Eddy’s HR Mavericks Encyclopedia
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Meet-and-Greet
Job interviews can be intimidating and stressful. If you'd like to get to know a candidate in a more casual setting as well, consider a meet-and-greet. Read on to learn why and how.
What Is a Meet-and-Greet?
A meet-and-greet is an informal meeting during the hiring process designed to help both the candidate and the hiring team get to know each other beyond the structured setting of a traditional interview. This meeting can occur at various stages, either before or after a job offer is made, providing a relaxed environment for candidates to meet key team members, understand the company culture, and foster genuine connections. Meet-and-greets can enhance the candidate experience and help your team make more informed hiring decisions.
Why Are Meet-and-Greets Important?
The meet-and-greet allows a candidate to become more familiar with the role they would fill and allows your team to become more comfortable with a candidate than is easily accomplished in traditional interviews.
1. Encourages a Relaxed Atmosphere
Meet-and-greets create a more relaxed setting compared to formal interviews. This casual environment helps reveal a more genuine side of candidates, offering a deeper insight into their personalities and fit with your company culture.
2. Facilitates Genuine Connections
Unlike traditional interviews, meet-and-greets allow candidates and key team members to interact naturally, fostering authentic relationships and improving comfort levels on both sides.
3. Reduces Intimidation
Meet-and-greets are less intimidating than panel interviews, providing candidates an opportunity to meet potential colleagues in a stress-free environment, which can lead to better hiring decisions.
4. Provides Insights Beyond Resumes
Meet-and-greets allow you to observe candidates' interpersonal skills, adaptability, and cultural fit, which may not be evident from their resumes or formal interviews.
5. Builds a Positive Candidate Experience
A positive and welcoming meet-and-greet helps candidates feel valued, enhancing your employer brand and potentially increasing the likelihood of acceptance if an offer is extended.
6. Enhances Team Alignment
These meetings provide your team with an opportunity to align on the candidate's fit and ensure everyone involved feels comfortable with the hiring decision, promoting cohesion within the team.
How to Prepare for a Meet-and-Greet
Before conducting a meet-and-greet, make sure to prepare a few things.
Step 1: Align Schedules
To the best of your ability, align the schedules of the key people you want your candidate to meet.
Step 2: Set Expectations
The clearer you are in setting expectations, the more likely you will be to set this up in a way that allows the people in your organization and your candidate to get to know each other organically. When setting expectations, you set the tone for the meeting. Define how formal or informal the meet-and-greet will be, its length, and its location. Will everyone meet in a conference room? Will the meet-and-greet be a tour of the facility or office, or occur over lunch? Will the meet-and-greet be onsite or will it be offsite at a restaurant or other social venue? The tone and structure you set will in part be determined by the role you are setting the meet-and-greet for.
Step 3: Roll Out the Red Carpet
A meet-and-greet does not have to be expensive, but you want to put the effort in to show that you are invested in this candidate and value their time. Even simple things can make a huge impact and make a candidate feel that you have rolled out the red carpet for them. Here are a few ideas to make your candidates feel valued during your meet-and-greet:
- Give them a handwritten thank-you note.
- Make sure the people meeting with your candidate know their name and basic information ahead of time.
- Give your candidate a gift card to get coffee or gas.
- Offer them a water bottle.
- Give the candidate a gift bag or company swag.
- Make sure to provide the candidate with proper information on office directions and parking.
Tips for a Successful Meet-and-Greet
Your meet-and-greet can be a great success if you follow a few helpful tips.
Tip 1: Provide Information Ahead of Time
Provide your candidate with the information about the people they will be meeting with before the meet-and-greet. You might include the LinkedIn profiles of your team. Provide the people on your team that will be meeting with your candidate their resume before the meet-and-greet so that the people on your team can come prepared with things they would like to get to know better about your candidate.
Tip 2: Prepare Introductions
Preparing ahead of time will help you provide relevant and meaningful information about the people you are introducing.
Tip 3: Tour
Onsite meet-and-greets are a great opportunity to not only introduce the candidate to the people they would be working with but the place and the environment in which they will be working. Your candidate will have a much stronger understanding of the role if they can physically see exactly where they will be working.
Tip 4: Be Present
If your schedule allows, be present during your candidate’s meet-and-greet to facilitate conversation and make sure things run smoothly. If you are not available or have decided that you will not be present, let the candidate know where they can find you, where the exits are, where the restrooms are, and who will show them out at the end.
Streamline your Hiring with Eddy
With smart automation to make it a great experience for everyone, Eddy makes it easier to hire and be hired.
Streamline your Hiring with Eddy
With smart automation to make it a great experience for everyone, Eddy makes it easier to hire and be hired.
Topics
Tyler Fisher, PHR
Tyler empowers Talent Acquisition professionals, HR business leaders, and key stake holders to develop and execute talent management strategies. He is igniting the talent acquisition process through: team building, accurate time to fill forecasting, driving creative talent sourcing, and fine-tuning recruiting team effectiveness.
