Posts

Stop Hiring Based on Intuition: 4 Proven Steps to Better Selection

Unstructured interviews are wildly ineffective at predicting future performance. Yet casual conversations, gut instinct and feelings are the ubiquitous means for assessing talent in today’s competitive marketplace, even at the highest levels of the Fortune 500.

In fact, over the past several years as an executive search consultant, only two clients, prior to working with us, had interview processes in place that were deliberately designed to limit natural biases and intuition. Instead, the overwhelming majority leverage the unsophisticated and futile assessment methods of generations past: laissez-faire conversations, brain teasers, work experiences and references.

The reasons for adopting such archaic approaches are multifold. First, most hiring managers and recruitment professionals have never experienced or been taught a better way. Applying a more standardized approach could be seen as minimizing the autonomy of the interviewer. Most of us think we’re great at interviewing, so we don’t see a need for change on that front. And many companies often view rigorous interview methods as antithetical to their friendly and inviting culture — they’re afraid to scare a top candidate away.

Science has the answers to these conundrums. Indeed, the evidence is overwhelming: Other than work samples and cognitive ability (IQ) tests, structured interviews are far and away the best means for predicting the future performance of your candidates.

The challenge, then, is how to begin implementing this proven yet unfamiliar process. The good news is that it’s not as complicated as it might sound. Here are four steps to get you started:

Summarize What Candidates Can Expect

As the candidate enters the room, ensure unplanned small talk is kept to a minimum. Any improvised forays into one’s personal interests can unconsciously lead to biases early on in the process. Instead, warmly introduce yourself, define the role, list the key competencies and explain how the interview questions will be structured. Be sure to let them know how long the interview will last, how many questions you’ll be asking and how you’ll be scoring each candidate. Also, point out that you’ll be taking notes so they don’t get distracted by it after a tough question.

Inform interviewees that the reason for such formality is to ensure every candidate has the same experience. If there are no questions on process, it’s time to begin.

Ask the Same Job-Related Questions in the Same Order

Because you’re hiring for a well-defined role, determine which competencies are the most critical for success. Then, draft seven to 10 thought-provoking, open-ended questions that test for these attributes.

For example, to test for one’s ability to persuade and build unanimity among stakeholders, the interviewers might first ask a broad question: “Tell me about a time you had to use your presentation skills to influence someone’s opinion.” Dive deeper with follow-up questions: “How did you prepare for the presentation?” “What was the desired outcome, and what points did you emphasize to drive home your proposition?” “What was the result?” “What did you learn from that experience, and what could you have done differently?”

To ensure consistency throughout each candidate’s experience, it’s imperative that both the baseline questions and the follow-up questions are preplanned and delivered in the same order.

Maintain Consistent Interviewers and Clearly Defined Rating Scales

Naturally, no interviewer rates the same way. Despite every attempt to minimize biases, we’re all susceptible to unconscious influences. In order to ensure that each candidate is scored equitably, there should be a consistent set of interviewers. Ideally, there should be no more than four interviews in total, and interviews should be conducted by a well-trained and diverse group of colleagues: a peer, a boss, a subordinate and a cross-functional neutral party.

Interviewers should rate candidate responses using a cohesive scale. For example, at my executive search firm, we use a rating scale of 1 to 5. The ratings represent “awareness,” “basic,” “intermediate,” “advanced” and “expert,” respectively.

But it’s not enough to simply give each level a general label. You should also leverage existing subject-matter experts in that role — or the hiring manager if it’s a new position — to define what specific behaviors should be displayed at each level.

For instance, if you’re assessing the candidate’s ability to empathize with a broad set of stakeholders, you might define “awareness” as “occasionally attempts to create a safe environment for asking questions and sharing outcomes.” A score of 5, or “expert,” on the other hand, might be defined as “considers the needs and emotions of others and the constraints of the circumstances when considering a course of action.”

The key is specificity. The clearer you are in defining ideal behaviors at each level, the less ambiguity and variance the interviewers will face.

