How do I get the most out of an interview?
Article Type: Q&A From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 10, Issue 1
Leading industry experts answer your strategic questions
Interviewers often make hasty decisions relating to recruiting the right candidate and typically think they are doing a better job than they actually are, yet many interviewers are not using effective techniques to hire the best talent and, as a result, they are leaving their organisations open to hiring the wrong person, with all the associated problems and costs of a poor decision.
DDI carried out a survey last year to examine interviewing practices and perceptions. The survey included 1,910 interviewers and 3,523 job seekers across the globe and showed that interviewers often rely on intuition and have little formal training in developing an effective interview. As a result, many interviewers worry that a candidate’s weaknesses may show up later on in the job and half are not sure they have enough information to make a sound decision.
The interview is a key part of any selection process and to get the best from an interview, there should be a robust methodology and structure in place that underpins it. This structure can be broken down into distinct parts.
Specify skills and competencies required
First, the essential skills and competencies that the role requires must be understood and specified. That may not mean simply those skills required in the role now, but also what may be needed in the future. How does a candidate need to develop over the long-term and what skills will be required to get there?
Develop questions
Second, interview questions need to effectively extract relevant information to build a full picture of a person’s capability to do well in the job. Good questioning should bring out a picture of how a person is likely to behave in the role. Behavioural questioning is an excellent technique. “Can you give me an example of when a customer service issue arose at work and how you dealt with it?” gives accurate information and tells the candidate something of what is required in the role.
This is in stark contrast to some rather quirky interviewing questions such as “What would you do if I gave you an elephant?” or “What kind of Disney character would you be?”. Both are irrelevant and would make it extremely difficult to form any kind of meaningful judgment, yet according to our respondents these types of question have actually been asked and with alarming frequency.
Illegal questioning is also surprisingly common. Many interviewers don’t know which questions are illegal and which are OK and end up asking illegal questions, such as “Are you married?”, “Do you plan to have children?” and “How old are you?”. Organisations in every country need to be concerned about these results, not only because of the legal risk, but also because of the lack of professionalism that can affect the organisation’s reputation and its ability to attract and secure the best candidates.
While many interviewers proudly congratulate themselves on their good instincts and interviewing skills, those seated on the other side of the table may not be so complimentary, especially elite candidates, who may have several other employment options. In our survey, top job seeker red flags included interviews which were more like interrogations, interviewers being unprepared for the interview and questions not relevant to the job. They also cite interviewer courtesy, professionalism, openness and ability to make them feel good as a candidate as key to whether they might take a job offer or not.
Data integration
Third, data integration is a powerful element of a good system. Data integration, where several opinions and data points are considered, aims to reduce bias and stereotypes, maintain hiring standards and ensure fair and accurate selection. The power of the process comes from interviewers sharing information that has been collected from the interview and then evaluating against competencies or targets. The result is a profile of a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses, which can be used to accurately and fairly predict performance in the job.
The data identified is extremely valuable and should be used after the interview as part of the on-boarding process. It should form the basis for ongoing performance management and identification of developmental needs.
Time and care required
We still, on average, spend less than 30 minutes making a judgment about a candidate. This seems a comparatively short period of time, in comparison to other important business decisions such as whether to invest in a new paper supplier or even what new photocopier to buy. Evidence shows that hiring top-employees can improve productivity two or three-fold, when compared to average performers. Why, then, do we make such hasty decisions when hiring our professional leaders?
Clearly there is a gap between what we think we do well and the reality– 64 per cent of recruiters worry they will miss important information about a candidate’s weaknesses that will show up later – and perhaps this is why so many new hires fail within six months of starting their new role.
Steve NewhallBased at DDI.
About the author
Steve Newhall is Vice President of European sales and Managing Director of DDI UK Ltd. He supports clients across the whole range of DDI’s services,specialising in the early identification of leaders, succession and talent management and large-scale selection programs. He joined DDI in 1998 as an Account Director and progressed to Business Development Manager, before becoming UK Managing Director in 2002. In 2008 he was promoted to his current role. Prior to joining DDI, he worked for Inlingua, the world’s largest chain of language schools. Steve Newhall can be contacted at: steve.newhall@ddiworld.com
