UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS = BAD HIRES!
Did you know that the typical one-on-one job interview is only 57% successful in predicting subsequent job performance? (Study by professor J. Hunter of Michigan State University )
In other words, the candidate of your choice has 43% chance of being the wrong choice once on the job.
A significant contributor to this unpredictability is the way we conduct interviews.
Most interviews are conducted at 70,000 feet with predictable answers to predictable questions. Typical examples: “where do you want to be 2 years from now”, “tell me about your strengths and weaknesses”, etc. And candidates are trained to give you the right answers. In addition, most of us get carried away by personality and first impressions and globalise a few strengths. Likely result? Employ someone who is partially competent.
Is there a solution to this?
Yes. It does help to conduct employment interviews using a framework that can easily determine both universal traits of success and job specific traits. This framework deserves a lot of discussion and is something we teach at length in our Interviewing workshops. In this short artcile, we can only give you some of the headlines.
Recommended approach
Prepare a written list of questions that you and the other members of the interviewing team will ask. Since past performance is the best predictor of future performance, these questions will compare the candidate's past performance to the future job deliverables.
Comparing past performance starts by uncovering the candidate's universal and job specific traits of success as well as personality and culture fit.
Example of universal traits of success
Give me an overview of your current position and describe your most significant individual and team accomplishments
(we ask the same question for positions held over the last 3-10 years)
(answers to questions reveal important energy traits such as work ethic, drive and enthusiasm)
Example of job specific traits
One of our objectives is to establish a new sales force in Victoria and to generate 20% extra revenues over the next 6 months. Can you give us an example of something similar you have accomplished?
(answers to this type of question reveal job comparability)
Example of culture and personality fit
If you were to take this position two weeks from today, how would you implement our need to establish a new sales force able to generate 20% extra revenues over the next 6 months?
(answers to this question reveal personality and culture fit)
On a separate sheet, you should write down the candidate's answers and rate them. Attendees of our seminars receive a candidate rating sheet that includes all job specific and universal traits of success, things such as drive and enthusiasm, work ethic, trend of personal growth, comparability of past performance, team leadership, character and personality and many others. Using this list, it is easy to score candidates based on the questions presented in this article
We are confident that if you follow our recommended approach, you will find out that your hiring accuracy will increase significantly. Your interviews will be conducted on the job specifics and you will not be carried away by the impact of personality and first impressions. In addition, good candidates will appreciate your interviewing style and will most probably get excited about the job and their future within your company.