As hiring in the PR space becomes increasingly competitive, Dean Connelly, founder of Latte Recruitment has run down the top five hiring mistakes that send new talent away screaming.

1. Panel Interviews. An interview is not a Dragons Den pitch. Having a panel of three to four people in an interview is off-putting for the majority of candidates. And, if you're thinking it will give you a good gauge of how the candidate will fare in front of clients, you might be a little off the mark. An interview is where a candidate needs to represent or sell themselves. This is very different to a client meeting where they are invited to consult. To truly get the most out of your interview, keep it to a maximum of two interviewers.
   

2. An ever-changing interview process. Just like any deal, an interview process has a timeframe. Good talent isn't available for long, and in most instances, will be snapped up within two to three weeks of being on the job market. Set an interview process structure, keep it to two to three stages, and communicate with the candidate what the process is. If you keep adding in new steps, you run the risk of the job seeker becoming disengaged and accepting a role elsewhere.
   

3. Lack of timely interview feedback. Too often, interviewers delay their feedback to the candidate or recruitment consultancy. To understand how this feels, think of yourself in a new client pitch scenario; you've done all your research, pitched well and are waiting to see if you made it to the next stage, only for the client to take four weeks to get back to you on the urgent brief. It's not a nice feeling. Even if it's a no, feedback to the candidate or recruitment agency within the week, with a clear reason why. It'll do wonders for your employer brand.
   

4. Five days in the office. Amazon might be demanding their employees to go back to the office five days a week, but for comms agencies it could result in staff retention chaos. For reference, our 2024 PR Salary Guide showed that 95% of the industry wants to go into the office three days or less. Agencies that retain a hybrid work model will find it easier to attract talent. Anecdotally, any of our clients that are four days a week in the office have a dramatically reduced candidate engagement rate.
   

5. Lack of employer brand. If you're running a PR agency but have a website that's 20 years old, no social media presence, and no industry presence in the trade media, you're going to find it difficult to win talent away from your competitors. We've seen first-hand the power of having a great employer brand. Talent is much quicker to say yes to the agencies they can easily research and much slower to those that have weak employer brands.