Interviewing in the simplest form is a conversation with an individual and an employer where they judge if your talents and skills are resourceful in their environment, while the individual judges if the environment is a place they can be successful. However, most interviews are unorganized with sparse dialogue, leaving both parties confused if it went well or not. Having a conversation is very natural for us as we are social animals and if we change our perspective of an interview, we can begin to take steps in the right direction to align talent with the right employers.
In my experience, most interviews start off abrasive with questions like; why do you want to work here? That is a good question but not an appropriate time. It puts the candidate in a spot where they have to embellish or lie because they don’t know enough to answer the question honestly. Instead, warm up and have your questions build. The goal is to find the center of being professional while being honest, upfront, and transparent but with a strategy. I say it’s like talking to your best friend’s parents. You want to show them respect but also be your authentic self. The only way to accomplish our goal is to take steps where individuals and employers can have a conversation where they get to know each other vs. a traditional interview, where we rely on our below-average ability to judge people.
Note: Avoid time limits or schedule extra time by at least an hour. It’s well worth it and will ensure you come out ahead in the end. Plus, it will reduce the need for scheduling additional interviews due to time limitations. Set up a questionnaire before the conversation and have space to take notes for each section. A questionnaire can follow the outline below… Question Radar: 0-10 (0 basic formality and 10 being heavy questions)
0-4: 1st Round: Getting Acquainted: This section is about setting the right tone for the conversation (interview) and allowing everyone to get comfortable. It’s much easier to have an open and honest discussion when you know more than just the other person’s name. However straightforward forward this seems execution is still essential. A two-foot pass in soccer or basketball needs a certain level of finesse or pace to ensure a useful outcome for the receiver (which is the end goal). Similarly, you should allow time to form a connection as this is critical to having a quality conversation (interview). Set expectations of the meeting with an “Upfront Contract.”
- Introductions: everyone discusses background personally and professionally (keep it simple and concise) – Take notes on exciting parts.
- Why you (the interviewer) choose to work @ XYZ company and your responsibilities. What is their interest in applying for the job?
- Environment and culture overview
- Why are you interested in the opportunity? This is why are we interested in you…
4-8: 2nd Round Qualifications & Strategic Questions: This section is about learning their talents and skillsets to see if they match up with the opportunity. You already have your questionnaire built, so all you have to do now is participate and listen. When you are creating your questionnaire for this section focus on finding ways they can discuss their thought process, find out what they are passionate about, and get excited about, even what they don’t like to do or their limitations. For example, a question about problem-solving could be; if I asked you to build a spice rack for someone who is blind, how would you do it? (Disclaimer I stole this question from Tim Hughes 🙂) You can learn a lot from this simple but inviting question. Take the time to prepare interesting and thoughtful questions for this part and be sure to join in on the collaboration. Odds are if you hire this person you are going to work together, so find opportunities in the interview to test the waters. Also, assign questions to everyone participating in the interview to reduce repetitive questions and game plan who is responsible for what. Or set up a flexible model where as long as the questions get asked it doesn’t matter by who. This approach requires active listening from everyone, not only to avoid repeat questions but for assessment purposes as well. Note: Five to seven thoughtful questions should be enough for this section. The benefit of quality questions is they build based on answers and create natural conversation.
8-10: Final Round Personality + Culture Fit: This section is about learning about the individual on a personal basis. There are a lot of great people out there but not all of them will be successful in your environment, and that is why I find this to be the most critical part of the interview. You are looking to learn about character, values, motivations. What are their incentives and expectations (this helps put together an offer/package)? What is important to them? Does it match the organizations( or the team they are interviewing for) culture/environment? The good news is everyone should be warmed up at this point and a natural progression to this level of questions.
Sample Questions: What is important to you personally and how does work support or impact that? What values are important to you? Alternatively, which one do you weigh the heaviest? What does the perfect job look like to you? What does success in your career look like? What are the things outside of money that are important to you (Perks/benefits/opportunities)? What do you expect from a company you work for and your co-workers/teammates
Closing Statements: This is the section where you wrap up the conversation and set up expectations for the next steps in the process. Nobody likes being in the grey zone and too many candidates after interviewing hear nothing back or worse months pass by before they receive any kind of message. It’s this simple;
- Thank them for their time and hopefully the quality conversation
- Set expectations of next steps and when they can expect feedback
- Walk them out (yes in the elevator too)
Internal Next Steps: This is where you meet with the interview team and discuss the individual. I suggest doing it right after and if you cannot do not wait longer than 48 hours. Compile everyone’s notes and feedback. Have a collaborative discussion but do not make a decision, sleep on it for at least 24 hours. Then reconvene and come to a decision. The meeting doesn’t end until a decision is agreed upon. Contact the individual with a job offer, schedule another interview, or part ways. It looks like a lot of work because it is. No one said finding great talent is easy, but the beautiful part about it is, once you have a core of great talent on the team this process will become self-governing. But until then it’s on us to get the core group built.
Finally, do not delegate these steps. The hiring manager or whoever is responsible for the talent needs to take the lead and accept ownership. Hiring great talent is the key differentiator for organizations, don’t take your opportunity to build a competitive edge lightly or delegate it.
