Take Two For Listening!

"Wait! They never told me that!", you tell the very unhappy hiring manager. It's hard to imagine that your superstar candidate turned out to be a complete fail. Fighting the urge to kick yourself, you take a deep breath and ask yourself , "Did I give them a chance to tell me?". Well, did you?

As recruiters, we typically gather about twice as much information as we give. Lucky for us, we have two ears for gathering information, and one mouth for giving it out. In the rush to answer the rapid fired questions from interested candidates, we can all too easily get caught up in our responses, leaving little time for our questions. Try taking a moment this week to count how much time you spend with each, and the result might just surprise you.

If you discover that despite your best efforts, you find that you are giving more than receiving, here are a few tips that may boost your "listening opportunities".

1. Organize - Begin the interview by giving your candidate a plan for the interiew. Every recruiter has a different style, but many sound something like this. "First, I will give you some details about the role and answer any preliminary questions you may have. Then, if you are interested, I want to get some qualifying questions out of the way. If we both feel good at that point, we can both exchange some deeper Q&A. Does this sound good?"
2. Provide Opportunity - Sometimes prolonging a pause will do the trick, while other times you have to throw them a, "tell me some more about that.".
3. Ask Open Ended Questions - This may seem obvious advice, but you would be surprised how many recruiters fail to put it into practice. At the start of each new requisition, prepare a handful of open ended questions for the role. Struggling for what to ask? Check with the the hiring manager for suggestions.
4. Dig deeper - Many job requirements are easy to fire off in yes or no questions, setting the tone for the remainder of the dialogue. Break the cadence by following each Y/N question with a question requiring greater detail or follow up.
5. Multiples - Ask questions requiring multiple answers like, "Tell me about two times you doubted yourself and why?"
6. Share - If they still won't open up, try sharing a similar work or career experience, and then ask them to share theirs.

The most important thing is to take the time to listen, only interrupting when it is necessary to move the interview along. Remember, you have two ears and one mouth.

I hope you find this Monday Minute helpful, and I encourage you to subscribe, share, and provide positive feedback. Have an amazing week of interviews.