9

The Interview

“In our business, people are intrinsic to the personality and style of our company. We believe hiring the right people is the key to our success,” says Gordon Segal, founder and CEO of Crate and Barrel.¹

Screening Applicants

Once you have selected the candidates who meet your minimum requirements from the applications/resumes you’ve reviewed, the next logical step is to do a screening interview. We recommend that you email candidates to determine a convenient time for you to call them. Random calling can waste a lot of time, and you will have a better chance of getting good information from candidates if they are prepared for your call. However, before you make the first call, be sure you have a clear idea of what your requirements are and that you are prepared for the interviews. We recommend that you prepare some interview questions before making a phone call.

In place of a phone interview, many organizations are now using video screening interviews to help them decide which applicants to bring in for face-to-face interviews. There are a couple of ways to do this. One is to send a list of questions to the applicant and request that the person record the answers to the questions. The second approach is to set up a two-way video interview using Skype, Google Hangouts, Zoom, FaceTime, or other platforms that are easily accessible and free to both parties. Your Applicant Tracking System (ATS) may have video capabilities as well.

When you use video for interviews, keep these tips in mind:

    Prepare for the interview the same way you’d prepare for any interview.

    If you’re doing a two-way video interview, keep the time zones in mind when scheduling.

    Always do a test of the equipment before going live.

    Be sure your setting looks professional (for example, clean off your desk).

    Have good lighting. Be sure your face isn’t in the shadows and don’t have light behind you.

    Ensure you won’t be interrupted during the interview.

    Look at the camera and not the monitor. This will give the applicant the sense you’re looking at him or her.

    Start with small talk.

    Smile from time to time.

    Pause to let applicant respond to your questions.

    Speak slowly and clearly.

    Avoid jokes or casual comments that might not translate.

    Dress as you would for any interview.

    Watch for energy, enthusiasm, and passion.

    Appendix: Sample Behavioral Interviewing Questions.

During an interview, whether on the phone or via video, your objective is to determine if the person meets the minimum qualifications for the position and is in the salary range for your position. It is sometimes difficult to get candidates to discuss salary at this point, but do your best to get them to give you a range they are looking for. The screening interview provides you with information to help you decide whether it makes sense to bring the applicant in for a face-to-face interview. If the position pays $50,000 a year and the applicant is looking for $150,000, it probably doesn’t make sense to move forward with another interview.

Although your intention should be to gather information from the applicant, you should also share some information about your organization and answer the applicant’s questions. Don’t, however, tell applicants what you are looking for; if you tell them your hiring criteria, they will feed you answers that they think you want to hear, and that is not a basis for a good hiring decision.

The Candidate Experience

Now that you’ve completed the screening interviews, you have your slate of candidates to bring in for face-to-face interviews. It’s become increasingly important to focus attention on what’s called “the candidate experience”—how the candidate is treated throughout the entire application process. Websites, such as Glassdoor, provide valuable information for applicants about what it’s like to work for specific organizations. You’ll want to ensure that what’s out there online is as good as it possibly can be because applicants check out your reputation before they even check out the job specifics. Negative information can greatly impact your ability to attract the best talent available.

Keep in mind that every candidate should be treated like a VIP. Any applicant, whether or not you hire him or her, is a potential customer or client. You want all of these people to feel good about your organization and tell their friends and family how impressed they were with how they were treated. If a particular applicant isn’t a candidate for this particular job, he or she might fit another position in your organization at a later date. And, keep in mind that in today’s world of social networking, applicants share information with others, and you want to be sure your firm’s reputation is excellent.

Make it as easy as possible for applicants to find openings in your organization. Keep the careers page on your organization’s website up to date and filled with interesting information about your culture, mission, vision, values, and job openings. You want to immediately engage applicants and have them begin to imagine what it would be like to work for your organization! Be sure your online application is as easy as possible to complete. Consider applying for a job at your own organization to see what gaps in the process you spot, and then fix them immediately. Today’s applicants will move on from your process if it is too difficult to complete.

Move as quickly as possible when you find a qualified applicant. Contact the applicant and let him or her know you’re interested, and provide a sense of next steps. Schedule interviews in a timely manner; don’t make someone wait weeks before you do a screening interview! You’ll lose the candidate to your competition.

It isn’t difficult to treat people well. “Say what you mean and do what you say” should be your mantra. If you say you are going to call an applicant at a specific time, do it. If you let an applicant know he or she will have your answer by Friday, call on Friday—or if you don’t have the answer, email to say you haven’t forgotten him or her, but the decision is taking a little longer than anticipated. Candidates expect frequent updates from recruiters, so keep in touch. Even a quick text message can make all the difference in the world to let someone know where he or she is in the process.

