Are you losing good candidates because you haven’t updated your interview style since the 1990s? We recently spoke with a candidate who was asked during an interview about a decade-old career gap. Another was asked about a gap between college and career… in the 1980s.
Outdated interview practices and questions lead to failed recruitments. Your organization loses out not only on talent, but also on significant investments of time, resources, and momentum.
In this article, we offer tips rooted in our Better-BestTM methodology to provide you with a better way to assess and improve your interview process. Read on to ensure your interview process will help you recruit the team you need to drive your organization forward.
Why Are You Losing Talent?
Here’s a scenario we see all too often: Companies go through a 90- to 180-day entire interview process only to nail down a final pool and then lose their top three candidates for reasons they don’t fully understand.
If you’ve found yourself in this situation, the explanation might be simpler than you think, and it isn’t the market, the compensation and benefits package, or the candidates themselves. Often, it’s you. Or, more specifically, your interview process.
If you’re scrutinizing years-old resume gaps or asking canned questions such as, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” then you are risking failed recruitments. Here are common interview process pitfalls:
1. Confirmation bias
When interviewers believe their role is to determine what is wrong with a candidate, they look for and remember information that aligns with their views. The result can be costly, leading to flawed decision-making based on preconceived notions. A more holistic, human-centered approach is required to assess the candidate as a whole person. The solution to confirmation bias is an awareness of this human behavior as well as an authentic curiosity about what a candidate is saying and why they responded they way they did.
2. Assuming that interviewing is an intrinsic skill
A common misconception is that anyone who has been through an interview can conduct one effectively or that the number of interviews you have conducted is the qualifier for expertise. Neither is actually true. Interviewing is a learned skill requiring training and practice. Many hiring managers have never had formal interview training. And many are unaware of their own biases that cloud their judgement. Or, if they did, it was years – or decades – ago. Managers must learn specific techniques to help them reach an objective decision about the best candidate for a role.
3. Failing to accurately evaluate qualitative answers
Most interviewers can evaluate quantitative information effectively. When it comes to qualitative questions (i.e., describe a time you dealt with conflict resolution), however, they make the mistake of measuring responses against their own personal bias or perspective. Instead, we must evaluate the person against the organization’s mission, vision, and values. This transformation reframes the interviewer’s assessment from, “Do I get along with this person?” to “Does this person align with our organization’s core principles?”
Enhance your interview process with Better/Best™
Do you want to create an interview experience that gets candidates excited about your organization and stops the cycle of failed recruitments? Here are five steps you can take to improve your interview process:
1. Provide questions in advance
In advance of the interview, provide candidates with questions – or, at minimum, categories you’ll be discussing. By allowing candidates to prepare, you make the interview less performative and more focused on the quality of their responses. This enables you to evaluate who aligns with what you’re looking for and not who performs better in the interview. In other words, you’re measuring what actually matters. If you’re concerned about canned answers, ask thoughtful follow up questions to help determine the depth of knowlege the candidate has on the subject, or ask them to elaborate with an example or to story tell about the answer they have provided.
A great analogy is test-taking. Some people are naturally good at taking tests, while others freeze under pressure. The same goes for interviewing. Providing questions in advance levels the playing field.
2. Embrace panel or group interviews
One-on-one interviews leave no room to mitigate bias or check perspectives. Worse, a series of one-on-ones is inefficient and often counterproductive:
- Candidates are forced to answer the same questions repeatedly.
- The interview process is drawn out longer than necessary.
- Reaching a consensus is difficult when interviews happen in a silo.
Group or panel interviews, on the other hand, provide multiple viewpoints and create a more balanced evaluation.
3. Stop doing HR “pre-screens”
Question the validity of HR pre-screening interviews. This holds especially true if hiring managers have already chosen a slate of candidates based on their applications. If the hiring manager said they want to speak with those candidates, why not?
4. Invest in interview training
Many managers do not know how to interview. And many have never confronted their own predispositions about how they show up in an interview. Train them on the skills they need to be effective. Invest in interview training that covers:
- How to formulate questions
- Cognitive bias recognition and mitigation
- Evaluation methods aligned with organizational values
- Active listening skills
- How to formulate a thoughtful follow up question
5. Check in with candidate throughout the interview process
The reality is that candidates often remain in interview processes despite low interest simply to collect multiple offers. Because they’re pulled in so many directions, internal recruitment teams often miss this. Regular, honest check-ins about interest levels help you focus resources on candidates who are truly excited about the opportunity and let loose those who are no longer interested.
6. Check in with candidates following the interview process
Even if they are not selected, ask candidates about their experience, what they appreciated and what they felt was a challenge or opportunity to improve. What did they think of the questions? Were they able to be themselves during the interview? Why? Why not?
By continuously evaluating your interview process, you will consistently refine how you interview, offer targeted interview training, and improve your candidate experience. Your brand should matter to everyone, especially to those who are invited to interview and ultimately not selected. Make it less about rejection and more about appreciation.
The recruitment partner advantage
Internal talent acquisition teams are stretched thin, often lacking the time and resources to implement recruiting best practices. They face inherent constraints including:
- Perceived organizational alignment. Candidates see internal TA experts as wearing “the same jersey” as the company. They tend to be more transparent with someone who has their interest top of mind.
- Candid feedback. Candidates and hiring teams are more authentic with external partners who serve as unbiased third-party voices in the process.
- Expertise. Unfortunately, many companies engage external recruiters only after experiencing failed recruitments on their own. By then, they’ve already lost precious time and resources with no results to show. Often, we have clients spend three to four months start to finish on their own recruiting process, only to have to restart a search.
Engaging an external partner requires a financial investment, but wasting a quarter or more looking, and then having to restart, means you are likely losing six months with the role vacant. The impact on your organization? Half a year of delaying initiatives and progress while other employees carry the load of the vacancy. Many leaders find themselves making hasty hiring decisions because they simply do not have the bandwidth to start a new, equally deliberate selection process a second time. This is sure to cost the organization time, money, and employee morale.
Recruitment partners like Motus can help avoid this scenario. Connect with us today