Frequently asked questions
Other Related Terms
Eddy’s HR Mavericks Encyclopedia
Meet-and-Greet
Job interviews can be intimidating and stressful. If you'd like to get to know a candidate in a more casual setting as well, consider a meet-and-greet. Read on to learn why and how.
What Is a Meet-and-Greet?
A meet-and-greet is an informal meeting during the hiring process designed to help both the candidate and the hiring team get to know each other beyond the structured setting of a traditional interview. This meeting can occur at various stages, either before or after a job offer is made, providing a relaxed environment for candidates to meet key team members, understand the company culture, and foster genuine connections. Meet-and-greets can enhance the candidate experience and help your team make more informed hiring decisions.
Why Are Meet-and-Greets Important?
The meet-and-greet allows a candidate to become more familiar with the role they would fill and allows your team to become more comfortable with a candidate than is easily accomplished in traditional interviews.
1. Encourages a Relaxed Atmosphere
Meet-and-greets create a more relaxed setting compared to formal interviews. This casual environment helps reveal a more genuine side of candidates, offering a deeper insight into their personalities and fit with your company culture.
2. Facilitates Genuine Connections
Unlike traditional interviews, meet-and-greets allow candidates and key team members to interact naturally, fostering authentic relationships and improving comfort levels on both sides.
3. Reduces Intimidation
Meet-and-greets are less intimidating than panel interviews, providing candidates an opportunity to meet potential colleagues in a stress-free environment, which can lead to better hiring decisions.
4. Provides Insights Beyond Resumes
Meet-and-greets allow you to observe candidates' interpersonal skills, adaptability, and cultural fit, which may not be evident from their resumes or formal interviews.
5. Builds a Positive Candidate Experience
A positive and welcoming meet-and-greet helps candidates feel valued, enhancing your employer brand and potentially increasing the likelihood of acceptance if an offer is extended.
6. Enhances Team Alignment
These meetings provide your team with an opportunity to align on the candidate's fit and ensure everyone involved feels comfortable with the hiring decision, promoting cohesion within the team.
How to Prepare for a Meet-and-Greet
Before conducting a meet-and-greet, make sure to prepare a few things.
Step 1: Align Schedules
To the best of your ability, align the schedules of the key people you want your candidate to meet.
Step 2: Set Expectations
The clearer you are in setting expectations, the more likely you will be to set this up in a way that allows the people in your organization and your candidate to get to know each other organically. When setting expectations, you set the tone for the meeting. Define how formal or informal the meet-and-greet will be, its length, and its location. Will everyone meet in a conference room? Will the meet-and-greet be a tour of the facility or office, or occur over lunch? Will the meet-and-greet be onsite or will it be offsite at a restaurant or other social venue? The tone and structure you set will in part be determined by the role you are setting the meet-and-greet for.
Step 3: Roll Out the Red Carpet
A meet-and-greet does not have to be expensive, but you want to put the effort in to show that you are invested in this candidate and value their time. Even simple things can make a huge impact and make a candidate feel that you have rolled out the red carpet for them. Here are a few ideas to make your candidates feel valued during your meet-and-greet:
- Give them a handwritten thank-you note.
- Make sure the people meeting with your candidate know their name and basic information ahead of time.
- Give your candidate a gift card to get coffee or gas.
- Offer them a water bottle.
- Give the candidate a gift bag or company swag.
- Make sure to provide the candidate with proper information on office directions and parking.
Tips for a Successful Meet-and-Greet
Your meet-and-greet can be a great success if you follow a few helpful tips.
Tip 1: Provide Information Ahead of Time
Provide your candidate with the information about the people they will be meeting with before the meet-and-greet. You might include the LinkedIn profiles of your team. Provide the people on your team that will be meeting with your candidate their resume before the meet-and-greet so that the people on your team can come prepared with things they would like to get to know better about your candidate.
Tip 2: Prepare Introductions
Preparing ahead of time will help you provide relevant and meaningful information about the people you are introducing.
Tip 3: Tour
Onsite meet-and-greets are a great opportunity to not only introduce the candidate to the people they would be working with but the place and the environment in which they will be working. Your candidate will have a much stronger understanding of the role if they can physically see exactly where they will be working.
Tip 4: Be Present
If your schedule allows, be present during your candidate’s meet-and-greet to facilitate conversation and make sure things run smoothly. If you are not available or have decided that you will not be present, let the candidate know where they can find you, where the exits are, where the restrooms are, and who will show them out at the end.
Streamline your Hiring with Eddy
With smart automation to make it a great experience for everyone, Eddy makes it easier to hire and be hired.
Streamline your Hiring with Eddy
With smart automation to make it a great experience for everyone, Eddy makes it easier to hire and be hired.
Topics
Tyler Fisher, PHR
Tyler empowers Talent Acquisition professionals, HR business leaders, and key stake holders to develop and execute talent management strategies. He is igniting the talent acquisition process through: team building, accurate time to fill forecasting, driving creative talent sourcing, and fine-tuning recruiting team effectiveness.
Frequently asked questions
Other Related Terms
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