Keep It Clear
I have sat through some interviews which have been enlightening in terms of the struggles of hiring managers who do not hire often. One of the blatant deficiencies I observed was this – a lack of good questions. Is there anything more important than questions in interviewing an external candidate? Even an internal candidate.
Here is one instance of what I observed – a rather inexperienced manager asked esoteric questions that left me scratching my head. The candidate did a good job attempting to answer the question without embarrassing the hiring manager. One question took almost 2 minutes for the hiring manager to ask! The question included an analogy, an experience aspect and a hypothetical component…I think.
This interaction was a perfect example of the manager being too clever by half.
The most effective approach is to prepare for each candidate by writing down your questions for that candidate. If your question takes more than 15-20 seconds to ask, cut it down. If you choose to use an analogy, test it out on a coworker. If they struggle with it, rework it (or scrap it). The most effective questions are direct, succinct and open-ended. Provide the candidate with the opportunity to navigate to the answer they would like to offer. Pay attention to the topics they choose – there is much to discern in that information.
Posted By Derrick Moe | Communication,Interview | | 
Comments(5)
This is a perfect example that emphasizes the importance of structured interviews. As HR professionals, we must question what this scenario communicates to the candidate? If it may communicate a negative message, then it is important to have a discussion with the hiring manager.
Structured interviews ensure that every candidate gets asked the same questions. Therefore, it helps to reduce the probability that adverse impact could occur.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ian B. Mondrow, Recruiter TipsNTools. Recruiter TipsNTools said: The Hire Sense: Keep It Clear http://dlvr.it/93PFQ [...]
Setting up an organized and effective interview and making it flexible to the situation would be great. It will take time and effort to achieve this but the results will definitely worth it.
Allen – thank you for your comment. I couldn’t agree more. I believe “organized” is the key word – many sales hiring managers like to fly by the seat of their pants…and it shows in the interview.
Ian – thanks for the comment and the tweet. You know one thing I stress to hiring managers is that they have to sell the company to the candidate. I’m not saying to do a dog and pony show, but you do have to spend a little time being a billboard for your company. I could tell the candidate was not impressed with the question format.
Some semblance of structure would help immensely in this scenario.