Teaching Leadership How to Interview and Hire Candidates

 

Image by storyset on Freepik

In my conversations and coaching as a thought leader with other leaders and, even in my experience as a job candidate over the years, I have noticed that many of us as leaders don’t really know how to effectively screen and interview candidates. This is a key skill, as not hiring the right individuals to build out your teams, taking too long to fill a position or failing to conduct a proper interview and turning down good candidates because you failed to interview them correctly are hugely costly mistakes. As a result, I thought that I would go through some of what I see as areas that many of us as leaders can improve on to make sure that we are filling our roles as efficiently and effectively as possible.

·         Not really understanding what you are looking for or need

o   I was made aware of a Midwest healthcare organization that has been looking for a Chief Information Officer for at least two years!

§  This is not a pipeline problem as my source that relayed this story to me stated that they had plenty of highly qualified candidates who have gone on to be very successful in CIO positions elsewhere after they were turned down by this organization.

§  Without being on the inside and knowing exactly what is going on, this seems to be a situation where the organization doesn’t really even know what they need or the hiring team can’t agree on what characteristics are a priority and, therefore, can’t come to agreement on a candidate. This is where the CEO as the leader needs to step up and be a leader and make a decision in the absence of complete agreement of their hiring team. This situation reflects poorly on the organization as a whole as it makes them really look incompetent.

·       Hiring managers/executives making interviews too much about themselves and not enough about the candidate

o   Interviews, by definition, are to find out about and get to know the candidate to assess their fit in the position and organization. Yes, there is an aspect of the interview where the candidate gets background information on the organization and the position, the interview should resist talking too much about themselves unless the candidate asks specific questions.

§  I actually heard of one leader who made the statement during an interview that he had forgotten more information about his industry than most people had ever known.

·       This can come off as arrogant and sets a very awkward tone and may cause you to lose a valuable candidate because they are put off by this.

·        Remember, the candidate is interviewing you as well

o   Be sure that you are listening to the candidate and what they are actually saying. If they are being too verbose or you would prefer the question to be answered in a certain way, be sure to let the candidate know that. Remember, the candidate has never met you before and doesn’t know exactly how you expect them to interact with them. This becomes even more complicated for the candidate if this is a phone or virtual interview as body language that would normally serve as cues is nonexistent.

§  Everyone is different, this includes interviewers, so set your expectations during the interview for how you expect the interview to go. Some leaders are more casual and want the interview to be more conversational. That is okay, just let the candidate know that upfront.              

§  Be open-minded. You never know when you are going to be pleasantly surprised!

·      Stay away from questions asking how the candidate would implement something or to assess issues with your organization.

o   The candidate only has the information about your organization that is publicly available. They don’t know what the needs or pain points of your organization are. Furthermore, it is unfair to expect them to solve those in the course of an interview even if you tell them what they are!

o   Instead, ask how they would come into your organization and assess needs. What is the process they would use to learn about deficiencies or opportunities, how they would go about prioritizing them, how would they confirm these with stakeholders, etc. The process and thinking behind that will tell you much more about the candidate than you could ever get from them solving a problem for you.

·        Be okay with “I don’t know” as an answer

o   Rarely is any candidate going to check all of the boxes. A candidate who is willing to be upfront and tell you that they know don’t something should be a positive sign rather than one who will try to bluff their way through the answer.

·       Make sure that your job description is updated for the current needs of the business and not just what the incumbent did. It is very likely that your business has changed since you hired the previous person in that role. This is the opportunity to incorporate those changes into the job description. Avoid falling into the trap of just trying to find the same person that you previously had.