YOUR INTERVIEWING process should be carefully thought through and designed for maximum efficiency. Many companies today have systems in place to attract applications, invite the applicants to group interviews, do one-on-one interviews with acceptable candidates, give them tests, check their references, make them offers, and set up their training and orientation schedules.
Once you have decided, based on the online or other form of application, that you want to interview a job candidate with a view to hiring that person, you must plan the interviewing process and the interviewing sequence in advance, before you meet the individual.
Most managers either talk too much, or talk too little, or ask simple questions based on the information in the person’s application. They have never been trained in the interviewing process—even though it is one of the most critical things you must do as a manager in your entire career.
Over the years, I have developed a method or process of interviewing that I have taught to thousands of managers. Many of them have come back to me and said that this process had a major positive impact on their careers.
First of all, write out and follow a logical questioning sequence for the interview. Don’t attempt to wing it.
When you first meet the candidate, sit him or her down, introduce yourself, and then put the person at ease. The job interview is one of the most stressful events that an individual goes through. Your job is to reduce this stress before you begin.
My method is to start off by saying, “Please relax. We are not going to make any final decision today, in any case. Let us deal with this interview objectively, as the lawyers say, ‘Without prejudice.’”
Then I’ll continue: “This means that I will tell you about the job and what the company does. You tell me what you do and what you are thinking and feeling about the job, and we’ll work together to see if there is a fit. You want to be happy with this position, and we want to be happy with whoever does this job. If this interview process doesn’t work out, it won’t be a reflection on either one of us. So just relax.”
Then you explain what the company does, what the job requires, and what kind of person you’re looking for. What you are trying to do is to objectify the job. You are trying to refer to the job as if it was out there on the table between you, and you are having a discussion about it.
You then go through the highlights of the candidate’s resume and begin asking questions that expand on the candidate’s background and history. You apply the 80/20 rule. You ask questions and listen 20 percent of the time while you encourage the candidate to answer and speak 80 percent of the time. Whatever you do, avoid dominating the conversation.
There is a powerful question to encourage people to open up with you. After you tell them something about the responsibilities of the job you ask, “How do you feel about that?”
Everyone has feelings. They are neither positive nor negative. When you ask someone “How do you feel about that?” the candidate will often reply with extensive answers that give you opportunities to learn more and more, which will help you to make a good decision.
In a job interview, you are looking for a person who can get the results that you have identified earlier. This means that you are continually asking questions about what the person has done in the past relative to the most important outputs of this job, and how it worked out. What were the person’s successes and failures, and what does the person think and feel about them?
One of the best indicators of success in life is creativity. And one of the best indicators of creativity is curiosity. A good job candidate wants to interview you and learn more about you and the company.
The more questions that a candidate asks, the more likely it is that he or she is a qualified person. The best people available are those who interview companies to decide where to work, rather than going around being interviewed and having their careers determined by people selecting them for positions.
The most important quality for success in life is a willingness to work hard. Ask them how they feel about working late on occasion or on weekends or holidays if that is necessary to get the job done.
If they express any reluctance about working evenings and weekends to do the job, you can be sure they are going to be average “nine-to-fivers” if you hire them.
Successful candidates are goal-oriented. They see jobs as opportunities to help them achieve their personal goals by helping companies achieve their business goals. The best candidates of all have clear, written goals and plans to achieve them, of which this potential job is a part of that plan.
A sense of urgency is a key quality of the best people, both employees and managers. John Swan, a personnel recruiter and headhunter, developed what he called the SWAN formula. In this case, the word SWAN stands for “Smart, Works hard, Ambitious, and Nice.”
Look for someone who is ambitious and just a little bit hungry. You want someone who is eager to start and sees the job as a springboard to a better life and who will tell you something like, “I really want to work here rather than anywhere else.”
If you interview someone and are thinking of hiring him or her, you ask, “When would you be prepared to start if we were to offer you the job?” The very best person wants to start immediately. A person who wants to take a rest or a break before starting the job is not the kind of person you want to drive your organization forward.
Interviewing and hiring the right people is a key skill of management. Fortunately, it is a skill set that you can learn with study and practice. The better you become at interviewing, the more valuable the contribution you will make to your company, sometimes for years into the future.
1. Make a list of the key questions you want to ask each job candidate to test whether this person is right for your company.
2. Base your hiring criteria on the SWAN formula, looking for candidates who are smart, work hard, show ambition, and are nice.