There’s a lot riding on the Interview!

Today’s uncertain economy makes it more critical than ever to have the right employees in place, doing the job they were hired to do. Eighty percent of all turnovers usually results from bad hiring decisions that might not be the fault of either the employer or employee. Many times, there was not enough information gleaned from the interview process to insure an employee was the right candidate for the job.

Candidate interviews are the accepted, and traditionally, the most powerful tool in the employee selection process. Every position has unique needs. There are no definitive formats to obtain critical decision making information. Armed with a thorough understanding of the company’s hiring objectives, it is the interviewer’s responsibility to plan and create specific frameworks to assess a candidate’s professional motivations, skills, technical knowledge, performance, and, to determine how they will fit into the company culture.

 A candidate’s industry skills and technical knowledge are typically the easiest to evaluate and usually obtained with series of direct or open ended questions.  A lab technician could be asked what test instruments he or she is certified to operate. A tougher general question for a candidate might be an explanation of the most significant contribution he or she has made to their company or industry.  Soft skills like motivation, cultural fit, or performance are best discovered by combinations of behavioral, situational, and analytical questions: 1) Behavior questions determine how a candidate performed in the past, i.e., “How did you?”, and follow the reasoning that the best predictor of future success is past performance. 2) Situational questions follow a similar format, but are aimed at evaluating judgment or decision making skills, i.e., “What would you do?”.  Analytical questions engage various forms of reasoning or problem solving.

A sampling of general soft skill questions might include:

• Have you looked at our website? What changes would you make?
• What is the most significant presentation you have made to your company, or clients? How did you prepare?
• How have you handled the last couple of angry customers you faced?
• Imagine we’ve just hired you. What’s the most important thing on your to-do list on the first day of work?
• Can you give me an example of how you managed multiple projects all due at the same time?
• What is the last thing that you and your boss disagreed about? How did you resolve it?
• Based on your performance and value to your last company, why were you laid off?
• Why are you the best candidate for this position?

Prepared interviewers should not be afraid to use stress techniques, ask tough questions (within the law), or challenge candidate responses to measure a candidate’s composure under stress. Three of the most common stress techniques include: 1) A 5 to 10 second period silence following a candidate response. 2) Not making eye contact. 3) A series of questions specifically designed to throw the candidate off guard. Keep in mind when altering interview tones or challenging responses, that your manner not be perceived as a personal affront, and that you maintain an attitude of cordiality and openness.

Finally, the best planned interview frameworks don’t always produce conclusive decision making information. Follow-on interviews with top-tiered candidates allow interviewers to weed out professional candidates, further explore specific candidate skills, confirm information from previous interviews, and open new discussions. It’s important for interviewers to avoid comparing candidates, gravitating towards mediocrity, and succumbing to premature decisions.