Everything I know about interviewing is because of Terry Gross

Some middle school girls grew up listening to Hansen and NSYNC. Some girls were masters of cat’s cradle. Some girls managed to keep their Tamagotchis alive far longer than the batteries should allow. 

Then there’s me. I grew up listening to boring, long-winded National Public Radio hosts while riding in the back of a station wagon on road trips that took an eternity (read: roughly 3 hours to grandma’s house).  

If you wish to pity me, save it--there were far more embarrassing things on my resume as a 13 year old than being an NPR listener (anyone else a member of their school’s Latin Club? SPQR? Virgil?). 

It was because of those hours listening to NPR that I first heard Terry Gross’ Fresh Air. That opened the doors for me to hear interviews with the likes of Aretha Franklin, Julia Child, and Oliver Sacks.  

All of her guests are so different, and yet Terry Gross manages to connect with them on a more personal, more human level than I knew possible. I became engrossed in the stories and the people who shared them. And today, I still regularly tune in at noon to WFIU to see who Terry is interviewing on the day.  

I can’t really credit Terry Gross for why I became a recruiter--that’s a whole other story for a whole other article. But I can credit her for influencing and inspiring me as to how I interview each and every candidate who comes my way.  

Here are some key takeaways that go straight from Fresh Air studio into the recruiting chair:

Stay off the resume. 

Terry Gross masterfully demonstrates this with each and every guest she interviews. Typically the folks who come on her show have pages upon pages of credentials. While Gross may acknowledge a thing or two in their background, she stays away from the obvious and takes the conversation a step deeper. 

This is exactly what a recruiter screen should be like. There are other, quicker ways to validate work history, and you should have already reviewed a candidate’s resume and gotten a sense for their career trajectory.  

The recruiter screen is one of the first steps in the candidate lifecycle and also the most grossly undervalued. This is your opportunity to learn more about the candidate beyond a piece of paper by establishing an environment of trust which invites the candidate to partake in the interview process. So go ahead and take the time to set up yourself and your team for success. 

It’s not about you.

Terry Gross introduces herself simply every interview and then immediately directs her attention to her guest. She typically yields the floor by asking a fairly open question that invites her guest to speak comfortably yet personally.  

Why don’t we do that more often with our interviews? Some interviewers take it upon themselves to provide a five minute monologue about themselves and about their company before even asking the candidate a single question (which is usually, “any questions?”). Not only does this tactic set up the interview to be rigid and one-sided but it also detracts from the star of the interview: the candidate.  

At Beam, we focus on curating a candidate-centric interview process. Every step of our process is designed with the candidate’s perception in mind. We want candidates to have the best possible chance of showing their strengths while also being their most authentic selves.  

How do we do this in a recruiter screen? By following Gross’s example and ensuring that we start by asking broad questions. The broader the question, the better the opportunity a candidate has to really present themselves.  

Additionally, as counter-intuitive as it may seem, the interviewer ultimately ends up having more control of the interview with those broad questions. By letting a candidate talk within the first few minutes, you can have a better idea of what direction to take your interview in and what a candidate will want to know (read: how you can sell your company and open position).

An interview is a narrative.

In recruiting, we always talk about how the best interviews feel more like conversations because of the interaction between candidate and interviewer. Terry Gross takes this a step further, and I want to as well. 

In her time as a professional interviewer, Gross talks about how an interview should truly be a narrative: 

"I always write down questions beforehand because the interview isn't the raw material for me, but the final product. I want it to have a shape. I want it to have a narrative, a beginning, middle and end, and I want each question to build on the one before."

The same is applicable to job interviews. Whenever I am working with a hiring manager at Beam on a new role, one of the most important items on the checklist--before we ever publish a position--is to establish the questions throughout the arc of the interview process. We ultimately want to “shape” the process so that a candidate’s story can flesh out over time and give us a complete picture of that person’s skills and their character. 

Which leads me to my next point… 

Be curious and ask smart questions. 

Crafting interview questions is hard. There’s so much you want to know in the span of an hour or less. And then on top of that, you have to ensure you’re exercising fairness by asking all candidates the same set of questions in order to identify the best qualified candidate.  

Terry Gross has her core go-to’s, and so should you. Ideally you’ll have a mix of behavioral, situational, and competency-based questions that identify the basics (motivation for looking for a new job, current work focus, etc) in each and every candidate no matter the role.

So what then makes a good interview question, a smart question? Terry Gross firmly believes in curiosity. Although Gross is prepared before each and every interview, she’s not afraid to go off script when something interesting arises and probe further. And neither should you.  

At Beam, we actually train our entire workforce--no matter IC or C-suite--to interview. We go over our interview process, why we ask certain questions, why we don’t ask other questions. Beyond the fundamentals, we always encourage folks to dig deeper in order to understand a candidate better.  

While you’re taking notes (which you should always be doing) during your screen, if something interests you, ask more about it! If an answer does not align with the question, don’t hesitate to say, “I think I could have asked this question better. Here’s what I’m really after.” If a candidate gives you a one-word answer, ask “why is that?” 

If we’re not willing to be curious and seek to understand, then we’re predisposed to fill in the blanks with our own preconceived notions and judgements as opposed to allowing the candidate to inform us. 

Lead with empathy.

There are so many awkward conversation topics to be had. The fact that Terry Gross is candid about her most awkward or tense interview moments makes me feel better as a recruiter, because I’ve had them, too.  

One of the best pieces of advice Gross gives is “when somebody tells you something heartfelt or personal, don't move on to the next question as if nothing's happened.” Rather, “be sensitive to that and follow up.” It’s OK to take a moment and acknowledge something meaningful was said, even if it makes you feel a little uncomfortable. Remember, it’s not about you, it’s about the candidate. 

Especially during the pandemic, it is crucial for those in hiring positions to lead with empathy. You don’t need to be a therapist, but you do need to be human.  

Gross has always included human moments in her interviews, from Hillary Clinton bristling over a question to Maurice Sendak crying on air. At the end of the day, it’s these human moments that form the most complete picture of a person.  

Listen.

Listening to candidates is of course of the utmost importance. However, something we don't always think to do is to listen to other interviewers. By shadowing more experienced interviewers and listening to them at work, we're able to grow our own interview skill set.

So my last piece of advice is that if you’ve never heard Terry Gross on Fresh Air, do yourself a favor and click on one of the ones I’ve suggested in this article, listen, learn, and enjoy.