When the applicant arrives for the interview, be there to greet him or her or ensure that your receptionist (if you have one in this virtual age!) greets the applicant warmly, offers coffee or water, and lets him or her know where the restroom is. Don’t keep an applicant waiting if at all possible. If your schedule is interrupted by an emergency meeting and the applicant is there, consider asking a colleague to meet with him or her, or have someone take the applicant on a tour of the offices while waiting for you. If you need to reschedule, do it as quickly as possible.

Greet the applicant warmly with a firm handshake and a welcome. Some organizations have welcome boards in their lobby, and it is a good touch to have the applicant’s name on the board—which actually accomplishes two purposes: welcomes the applicant and alerts the rest of the office that you have an applicant coming in that day.

The Interview

As you are walking to your office or the conference room where you’ll conduct the interview, use that time for small talk about the weather, traffic, the previous night’s game, or some other topic you can both discuss. One innovative firm we know has an extensive art collection that links to their industry. This makes for an easy opening conversation while you are walking to the office—pointing out various pieces of art and why they were selected. Another firm we work with has won a lot of awards for its commitment to the community. This makes a great topic to share while getting the applicant to relax and lets the applicant gain some knowledge of the commitment the firm has made to its community.

Be sure the applicant has a glass of water or coffee before you start the interview. Let the applicant know the interview will be in three parts:

1.    You will ask a series of questions to gather information about background and qualifications.

2.    You will share information about the organization and this particular position.

3.    You will respond to questions about the organization and the position.

Interviews are highly stressful events for nearly every applicant—and many interviewers don’t enjoy them, either! Do your best to make the applicant comfortable so that your time together is profitable.

There is no hard and fast rule about how much time to spend in an interview, but the best estimate is 45 minutes to an hour for the first interview. This certainly depends on the level of the position. For example, for a senior executive position, you would most likely have a series of meetings/interviews, with at least one interview of two hours or more. This is because, at the more senior levels, your investment is larger, and it is more than critical that the applicant be able to fit the culture and that he or she has the skills to be productive quickly.

There is also no rule about how many interviews you should have before determining who your final candidate is, but try and make the process as simple and timely as possible. Today’s applicants give up on organizations quickly if they think you’re taking too long to make a decision. We recommend that, if your organization requires that many people interview each candidate, you do your best to minimize the number of times the applicant has to return for another interview. We’ve known organizations that have applicants come back five or six times to meet one person each time. How much better it would have been to have grouped those interviews into two half days or one full day? Remember, if you are doing multiple interviews in one day, to allow some time for the applicant to have a break!

If you plan to take notes during the interview (and you should!), let the applicant know your plan. There is nothing worse for an applicant to be responding to your question and suddenly you start writing things down. The applicant immediately wonders what he or she just said that was so important or that you didn’t like. However, if you’ve already told the applicant you will be taking notes, it won’t be such a surprise.

Interviewing takes a great deal of concentration. Therefore, we recommend you don’t try to do too many interviews in one day so that you can easily focus on the applicant. You want to have as much good information as possible so that you can make a good hiring decision. While you are listening carefully, don’t overlook non-verbal cues such as facial expressions, body language, gestures, and posture. For example, if you ask candidates what they are most proud of in their life, you would expect to see them smile and sit up as they talk about their accomplishments or about the pride they take in their children. You also should be aware if, while answering a question about a past position, they don’t look you in the eye; that may be an indication that they are uncomfortable with the question or how they are answering it, and you will want to make a note to probe for more information on this later and when you are checking references.

It isn’t easy to make a good hire, but it isn’t impossible, either. You just need a plan and to be aware of some of the landmines that exist in the hiring process, such as replicating the predecessor. So many organizations don’t take the time to understand the job itself and to think through the skills someone needs to be successful in that particular job. They merely start looking for someone “just like Sally.” That’s fine if Sally was promoted. But if she just resigned or was terminated, they often don’t stop to think what it was that made Sally quit or what skills Sally didn’t have that caused her to not be successful and, therefore, terminated. Take the time to really think through the position in question. What skills are needed? What personality traits would a successful person have?

Before you start the hiring process, consider:

    Two years from now, how will we know if this person has succeeded? What measurements will we use?

    What do we expect him or her to accomplish in the first 90 days? First year?

    What help will the organization provide (mentor, executive coach, training, etc.)?

    Before asking a question, consider:

    What is the most likely response I will get to this question?

    Will that answer give me important information that will help me make a hiring decision? If the answer is no, don’t ask the question!

There are literally millions of books, websites, blogs, videos, and more that tell an applicant how to ace an interview. There are books on what are the most likely questions they will be asked and some even give the answers to those most frequently asked questions. Remember: You want to get more than prepared information from the candidate; you want to get the information you need to be able to make a good hiring decision.

Keep in mind that retention starts in the hiring process. You want to have applicants so excited about making the decision to join your organization that they just can’t wait to get to work on their first day to be part of your team.