Rate Candidates Immediately After Interviews

Many of us can’t remember what we did yesterday. How much more difficult is it to recall a detailed response to an interview question hours after it was given? It’s nearly impossible!

This is why it’s important that interviewers score candidates immediately after they leave the room. In your notes on each question, be sure to include actual examples given by the candidate and why that justified their final score. These notes will be crucial for discussing candidates — and breaking any ties between them.

Finally, each interviewer should give final scores to all candidates, and the candidate with the top scores among the four interviewers should be selected.

That’s it! This simple, structured interviewing approach will revolutionize your ability to predict the future performance of your next hire. Plus, because each candidate feels like he or she is on equal playing ground throughout the assessment process, his or her overall experience with your brand will improve and your Net Promoter Scores will soar.

Recruiters: What's Your Behavioral Interviewing Strategy?

Written by Deepa Barve

Behavioral interviews are increasingly popular as the “in” thing in in recruitment techniques.

These days, you’ll find tons of online resources that share all sorts of advice for candidates about how to ace a behavioral interview. Yet oddly enough, recruiters often only receive a simple template with a list of standard “behavioral questions.”

But here’s the catch for recruiters: What you do with the interview answers is far more important than the questions, themselves.

Make The Most of Behavioral Interviewing

To get more value from every interview session, keep these three tips in mind:

1) If at first the answer doesn’t succeed, ask, ask again

Behavioral interviewing is based on the belief that past behavior is a predictor of future performance. The keywords here are “past behavior.” Too often, candidates have a tendency to respond to questions hypothetically. But that only tells you what they think they would do (or think you want them to do) in a particular situation. It’s not what they’ve actually done in a similar situation.

If candidates can’t think of a past example, broaden the parameters of the question. Suggest they provide an example from their personal life instead of a professional example. You could also try rewording or paraphrasing the question to help stumped candidates respond appropriately.

2) Know your ideal answer before you ask the question

Interpreting responses to behavioral questions can be tricky. These questions are typically multidimensional, so the answers can be complex and misleading. Some candidates are also adept at this sort of interviewing, and have practiced the art of sounding eloquent while avoiding an authentic, relevant answer.

Each specific behavioral question is typically meant to assess a particular skill. Having a good idea of what you’d like to hear (similar to creating an ideal performance profile) will help you hone in on the competency or skills you’re assessing.

For example, consider the question, “Tell me about a time when you’ve failed at work.” Answers may range from “I’ve never failed” to some version of, “I’m human and I’ve made many mistakes.” Candidates may describe a mistake with negligible impact or reveal details of a huge blunder.

Ultimately, the actual mistakes they made don’t matter. But how they reply does.

The ideal response should include three components: 1) details of the mistake, 2) remedial action they initiated to correct it, and 3) steps they took to prevent it from happening again. The third element — the “applied learning” component — is most important. Very few candidates actually cover the second or third aspects of an answer, unless they’re prompted.

3) Dig deep to make this conversation really count

Prior to an interview, you’ve probably sifted through volumes of resumes and profiles to find a few candidates worth getting to know. You might have also invested time in intermediary steps such as phone screens to create a short list of candidates that seem worthy of a behavioral interview. So make every moment count. Ask follow-up questions to probe deeper. And ask clarifying questions to understand the context surrounding a candidate’s examples.

Be curious, but don’t interrogate. Make it a conversation. Assure them there are no right or wrong answers. Some answers may not impact a hiring decision, but may simply indicate areas where training or coaching are required. Don’t jump to conclusions. Instead, seek complete and accurate information that can ultimately inform your hiring decisions.

Above all, aim to disarm job candidates. After all, you’re trying to get a glimpse of how they behave outside the interview setting. If you’re committed to finding the right talent this way, then it’s worth conducting these interviews right.

Your Turn

What are your thoughts? Have you tried any of these three behavioral interview techniques? What else do you recommend?

Deepa-Barve1(About the Author: Deepa Barve is Sr. Recruitment Leader at SSOE Group, an architectural and engineering consulting firm. Deepa has more than seven years of recruiting experience in engineering, healthcare and hospitality. Her career advice articles are also featured at www.examiner.com.)

