of people involved in hiring, it’s easy to run the whole process without assigning someone to own the candidate experience. If no one owns candidate experience, it’s easy to start dropping balls without noticing.
As the company got bigger, we made sure that recruiters are always reminded that they own the candidate experience and that they should think deliberately about the interview process — while keeping in mind and reminding others involved in the hiring of respect, communication and predictability.
