Interviews – What’s the Point?

“I must interview someone and I am terrified! But why? I’m in charge, and they’re coming to me looking for work, so I’m in control. But I really don’t know what I’m doing, and I don’t want to look like an idiot to someone who may come to work for me.”

Have you ever had a discussion like this with yourself? Most interviews are not carried out by trained HR professionals. Most are done by managers with no training at all, and maybe nothing to go on but their own interview experiences.

Interview failures are legendary. Sometimes a truly anti-productive person aces the interview and gets hired, but then becomes an albatross who not only can’t produce, but inhibits other people from working. Sometimes a brilliant, engaging, perfectly qualified person gets tongue tied or stuck on a bad answer, and is rejected although they could’ve been the perfect fit for the job. And sometimes the interviewer is so ill-prepared or inept that a highly qualified candidate decides this is not a healthy place to work, and exits. If you don’t find the right person for the job, then what’s the point?

An effective interview is the result of good planning and preparation, setting the stage for both sides to succeed, and enabling a positive conversation so you and the interviewee can get the information you need.  So how do you ensure success? How do you prepare and conduct an interview to identify the person who is a good fit for both the work and the company culture? Here are some thoughts to help.

DO:

Let interviewees know the office dress code, provide clear instructions to your location, and invite them for a discussion. Unless your office is a stress-filled horror show, there's no reason the interview must be a stressful, worrisome event for either of you. Also, remember that just because you know where your obscure address located, it doesn’t mean Google Maps does.

Think the job through beforehand. What are you looking for? What does the team lack that we need to get? What skill do we need to bring in because we can't do it ourselves? What kind of person would be a good fit in the office? Make sure you are prepared to communicate those needs to candidates.

Be clear on what you need. Be honest and up-front about the job duties and expectations for the advertised position. Don’t advertise for a project manager and problem solver if what you really need is someone to answer the phones and forward emails. Both sides will be disappointed with the result

Mentally prepare yourself for the discussion. Are you distracted? Did you have a fight with your spouse last night? Are you sleepy or hungry? Find a way to clear your head and be in a good mood so you don’t ruin the interview for both of you.

Be in charge. Make no mistake; someone will control the flow of this interview. As the hiring manager, it should be you so you can communicate the items you wish to convey, learn the things you need to know, and maintain your credibility as a manager. If conversation lags because you run out of ideas, and your guest takes over leading the discussion, she is now interviewing you and your company.

At the same time, be prepared for an interviewee to ask you hard questions, probe for detail, and interview you and your company. This can indicate a keen mind that has already given serious thought to your company and its culture. Appreciate his engagement, and try to answer openly and honestly.

Be yourself and have fun with it.  Think of it this way – you are on a journey of exploration to meet and find out about a new person to see if their skills and personality are a good fit to enhance your team and improve your product! That should be an exciting opportunity for both of you, so do what you can to make the most of it.

DON’T:

Don’t focus on appearance. More important than appearance are attitude, composure, and judgement.  A job interview shouldn't be a beauty contest. Look beyond the outer appearance to the person inside. Scientist Albert Einstein had trouble wearing matching socks and getting is buttons aligned.  Actress Hedy Lamarr helped invent techniques for spread spectrum communication, which led to the cellular telephone you use today. Keep an open mind and focus on the person.

Don’t place your interviewee in front of a panel of managers (i.e., judges). Unless your goal is to see how a person responds to serious pressure, this is only a highly effective technique to put people on their guard with their shields up; it won’t help with good communication. Everything about an interview is already stressful – you really don’t need to add another layer.

Don’t waste their time. If you can tell from the resume that an applicant doesn’t have the required job skills, or is otherwise not qualified for the position, save a lot of time, effort, and frustration, and just tell them no thanks.

Don’t write notes or allow interruptions. Unless you need to capture some specific bit of information, avoid your notebook during the interview. You will learn much more about the person if you look her in the eye, pay attention to him, listen to what she says, and observe body language and non-verbal cues. When the interview is over sit down and make all the notes you need, while it’s fresh in your mind.

Don’t be late. You expect your interviewee to be on time, and you should be just as professional for them. If possible, make sure your schedule is clear for 30 minutes before and after the appointed interview period, in case you get delayed before, or if things are going so well you wish to extend the discussion.

Don’t hire a totally non-qualified person hoping they will pick up what they need on the job. It doesn’t matter how talented, enthusiastic, quirky, attractive, smart, or friendly they are; hiring someone for reasons other than that they have the needed job skills is asking for failure, unless you specifically plan and budget to train them, or purposely intend to sabotage your team’s morale and productivity.

About those questions:

There seems to be an interview playbook list of questions that get asked: Tell me about yourself. Why do you want this job? Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Thanks for coming in.

Instead of the usual, predictable, standard questions that don’t really give you much useful information, think it through and come up with your own custom questions, tailored to you, your team, your company, and the job in question. Here are some possibilities:

• You want to get them to talk, but narrow it down a little and give them a target. Ask them to tell you about where they grew up, why they chose their college major, or what is their favorite thing to cook and why.  The point is to hear how they speak and reason and construct their answer.
• It’s terribly easy to pad a resume with phantom skills, and not enough managers challenge applicants to prove their qualifications. If there are specific job skills required and listed, ask your applicant to tell you how they got qualified. Draw them out on these in a discussion, and you will likely find out if they are really qualified or not.
• Ask if they studied abroad, and why they went where they did. What did they gain from the experience, and how has it changed them?  This can help inform you of the applicant’s world view, what kind of risk they are willing to accept, their adaptability, and their decision-making process.
• Many interviewers want to know how someone handled a mistake, and most people are prepared with an answer about failure.  It can be more interesting and informative to have them describe a victory they experienced!  Does he have a success story he can share? If so, does she include anyone else in her story (teammates, bad guys, etc.)?  What kind of enthusiasm does he show? What obstacles did she overcome? All of this together should tell you a great deal about their personality, skills, teamwork, and problem solving ability.
• Ask if he is a morning person or a night owl? Does she drink coffee or tea, and why? Questions like this give them something easy to answer, and may give you clues to their morning behavior.  This should bring an immediate, almost automatic response.  If they can't immediately answer maybe they're trying to decide what it is you want to hear.

These are all thinking of a professional position, and could be a little overkill for a temp or clerical job. So it's a good idea to also ask basic, direct job-related things, depending on the position:

• Can you fix a copier jam?
• Demonstrate how to professionally answer a telephone call and forward it.
• Ask how they would search for information on some job-related function - something requiring some ingenuity.
• Do you have a blog? What do you write about?
• Where is the better getaway - mountains or ocean? Campground or hotel? Why?

An effective interview should be a source of valuable decision-making information for both parties. With some simple planning and preparation you can maximize the opportunity to find out all you need about a candidate to make an informed hiring decision. If you go in without a plan, what’s the point?