(Editor’s Note: This post is adapted from Brazen Life, with permission. Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, it offers edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work. Be Brazen!)

(Also Note: To discuss World of Work topics like this with others in the TalentCulture community, join our online #TChat Events every Wednesday, from 6:30-8pm ET. Everyone is welcome at events, or join our ongoing Twitter conversation anytime. Learn more…)


Image Credit: Stock.xchng

Recruiters: What’s Your Behavioral Interviewing Strategy?

Written by Deepa Barve

Behavioral interviews are increasingly popular as the “in” thing in in recruitment techniques.

These days, you’ll find tons of online resources that share all sorts of advice for candidates about how to ace a behavioral interview. Yet oddly enough, recruiters often only receive a simple template with a list of standard “behavioral questions.”

But here’s the catch for recruiters: What you do with the interview answers is far more important than the questions, themselves.

Make The Most of Behavioral Interviewing

To get more value from every interview session, keep these three tips in mind:

1) If at first the answer doesn’t succeed, ask, ask again

Behavioral interviewing is based on the belief that past behavior is a predictor of future performance. The keywords here are “past behavior.” Too often, candidates have a tendency to respond to questions hypothetically. But that only tells you what they think they would do (or think you want them to do) in a particular situation. It’s not what they’ve actually done in a similar situation.

If candidates can’t think of a past example, broaden the parameters of the question. Suggest they provide an example from their personal life instead of a professional example. You could also try rewording or paraphrasing the question to help stumped candidates respond appropriately.

2) Know your ideal answer before you ask the question

Interpreting responses to behavioral questions can be tricky. These questions are typically multidimensional, so the answers can be complex and misleading. Some candidates are also adept at this sort of interviewing, and have practiced the art of sounding eloquent while avoiding an authentic, relevant answer.

Each specific behavioral question is typically meant to assess a particular skill. Having a good idea of what you’d like to hear (similar to creating an ideal performance profile) will help you hone in on the competency or skills you’re assessing.

For example, consider the question, “Tell me about a time when you’ve failed at work.” Answers may range from “I’ve never failed” to some version of, “I’m human and I’ve made many mistakes.” Candidates may describe a mistake with negligible impact or reveal details of a huge blunder.

Ultimately, the actual mistakes they made don’t matter. But how they reply does.

The ideal response should include three components: 1) details of the mistake, 2) remedial action they initiated to correct it, and 3) steps they took to prevent it from happening again. The third element — the “applied learning” component — is most important. Very few candidates actually cover the second or third aspects of an answer, unless they’re prompted.

3) Dig deep to make this conversation really count

Prior to an interview, you’ve probably sifted through volumes of resumes and profiles to find a few candidates worth getting to know. You might have also invested time in intermediary steps such as phone screens to create a short list of candidates that seem worthy of a behavioral interview. So make every moment count. Ask follow-up questions to probe deeper. And ask clarifying questions to understand the context surrounding a candidate’s examples.

Be curious, but don’t interrogate. Make it a conversation. Assure them there are no right or wrong answers. Some answers may not impact a hiring decision, but may simply indicate areas where training or coaching are required. Don’t jump to conclusions. Instead, seek complete and accurate information that can ultimately inform your hiring decisions.

Above all, aim to disarm job candidates. After all, you’re trying to get a glimpse of how they behave outside the interview setting. If you’re committed to finding the right talent this way, then it’s worth conducting these interviews right.

Your Turn

What are your thoughts? Have you tried any of these three behavioral interview techniques? What else do you recommend?

Deepa-Barve1(About the Author: Deepa Barve is Sr. Recruitment Leader at SSOE Group, an architectural and engineering consulting firm. Deepa has more than seven years of recruiting experience in engineering, healthcare and hospitality. Her career advice articles are also featured at www.examiner.com.)

(Editor’s Note: This post is adapted from Brazen Life, with permission. Brazen Life is a lifestyle and career blog for ambitious young professionals. Hosted by Brazen Careerist, it offers edgy and fun ideas for navigating the changing world of work. Be Brazen!)

