THE most important interview question to ask

– and what women REALLY want

Hiring is a time-consuming process which, if not done correctly, can be a waste of everyone's time, energy and a serious amount of money.

We know when your comms teams don’t have enough resource, it's stressful for everyone around them, picking up the pieces. It’s rare for companies to ‘hire ahead’ and succession-plan well and it's really tough to achieve. PR agencies are finding hiring incredibly hard as they are 'less desirable' places to work than in-house, and in-house comms teams can struggle to find the 'right calibre and fit' within their given budget.

So, when you do hire, obviously you really want to get it right.

A lot of work goes into getting quality candidates in through the door, and it’s down to you and the people helping you to hire to make a proper judgement with regards to picking the right person. Therefore, when talent comes knocking, it’s important that you ask them the right questions. It’s good to get an overall idea of what the candidate wants from the role they’re applying for. There might be a certain area of the job brief that they want to focus on. Maybe they want to develop different skills as well as bringing some of their own personal attributes to the table. What are the candidate’s goals? What gets them out of bed in the morning? These are all important questions so make sure you ask them while you have the opportunity.

We also advise asking this one question that you might not think is important, but actually it is:

What's important to you in your next role/employer/career?

Okay, it’s really three questions or you can just choose one version of it. However, it’s wise to ask all three versions of the question if you can. The reason it’s important is because you want to elicit the interviewee’s values and understand what they want to achieve and what they are meant to do. If you understand these and can offer them as an employer, then you are heading in the right direction for a great hire.

We asked, ‘What’s important to you in your next role?’ in our most recent Salary Guide 2022. What came up is that, whether looking for an in-house or agency role, professionals place high value on similar things, however, differences arise between what men and women consider important ¬– of course! Let’s take a closer look.

What in-house corporate comms professionals really, really want:

Men

1. Salary and bonus
2. Having interesting and challenging work
3. A good work-life balance
4. Hybrid working
5. Company benefits

Women

1. Having interesting and challenging work
2. A good work-life balance
3. Hybrid working
4. Salary and bonus
5. Recognition

What agency professionals really, really want:

Men value salary and bonus most when thinking about an agency move; they also place importance on having interesting and challenging work, a good work-life balance, hybrid working and company benefits.

Women value interesting and challenging work and hybrid working over salary and bonus; they also place importance on recognition and career progression.

Women do care about salary and bonus, so this is not an excuse not to pay them fairly, it's just that they value interesting work and being able to manage home and work life effectively. It's also interesting that recognition is a top five factor in their decision making when considering their next employer.

When you are armed with this knowledge, you can tweak your 'company proposition' and attract great people. Perhaps you could have a pitch deck about your company, just a couple of slides so you don't forget anything and fine-tune them when considering your audience.

The fight for great talent is fierce so perhaps put your presentation skills to the test when you sell back why someone could come and work for you. Ask the question first and if you really want to make an impression, ask them to order their answer in terms of importance. They will feel listened to if nothing else, and that's a great start to any employee/employer relationship.

For a free download of our full Annual Salary Guide 2022, click here.

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