Lessons I learned from being an interviewer 632 times.

The lion’s share of this number were 17/18 year olds trying to go on to study at Oxbridge, but there have also been a massive chunk of grad interviews, management roles and marketing types. Not to mention a bizarre number of people who have used me since for practice for their jobs. 

Most people I know have a story about a terrible interview, be it from University applicants being challenged to do the interview facing the wall; to CEOs who ask candidates to do the interview at 6am to “fit it in”; an interview often says more about the organisation than it does about the candidate, and in a world where you are fighting for the best talent, how you interview- matters. 

Here’s what I’ve learned about being an interviewer:

1. Everyone thinks they are good at interviewing. 

All too often, senior managers think they are amazing at performing interviews- they think they know the role inside out, and they can’t wait to grill someone. What actually happens is they sit there talking about themselves for the first ten minutes, then ask a series of underprepared questions, and then hope that the candidate has a really interesting question about them so that they can big up their own career a bit more- it’s an exercise in ego; and if you haven’t seen this happen- then it’s probably you. 

2. Find out how someone thinks, not what they already know.  

There were so many times when an 18 year old would sit down in front of me with all the arrogance in the world (mostly from private schools that have over inflated their sense of self) and I could see through them within about two and a half minutes. I’d be nice and ask something about a book they’d read, or a topic they would understand, and then I’d ask a real Oxbridge question like “do holes exist?” and watch them completely crumble in front of me. There’s not much joy in that process, but it so quickly tells you whether someone is able to recite back to you what they know from rote learning, or whether they can actually think. I still enjoy asking questions that encourage thinking not knowledge recital, because realistically, work is a place where you have to adapt every day. 

3. Every culture is different- there’s no “one interview technique”. 

The Amazon hiring process is famed for being military level efficient and for being intense. It is both of these things and it is great...for hiring Amazonians. I see a lot of “don’t bother learning about the company or sending a thank you email after the interview” for Amazon, and its absolutely true, they couldn’t care less about that. If, however, you’re interviewing to join a start up of ten people, these two things become absolutely essential. If you’re conducting an interview process it needs to be entirely suitable for that organisation; the Amazon one gets amazing Amazonians, because things like Thank you emails are also non existent there too; if you interview with a founder of a start up and you don’t send one, then you’ve missed the point entirely. 

4. Prep.

There is nothing more disrespectful than an interviewer who “wings it”. By the time I left my job in education I had given almost a hundred interviews for PPE, but it didn’t stop me taking the time to find out about the candidate, find out what questions I would ask to be relevant and interesting and write everything down before hand. An interviewee has given up time to speak to you and apply for your organisation, they deserve your full attention and your time in return. 

5. Don’t be late. 

6. Reflect the role in your style, and your patience. 

All the time I hear “I just don’t interview well, I get nervous”. That’s absolutely fine if you are interviewing to work in a basement on your own analysing blood samples. That is not fine if you are client facing; or you are going to need to work with a team; or deliver presentations. If you can tell someone is nervous, be kind, and get the best out of them, if they are over confident, see how they respond to live feedback- if the role is for head of a Sales team, it’s fine to ask them to pitch themselves to you, if it’s to be behind the scenes building a website, then asking them to “tell you what their epitaph would be” is probably going to be a waste of time. 

7. Be kind. 

Once, I was interviewing a candidate for a sales role at a company, and I asked “what made you apply for the role?” and they replied “its full time”. This was at around the 6 minute mark, and the interview was meant to be half an hour. It was a car crash, and they couldn’t have been less interested. I could have strung it out, delivered some brutal feedback or fed my own ego for 24 minutes, but I didn’t. I thanked them for taking time out of their day to come in, wished them the best of luck with their search, and told them it wasn’t going to be a match. There’s a lot of ways in the interview process to be a dick, but try not to be.