(Also Note: To discuss World of Work topics like this with others in the TalentCulture community, join our online #TChat Events every Wednesday, from 6:30-8pm ET. Everyone is welcome at events, or join our ongoing Twitter conversation anytime. Learn more…)


Image Credit: Stock.xchng

Are You A Good Fit? 3 Interview Questions

Like dating, hiring a new employee can be a stressful but rewarding process. Before you find a perfect match, you may meet tons of qualified people. And like a first date, interviewing is essential to evaluate a candidate’s qualifications and experience. But as you plan your interview strategy, don’t forget about chemistry.

Shall We Dance?

Sound hiring decisions require a grasp of each candidate’s potential fit with your company culture. However, as we all know, it can be hard to address important topics on a first date. Job interviews are no different. Quickly assessing a prospective employee’s personality requires finesse. That’s why skilled recruiters often rely on indirect questions.

In a recent Inc.com article, business writer Jeff Haden compiled a list of entrepreneurs’ favorite interview questions. The entire list is fantastic, but I want to point out three questions that I find exceptionally effective:

1) When have you been most satisfied in your life?

Dick Cross, founder and CEO of investment industry performance advisors, Cross Partnership, asks this question to learn what motivates potential employees to achieve, so he can determine how this matches with opportunities at his company.

Inspired employees make success happen, but inspiring employees takes more than a clear mission or a cool product. People find satisfaction in unique accomplishments or special moments. Your company may not offer the same type of satisfaction or motivation a qualified employee needs to perform at the highest possible level.

2) Who is your role model, and why?

To discover how introspective candidates are, Clara Shih, Hearsay Social co-founder and CEO, asks them to talk about their role models. As a bonus, the answers often reveal core values and career aspirations.

When individuals talk about role models, they naturally describe the qualities they admire and hope to embody. For example, if Ghandi is your role model, it would be difficult to explain why investment banking would be an ideal career path for you. By assessing the merits of others as a benchmark, candidates can more easily assess their own strengths, weaknesses and professional progress.

3) What’s your super power? or What’s your spirit animal?

While super powers and spirit animals seem off-topic for interview sessions, HootSuite CEO Ryan Holmes uses this topic to get a hint of candidates’ creativity and self-awareness.

Abstract personality-type questions are an opportunity to demonstrate wit and imagination (and at the very least, tolerance for fanciful questions). Clearly there is no right answer here, but it offers a non-threatening way for candidates to open up. Their delivery and detail can reveal how they see their place in the world, and offers a chance to learn about unique qualities they hope to contribute to an organization.

Does your company interview for culture fit? What questions do you find most revealing?

Image Credit: Pixabay

Candidate Experience: Internship Applicants Are People Too

Written by Kevin Wang

As college students are finally starting to understand the long-term value of internships and actively pursuing them, it has subsequently become more difficult for them to successfully secure one. For example, in 2009, advertising agency Mullen received almost 600 summer internship applications from all over the United States for only 24 slots in their Boston office. The rise in internship applicants has kept Recruiting and Human Resource departments busy, burdening them with a flood of cover letters and resumes to review.

There are many great articles scattered across blogs on the Internet, focusing on what proper etiquette for internship applicants should be. Students are reminded to always send thank-you notes, maintain a professional tone in the cover letter, and research companies before interviews, along with many other bits of valuable and timeless career advice.

However, I’ve rarely seen anyone discuss what proper candidate experience etiquette should be when handling and communicating with internship applicants from the workplace perspective. With record numbers of applicants and applications, it’s very easy for hiring departments to forget that each individual application was painstakingly filled out by an actual human being, and carries the hopes and dreams of that individual. It’s also carelessly easy to view individual applicants as one of many and disregard them. By doing so, businesses are permanently damaging their relationships with their biggest fans and alienating their most enthusiastic advocates. Prospective interns, while at the bottom of the hierarchy at any organization, still deserve to be treated fairly.

