ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Gen Z opens about 90 percent of their texts. About 30 percent of their emails. If you are still sending interview invites to an inbox, you are losing candidates before you meet them.
That stat is where this conversation starts, and it goes somewhere most hiring advice does not.
Val Upfold makes the case that the interview itself is broken. Not the questions, the experience. Candidates show up anxious, underprepared, and guessing, and then we judge them on how they perform under that pressure. Val's point is simple. A stressful interview does not test the person, it tests their nerves.
The fix is not complicated. Send the questions in advance. Tell people who they are meeting, how long it will take, and what happens next. Let them prepare. Val explains why that does not make hiring easier for the candidate in a bad way. It just gets you a better look at how they actually think.
We also get into the small stuff that changes everything. Personalising a template instead of firing off the same copy and paste rejection. Answering fast. Treating the whole process like the first impression of your workplace, because that is exactly what it is.
And Val is direct about the complaining. Every operator says they cannot find good people. Fewer are willing to change how they look for them.
If you hire cooks, servers, or anyone under 30, this one will cost you nothing to act on and could change your whole pipeline.
Topics: Gen Z, recruitment strategies, interview process, candidate experience, hiring communication, texting candidates, reducing interview anxiety, hospitality hiring, staff retention, talent attraction.
