Interviewers: Dig Deep to Find Treasured Employees

Recruiting specialists and human resources professionals constantly remind job applicants that preparation is the key to a successful interview. However, it is equally important for hiring managers and other interviewers to take their own advice, in order to increase their success of hiring the ideal candidate. Like directions on a treasure map, preparation – digging into the job requirements and exploring candidate’s characteristics – can lead to buried gold.

• Step 1 – You need to have a clear picture of what you are looking for in order to know when you have found it. Hiring managers should be crystal clear on what the ideal attributes and skill sets the perfect candidate will possess. Discuss with the department head which traits are non-negotiable, which are nice to have, and which are “gravy.” Decide, for example, whether problem-solving, communication, and management skills should trump experience in a closely related industry (hint – the answer almost always is “yes”).
• Step 2 – Level the playing field. Know going into the interview process how each candidate’s responses will be scored. Prepare questions that will allow the interviewee to express how his abilities and experience will translate to success in the position. This includes asking probing questions about relevant projects on which he has worked, issues he has dealt with, problems he has solved, and lessons he has learned.
• Step 3 – While keeping Step 2 in mind, allow the candidate to express himself in his own style. Be willing to “go off script” to ask follow-up questions that will let the applicant highlight latent abilities, show leadership tendencies, and exhibit personality that show if he will be a cultural fit for the organization. Evaluate the substance, as well as the delivery, of his answers, while endeavoring to eliminate interviewer bias, preference, and “gut feelings.”
• Step 4 – Show interest. Job interviews are stressful enough, without the interviewer making the candidate feel he is being interrogated. Take the time to put him at ease. Once a new employee is hired, the company will try hard to make him feel at home in order to foster his best performance. Make no mistake; an interview is a performance, as well. The interviewer wants a true impression of what the job hunter can accomplish for the company. She cannot get it by badgering, patronizing, or belittling him.
• Step 5- It is also important for the hiring manager to sell the candidate on the role, as much as the candidate needs to make a concerted effort to highlight how their unique skill sets can help a company achieve their goals.
• Step 6-Companies have the right to expect an employment candidate to do his homework before coming to the interview. He will have rehearsed their answers, researched the company, and prepared pithy insights into how he will help the company flourish. Conversely, unprepared interviewers can easily miss the opportunity to draw out important clues. Failure to prepare not only can cost the firm a potentially valuable employee, it can reflect poorly on the interviewer’s professionalism and judgment.
• Step 7-In order to effectively compete for the best and brightest candidates in your specific industry, hiring managers should be prepared to invest the time in preparing for an interview by researching a candidates LinkedIn profile, study his resume, and do some simple checking on Glassdoor to see what other employees say about his current place of employment. Is it a financially stable place to work? Are they known to micromanage their employees, or do they have a bad reputation for customer service? Finding out potential pain points for your candidate prior to your meeting can put you at a distinct advantage.
• Step 8-If you are working with an executive recruiter, be sure to ask what the candidates primary motivation is for making a chance so you can be best prepared to paint your opportunity in the most appealing light possible. If you are not working with a high level executive recruiter that would typically provide that information prior to the interview, make it a point to ferret out that information while questioning the candidate. What does he like about his current role, and what would he change in order to make it perfect? Once you have that valuable information, you can then make a point to highlight how the role that you have open matches what the candidate is looking for.

In today's job market, exceptional candidates are in the enviable position to pick and choose who they are going to work for. Hiring managers need to put on their sales hat and make an effort to learn about what the job seekers impetus is in making a change, and then share how the role that they have to offer would most appeal to them. It takes two to make a match, and when both a highly sought after candidate and a hiring manager are sitting back waiting to be sold on the other, wonderful collaborative opportunities may be inadvertently missed.

Ann Zaslow-Rethaber is President of International Search Consultants, a leader in executive search since 1999. Ann can be reached via e-mail at [email protected] or direct dial at 888-866-7276.

Carolyn McClendon is a Senior Recruiter at ISC, and can be reached at [email protected] or direct dial at 888-974-0086.