Here’s how leaders can improve their workplace culture branding experience and better handle the internship applicant communication:

  • Be clear up front about the details of the program. That includes properly communicating the expected hours, responsibilities, pay, and other elements. If students aren’t eligible, straight up tell them! Email the applicants if any significant changes occur to the program.
  • Send a decision, regardless of whether it’s positive or not. It may sting for them to be told that they didn’t make it, but they’ll respect you for it.
  • Complete the review process in a timely manner. Students don’t have all the time in the world to finalize their plans for the upcoming semester or summer. Let them know as early as possible so they can assess their options well before crunch time.
  • Leave the door open. Don’t kick your rejected applicants to the curb. Let them know that they’re just unfortunately part of of an extremely competitive pool, and encourage them to apply again in the future.
  • Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Stress to all your employees that internal referrals for an applicant does NOT guarantee them a position. Also, don’t mislead applicants or hint at anything with correspondence. It’s better to be tight-lipped about the whole affair until you’re ready to make announcements.

Finally, the Golden Rule: treat others the way you would want to be treated.

We may be interns, and maybe that’s not much, but remember, we’re people too.

IMAGE VIA Flickr

Only Time Will Tell Post-Interview: #TChat Recap

Ah, the job interview. The all-important transaction between job candidate and potential employer. You’ve screened out and assessed in the most qualified top tier of applicants. Maybe out of 10 total, or maybe out of 10,000. Whatever the math, you’re both ready to sit and talk for the first time.

You invite the job applicant into your office, and after a little small talk, one of the first things the applicant asks is:

“So, what are the benefits you offer? I’ve got a wife and three kids, you know.”

Or maybe the interviews starts off on the other foot, in your mouth:

“Thanks for coming in today. We’re very interested in you for this job. Very interested. Wow — did anyone ever tell you how gorgeous you are?”

Or maybe the interviewee comes prepared and asks questions like:

“How do you see this position collaborating with product marketing to drive B2B channel growth?”

Okay, maybe all of these are a little contrived, but believe it or not they’re all not too far from the truth of what I’ve experienced. (No, I wasn’t the guy who told the candidate how gorgeous she was. I mean, she was, but that’s not the point.)

And no matter how good we get as the hiring entities and interviewers, no matter the intricate behavioral technique or casual and personable style, no matter how prepared the candidates are, we’re only human, and we do our best to ask the questions and answer them fully and read between the lines…

To trust our gut. Very scientific, you know. For example, I remember back in the day when I did source and recruit software developers for sourcing and recruiting’s sake, and not just on TV. Here’s how it went after an initial phone interview screening and then presenting the candidates to the hiring managers:

Recruiter: This candidate is great. You should interview her.

Hiring Manager: Try again.

Recruiter: Why?

Hiring Manager: I don’t know. Just try again.

*sigh*

You say po-tay-to and I say po-tah-to. Right?

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: every recruiting technology that I’ve ever seen has always been about getting to the short list of qualified applicants more quickly, accurately and efficiently. But interviewing and hiring remain highly subjective, sometimes messy human endeavors.

In fact, interviewing and reference checking are the last recruiting activities to innovate, but innovate they are. Interview management platforms form the likes of HireVue, ZuzuHire, GreenJobInterview and many others now allow for combinations of live 2-way video streaming and/or 1-way video recordings with embedded assessment/screening questions and are giving companies exciting new ways to interview from afar while saving tons of money. Yes, tons.

The final interviewing stages prior to hiring are critical, with emotional connectivity being of the utmost importance in my playbook, to go from acquisition to retention. The best advice I was ever given on both sides of the hiring equation is to come well prepared for the interview, so you can be yourself and sell yourself as yourself (and your firm). Because what’s more important to assess in an interview: skills, grit or culture fit? What about emotional intelligence? You know me — I’m all about being a self-aware, emotionally focused decision maker (with a lil’ passion sprinkled in). Queue the EQ music…

However, don’t forget that folks can prep for tests and interviews, and only time will tell if they make the gritty fit. How can we get better at the know of fit?

That is the million dollar question that’s way above my pay grade. Thankfully there were folks much smarter than me participating last night.

