Use your interview time effectively (Part 3)

Now, in your interview, your primary focus is to assess the applicants’ suitability from the behavioral and cultural perspective for the specific role on the hiring manager’s team.

This is an area that calls upon all of your experience as a recruiter, to be able to assess with significant level of confidence. And, while it is not like a movie scene with seconds ticking away on the time bomb display panel, you have a short window in which to achieve this.

Before the Beginning

It is important to have a clear understanding of the attributes you want to assess in your interview, and also to have this list with you for each interview. Also, review the resume in advance to identify some specific probes in advance and check if there is any information that you would like to validate during the interview. You do not want to let the interview meander along and realize that you haven’t gathered all the required information despite running over time. Your conduct throughout the interview needs to be specific and purposeful; it not only ensures you are able to gather all information needed, but also signals to the applicants that you value the time they have made for the interview.

At the Outset

One thing that I have seen derail many interviews is forgetting the purpose of the conversation.  Do not fall into the Quiz-Time or Debate trap. Remember, this is not a battle of wits to see who is more knowledgeable about anything. Nor is it arguing about what you feel is right or wrong regarding the applicant’s responses. The time to evaluate is later, not during the interview where the goal is to gather all the inputs you need to consider the applicant’s suitability for the specific role.

Thrust and Parry

A very basic, but useful nonetheless, approach is to structure your primary probes in a Goal-Action-Impact format. Goal – what was the applicant required to achieve; Action – what steps did the applicant take; Impact – what results did he achieve/not achieve. This approach can be used to engage with the applicant on any of the areas that you wish to probe for information: recent projects, customer relationship, interpersonal relations, people leadership, etc.

Follow each probe up to 3 levels further at least. The Why’s and How’s of the actions are more important than the What’s; it is there that we find the most important behavioral cues. Also, incorporate both success as well as failure scenarios in your probes; doing that effectively enables you to separate the real signal from the designed noise in the behavioral story you are listening to.

There will be instances where the discussion is very interesting, but veering off into an area that will not yield too much valuable input for your purpose. Do bring the discussion back to the purpose at hand while respecting the significance of the other matter to the applicant.

Finesse and Flexibility

Just as you are prepared for an interview, so is the applicant. And, the approaches and information that I have shared here are not really top secret. So, it is important to be able to deploy your probes with finesse; do not let it become a question-answer or an interrogation session. Also, be flexible in your approach as your probe in one area may lead to a response that provides you valuable input in another area. Once again, this is why you MUST prepare a list before the interview to ensure you have covered all bases that you meant to.

Collating and Qualifying

If the approach followed by your organization is to have multiple interviewers interview at your level, share your findings and recommendation with them only after they have all done their interviews. This keeps pre-conceived bias out of their interactions.

If the approach in your organization is to have the next level of interviews happen after yours, then share your findings and recommendation with the subsequent interviewer. This will help the next interviewer focus specifically on areas that need more probing, and will make the time spent in the next interview more meaningful.

However, in both cases, your inputs and recommendation should be qualified with a brief context of your conversation with the applicant.

Earn the Seat at the Table

As the hiring managers start seeing value in your inputs, they will accord you a seat at the table going beyond just the hiring numbers to be delivered. Not all your assessments are going to be fail-proof, but the richness of the information you provide on the applicants gives the hiring manager the comfort that ‘you get it’. And, more is the weight attached to your views as a Recruiter and subsequently as a true Partner to their business.