Because we know that today’s applicants have a lot of tools at their disposal to help them convince you, the employer, that they are perfect for your open position, we recommend you consider using behavioral interviewing techniques that operate from the premise that past experience is the best predictor of future behavior. People demonstrate behavior patterns that are reliable and consistent predictors of future performance. The best way to assess a candidate’s qualifications for a position is to use a simple, yet highly effective, method of asking questions. Rather than asking the traditional questions typically asked in interviews, you ask a series of well-planned questions to get the candidate to tell a story that illustrates his or her ability to perform the essential job functions and be successful in the position.

It all starts with understanding what skills and abilities are required to do this particular job, and you’ve done that when you developed the job description. Take the most important things a person needs to be able to do or be to succeed in this position and craft questions to get at that skill. For example, if the position requires a high degree of creativity, you might say, “Tell me about your most creative work-related project.”

What you are looking for is what is commonly called the STAR approach. You want the candidate to tell you about the Situation and to describe the Tasks involved in the approach, the Actions taken to complete the tasks, and the Results of the actions. Or:

S: Describe a Situation in which you demonstrated this behavior.

T: Explain the specific Tasks involved.

A: Explain the specific Actions you took to complete the tasks.

R: Describe the Results of your actions.

There is an easy formula for crafting behavioral interviewing questions. Start with phrases such as the following:

    “Tell me about a time....”

    “Give me an example of when....”

    “Walk me through....”

    “Describe for me....”

Once you’ve asked a behavioral question, you can continue to get more information with gentle probes to get the candidate to elaborate on what he or she has shared already. Here are some suggested probes:

    “How did you do that?”

    “What did you do with the information?”

    “What did you learn from…?”

    “How did you handle...?

    “How so?”

    “Tell me more about....”

Using the behavioral interviewing techniques described here will allow you to gather a great deal of valuable information on the candidate in order to evaluate whether or not to continue the interview process. During the interview, be sure you ask enough questions to give you what you need to make a reasoned decision.

Spotting Potential Superstars in the Hiring Process

During the interview process, you want to be able to spot a superstar. Lisa Haneberg, VP and OD Practice Leader at MPI Consulting and author of “High Impact Middle Management,” has developed eight key criteria that define star performers²:

1.    They are well-rounded. In addition to strong technical expertise in their functional area, they also have a solid understanding of how business works—even if they are a rock star developer.

2.    They get results. More than meeting performance expectations, they are known for getting results. And, more often than not, their approach to getting results is innovative.

3.    They are builders. Whether they work inside a turnaround, a startup, or a mature organization, they are known for building the organization to make it stronger and more nimble.

4.    They are flexible. In fact, you can put rock stars in charge of most any department and they will flourish.

5.    They are open. Contrary to the stereotype that rock stars can be prima donnas, real rock stars are open to input from others, responsible to requests, as well as candid and assertive.

6.    They keep their commitments. If they said it would be done on Monday, it is.

7.    They are team catalysts. They know that no man is an island and that every rock star depends on a strong team. Rock stars do whatever it takes to build the team.

8.    They are respected. Rock stars are respected by their peers and direct reports for the results they produce, as well as the way in which they get things done.

According to Doris Sims, author of The 30-Minute Guide to Talent and Succession Management, “[O]ne way to consider whether an individual is a star is to consider their ability and desire for focused development, challenging job assignments, and potential leadership career growth.”³

Spotting stars during the hiring process could be considered an art versus a science. If the organization has determined what they consider a star to be, hiring managers can be trained to identify stars by asking certain questions during the hiring process. HR should document anything that might be meaningful, such as achievements/awards, patents, recognition, commendations, and so forth.

Referrals are a prime way to find star employees, especially when the referral is made by another star worker. A-listers like to work with others like them, and they tend to have contacts and acquaintances who are like them.

One pitfall of having stars spotted in the hiring process is that some managers may feel threatened by someone who has superior skills or expertise. They may think this person is too great: “He knows more than I do.” “We better not hire him because he might take my job.” Interviewers who are insecure in their own position may not point out superstars. Ways to reduce this are to have multiple interviewers and/or panel interviews.

Additional Interview Opinions

If the candidate has impressed you enough to continue the process, it is a good idea to put together a list of others in the organization you’d like him or her to meet. Include a representative list of people to also interview the candidate. Consider asking peers with whom the person will need to work on a frequent basis, and if he or she will be managing others, include some people who will be direct reports to the candidate. You may want to put together a half day of interviews, and then take the candidate and his or her potential direct reports to lunch so they can get to know each other. There is no magic number of required interviews to make a selection, but at least three to four other people should interview the candidate. Additionally, the hiring manager should interview the candidate for at least one hour to confirm impressions and get clarification on any issues resulting from the first interview. Many organizations require that the CEO or president interview all applicants or all applicants at a certain level. If this is the case in your organization, factor this in to your interview planning; senior leaders tend to have busy schedules, and you don’t want to prolong the process and lose a good candidate due to scheduling issues.

