Breaking Through the Facade: Effective Recruitment Interviews
Many
HR executives tell me that it is tough to crack a person during a recruitment interview.
Applicants go through in-depth interview preparation. Their answers are so
convincing and endearing that it is tough to see through their con-job.
I disagree with this argument. I believe that an interview is a platform the
interviewee has a chance to get a glimpse of the organization and understand its
work culture. On the other hand, the interviewer gets to review the candidate
and assess his viability in the organization. If the interviewee has done a
thorough job of preparing for a recruitment interview, that is good. It means he takes his
job seriously. A person who cannot package himself well when he is selling his
skills is not worth the job.
It is a fallacy that recruitment interviews don't bring out the true nature of employees
which can be of crucial significance in employment decisions. If you fall for
external appearances and ignore the subtle signs along the way, then how can you
blame the interviewee for not disclosing everything?
When recruitment interviews become predictable, they are easy to crack. That does not mean
interviews should become stress interviews. Stressing out employees by putting
them in awkward situations only makes them more defensive. Stress interviews
don't reveal much. Instead the focus should be on making interviewees relaxed
and comfortable enough to speak out his mind.
An interviewer should be attuned to every move, habit or mannerism of the
interviewee. A lot is revealed by mere gestures. Similarly, if you were to
observe his attire, etiquettes and manners, you will learn more than what the
resume tells you. Ask questions that seem visibly innocent but makes your
interviewee less defensive. In my experience, I have found that when I make the
person comfortable enough to speak freely, I learn interesting details about the
employee. I was once interviewing a very good candidate who had a hi-flying
career and had a diverse set of skills. Only when she got very comfortable
talking to me did she disclose her plans to get married and relocate to a new
city. She confided in me that she hoped to get a transfer to our branch office
at the new destination so that she could continue working with us. Such valuable
information could have been detrimental if gone unnoticed during the interview.
Since the woman was very well qualified to do the job, we decided to hire her
and agreed to give her the transfer as soon as we found a vacancy.
Interviewees are notorious for spinning fine yarn about their favorite activity
or a hobby. In fact, some interviewees feign to have fine command on their
general awareness on a variety of issues. They can speak eloquently about global
warming, political crisis of Guatemala or about raising adopted children. In
such a case, pick a subject where you have a sharp insight and use this subject
to measure the interviewee's depth of analysis.
Even at the end of the recruitment interview, keep a watchful eye for any mundane detail
that can tell you a tale about the person. After the interview is over, make
sure to check references. Call up ex employees, coach, friend or anybody who can
give an unbiased report on the person's achievements. Referrers can sometimes
tell you things that can significantly impact your employment decisions. Make
sure to ask specific questions rather than generic ones like, 'How did Mr. X
perform in your company?'
There are many such measures that can make interviews a success. To make
interviews effective, make them a participative process rather than something
that is 'done' for the employees.
