Everyone seems to have a different opinion on how much weight first impressions should carry in the interview process.

For some hiring managers, a bad first impression is a deal breaker — they won’t even consider a candidate who’s late to the meeting, shows up unprepared, or provides brief, unrevealing answers to questions. But others cut a little more slack and will let these things slide if the individual is very qualified or comes highly recommended from a trusted source. As one manager explained to me recently, “I think people are sometimes nervous and uncertain at a first interview, so I don’t take anything I initially see too seriously.”

No matter where you stand on the topic, it’s worth remembering that the issue cuts both ways. You may be considering your first impression of candidates, but keep in mind they’re also making initial judgments about you as well.

How so? The really talented candidates are interviewing you just like you’re interviewing them. They have a very strong interest in not only making sure your open position and your company are a good fit for them, but they’re also trying to figure out if you’re the kind of manager they want to work for. And they’re evaluating you from the minute you contact them.

Consider these two scenarios candidates have told me greatly influenced their initial impression of a job opportunity:

At Company A, the candidate arrives for the interview and spends 15 minutes waiting in the lobby while the hiring manager wraps up a conference call. During that time, she overhears a very heated discussion in a nearby office about some financial issues the company is dealing with. When the manager finally comes out to greet the candidate, he’s obviously in a hurry and somewhat distracted. He can’t find his copy of the candidate’s resume or his notes on questions he wants to ask. Because he’s informed by the receptionist that the conference room is being used for a meeting, he scrambles to find an interview space before reluctantly heading down the hall to his office which, he explains, is not a good choice because “people are constantly bugging” him. When they finally sit down to talk, the manager interrupts the conversation constantly to take phone calls, respond to “sorry, but this one’s really urgent” e-mails, and answer questions from the very people he predicted would interrupt him. When the interview is over, the manager promises to touch base with the candidate by the end of the week to let her know her status, but he drops the ball and never follows up.

But at Company B, it’s a different story. Upon arrival, the candidate is welcomed by the receptionist and informed the manager is expecting him and will be right out. The manager arrives promptly and takes the candidate to a reserved conference room, offering a brief office tour along the way and introductions to a few people they pass in the hallway. Everyone the candidate meets is friendly and courteous, and there’s coffee and water waiting in the conference room. Once they sit down to talk, it’s immediately obvious the hiring manager has done her homework. She asks great questions, really listens to the candidate’s answers, and gives him her undivided attention. At the conclusion of the interview, the manager thanks the candidate for his time and states she’ll be in touch no later than the start of the next week. First thing Monday morning, the candidate gets an e-mail from the manager inviting him back for a second interview.

Unwittingly or not, both these hiring managers made a strong first impression on their candidates. They told these individuals a lot about what it would be like to work there and, in particular, how they would be managed.

The candidate with Company A reported leaving the interview uneasy and doubtful about the opportunity, feelings that were confirmed when the manager failed to follow-up as promised. As she stated, “I could tell almost from the beginning that this probably wasn’t the kind of place I want to work, and everything I saw in that first meeting confirmed my suspicions.”

On the other hand, Company B’s candidate walked away with nothing but good things to say about his interview experience. Best of all, he told me that even if he hadn’t been invited back for another interview, he was really impressed with organization and how the people there treated him. “I got a sense from the minute I walked through the door that they were a first-rate company,” he reported, “and it made me more interested in the opportunity than ever.”

So what kind of first impression are you and your company making on candidates? Keep in mind that the good ones are paying close attention, so you can’t afford to get off to a bad start.

Janna Mansker is vice president of client services for Berke, a human resources consulting firm, where she leads the company’s education initiatives and advocates for clients. She can be reached at janna@berkegroup.com.