When you are putting the schedule of interviews together, include topics on which you want each person to focus his or her time so that everyone doesn’t ask the candidate the same questions. For example, if you are hiring a salesperson, you might ask one interviewer to focus on his or her ability to generate leads, another interviewer could focus on the candidate’s communication skills, and a third interviewer might ask questions to get to the applicant’s ability to work in a team atmosphere. Be sure each interviewer has a copy of the job description and any other information you think would help him or her conduct a good interview.

It helps if your organization has a Candidate Rating Form that everyone completes after an interview. These forms and comments will assist to the hiring manager in gathering the information needed to make a decision.

    Appendix: Sample Candidate Rating Form.

Certainly, you want to hire someone who will fit your culture and be able to do the job for which he or she is being hired. That is why we recommend that, to the extent possible, you get consensus on the final hiring decision, but if everyone doesn’t agree and the hiring manager really wants this candidate, he or she should have the final say.

Panel interviews are very difficult to do well. It takes a great deal of coordination to put the panel together; arranging multiple schedules so that everyone is available at the same time is not easy. Panel interviews are also difficult for the applicant. They can feel like they are on the “firing lines” if people are shooting questions at them from all around the room.

If your organization does panel interviews, spend some extra time preparing the panel members for the process to ensure that the applicant feels as if he or she has had a fair chance to sell himself or herself. Also, be sure you inform the applicant well in advance that he or she will be interviewed by a panel of people so that he or she doesn’t panic when entering the room for the interview.

Fair and Legal Interviews

Don’t make any pre-employment inquiries regarding an applicant’s:

    Race.

    Gender.

    Color.

    National origin.

    Age.

    Disability.

    Veteran status.

    Marital status.

    Sexual orientation.

    Religion.

Ask job-related questions and take good notes. Avoid writing things on resumes/applications that can be discriminatory. (For example, don’t put “good looking blonde girl” on the application; applications can be subpoenaed!) It is essential that you know your state and local discrimination laws, as some individuals may be in a protected class even if they aren’t in a federally protected class.

Now more than ever, it is important to conduct employment interviews within the law. The cost to defend a claim of employment discrimination can be hundreds of thousands of dollars; however, the cost to your organization’s reputation can be even more damaging.

The most important thing to remember when asking a question is whether you can demonstrate a job-related reason for asking this particular question (whether on a job application or in an interview). The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) looks at both how the information is used and what the intent of the interviewer is when determining whether discrimination is an issue. Therefore, applicants should only be asked job-related questions; and before asking any question, it is a good idea to first determine whether the information is relevant to making a good decision on the qualifications, skills, and overall competence for the job in question.

However, there is something called Bona Fide Occupational Qualifications—a provision that permits discriminatory practices in employment if a person’s “religion, sex, or national origin is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of that particular business or enterprise.”⁴ To establish the defense of Bona Fide Occupational Qualification (BFOQ), you have the burden of proving that a particular class of employees would not be qualified. For example, if you are recruiting models for men’s suits or swimwear, gender would be a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the operation of the business. Typically, it is difficult for most employers that are not religious organizations to invoke the BFOQ defense as the parameters surrounding it are limited. Title VII does permit employers to hire and employ people on the basis of religion if religion is a “bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of that particular business or enterprise.”⁵ Religious organizations do not normally have to use the BFOQ defense because the “religious organization” exception in Title VII permits them to prefer people from their own religion.

The EEOC provides this information to employers who are intent on avoiding racial discrimination in hiring and promotions: “Race or color should not be a factor or consideration in making employment decisions except in appropriate circumstances as set forth at Section 15-VI-C of the Compliance Manual section on race and color discrimination. Reasons for selection decisions should be well supported and based on the applicant’s qualifications.”⁶

    Appendix: Legal and Illegal Interview Questions.

The interview process can be time-consuming and uncomfortable, but there is no other way to find out whether or not the candidate is going to be right for your organization and this particular position. Although there is no fool-proof selection method, with careful preparation, good listening skills, and attention to detail you will be able to make informed selections.

Discussion Questions

1.    Why does it make sense to do a screening interview prior to bringing in a candidate for a face-to-face interview?

2.    What information do you want to get from a screening interview?

3.    Why does it make sense to set up an appointment for a screening interview?

4.    Why should you not tell the applicant what your hiring criteria are in an interview?

5.    What are some of the things to keep in mind when using video to screen applicants?

6.    Why is the candidate experience significant?

7.    Name two to three things that are important to consider prior to starting the interview process.

8.    Describe the behavioral interviewing process. What do you want to get from the applicant in a behavioral interview and why?

9.    Name three or four ways to spot superstars in interviews.