3 Good Reasons to Rethink How You Interview :
For some time behavioural interviewing has been viewed largely as the golden standard for understanding how an individual will act, with the assumption that future behaviours/actions are influenced by past behaviour.
The problem with this assumption is that this does not leave any room for growth, potential or ability and how someone will respond to a situation that they have previously never encountered.
Key observations after years of behavioural interviewing and understanding on how to execute these for best impact are as follows:
1. Most Interviewers (despite what they may believe) are Not Expert Interviewers: The reason being is that they may interview intermittently or rarely, and as such have not always had the opportunity to fine tune these skills. As a result, behavioural interview questions may appear rigid (with a tendency to stunt free-flow discussions and miss other cues and information that is of high-value) and interviewers will often ask three questions for one behavioural question given time concerns, versus allowing someone to work through the answer and then prompting and seeking clarification for any additional information.
The Result and Experience for the person interviewed = Stunted, Robotic and Not Overally Enjoyable. Trust us on this – 90% + of people we speak to that go through this style of interview describe them as the above and do not feel they have had the opportunity to adequately discuss this experience and potential.
2. Behavioural Examples Do Not Measure Potential or Ability to Tackle New Thinking/ Challenges :
If someone has genuinely not had exposure to something then asked a behavioural question, this places pressure on them to come up with an example which may not align or demonstrate what they are being asked. This sends the message that if someone has not had this specific exposure/experience, that they are not capable and applies no test to their thinking or ability to do this. (If we are genuinely hiring for potential growth, mindset and behaviours around high performance then suggest there are better ways to test this, eg: Provide a thinking challenge and ask them to talk you through how they would tackle this challenge and walk you through this.)
3. Overall Candidate Experience :
A first interview is an exchange and should be just this – with the opportunity to connect, understand perspectives, thinking and what drives individuals. If you are planning a behavioural component, then suggest that this should be a part of the sum and perhaps at the second stage, versus off the bat. This will allow some trust and rapport to have been built for you to both and gain a sense of the opportunity alignment and to ensure that this resonates, both ends.
A discussion based meeting (one-on-one is always ideal), with open-ended questions and free-flowing with very little structure will always uncover the most information about who you are employing.
This is as much a chance for you as the potential employer to position what you want, the challenges and opportunities as well as understand the individual’s drivers, style and alignment. The aim being to uncover all stones and ensure that the individual also has a chance to do the same, walking away with clarity and no matter what, with a very positive view of the business and how they have been treated throughout.
Perhaps time to rethink interviews and the experience that people take away and what we a find out about who they are and what drives them, how they succeed, fail and learn ?
For more discussion and expert advice