Here’s our current reach and here are the questions from last night:

  • Q1: What are some of the ways in which interviews have changed the most for job seekers?  For employers?
  • Q2: What strategies can candidates use to influence the outcome of an interview before or after the interview itself?
  • Q3: What’s more important to assess in an interview: skills, grit or culture fit? Why? What about Emotional Intelligence?
  • Q4: How do interviewing best practices change for an interview with HR/recruiting vs. hiring manager?
  • Q5: What can candidates do in an interview to better assess the company/opportunity as well?
  • Q6: What’s the most valuable piece of interview advice you’ve ever been given?
  • Q7: How can technology help companies and candidates improve their interview and selection process?

Thank you for joining us last night! And a special thanks to Meghan M. Biro for moderating and Matt Charney and Monster Thinking for the pre-cap post.

#TChat Next Week – Trench HR: Trends on the Front Lines from HRevolution coming April 29-30. Join us!

Making the Most of Informational Interviews

I got my current position by starting with an informational interview, and so, I know how effective they can be.  However, I have talked with many job seekers who, while aware of the benefits, were not 100% sure how to make the very most of information interviews in their own career search process.

Therefore, I have reached out to career experts across the web for their recommendations on how to take advantage of informational interviews and how to get the most out of them.

Be prepared. We all know that fortune favors the well-prepared. Come to the informational interview with a list of intelligent comments and/or questions. Just having the list will diminish the stress of the interview. Secondly, it will lend structure and demonstrate good organizational skills on your part. You may not have time to discuss each item on your list, but your will certainly exemplify your seriousness-of-purpose. First impressions in such situations often lead to job offers. – Dr. Marlene Caroselli, Caroselli.biz

Really pick their brains! You’ll get the most out of an informational interview if you really take the opportunity to pick their brains and ask questions that will give you an insider’s glimpse into the position. This gives you the opportunity to ask some questions that might otherwise be considered taboo during a job interview. What’s a typical day like? What do they like most and least about their work? What do they like about working for that company? Would they do anything differently earlier in their career? How do they recommend breaking in to the field? Of course err on the side of caution if you think a question may be too personal, but you should definitely ask questions that show that you are genuinely curious and excited about the field. – Laurie Berenson, SterlingCareerConcepts.com

Don’t ask for a job! Most people make that mistake in their anxiety to try to turn the informational interview into a job interview.  The person that the candidate is speaking with knows that the caller is looking for a job and if there is a match he or she will figure out how to use their skills.  I always recommend to clients that I’m coaching to ask the person lots of questions about how they got started in the field and where the field is going.  At the beginning of the interview, keep the focus on the person that you’re interviewing.  The trick is to then artfully bring the conversation around to the skills of the caller or interviewer.  – Ron Katz, PenguinHR.com

Aim high, but also aim lower. Go for someone who is a few rungs above you on the food chain. Job hunters sometimes go for the big cheese. That’s OK as they may be able to offer you a job, but if they don’t have any openings, it’s less effective. They often are out of touch in terms of how to get a job and what it takes to be at the lower level. – David Couper, DavidCouperCoach.com

Ask for referrals. If you have identified and secured an informational interview with someone in a company, functional area or industry in which you are interested, they are most likely connected with others in similar positions, companies and industries with whom you might also like to interview.  If appropriate, ask them at the end of the interview if they know any contacts to whom they could refer you who might be able to share more experiences and insights in your chosen field etc.  These referrals not only make it easier to schedule the next informational interview, but if within the same company, can also help you build a network of champions who might go to bat for you at the next opportunity. – Chris Perry, CareerRocketeer.com

Offer to help them. This is common courtesy, but very rarely done. Always ask before you conclude an informational interview “How can I help you?”   – Paul Copcutt, SquarePegSolution.com

Thank you to all of the experts who contributed to this wealth of interview insight!

Chris Perry, MBA is a Gen Y brand and marketing generator, a career search and personal branding expert and the founder of Career Rocketeer, Launchpad, Blogaristo and more.