Admiral Hyman Rickover was a notorious interviewer. It was said he once sawed off the leg of a chair so that when an interviewee sat in it he had to struggle not to slide off the chair. Rickover told journalist Diane Sawyer that wasn't quite true. He said he did it twice.
Rickover may be an icon of interview intimidation, but the purpose of an interview is for you to ensure that you've got the right fit for the job you're trying to fill. Intimidate a good candidate and he just might say no, this isn't the right fit for me.
But after you've spent some time preparing for the interview and reviewing the resume looking for places to probe, it's important to understand that this is a two-way street. If the candidate looks good, you want the company to look good to him.
Good eye contact and a firm handshake is always a good start. Make sure the interview room is clean and neat and that the desk isn't cluttered. Tell the candidate that you will be taking notes, but don't write them on the resume. Plan on 60-75 minutes for the interview. Despite Rickover's techniques, you don't want to stress the candidate because the interview process is already stressful enough.
After some small talk and warm up it's time to get into the heart of the interview - the gathering of specific information that will allow for a good decision. Too many interviewers rely on gut feeling to reach decisions, believing erroneously that fit and behavior cannot be easily identified. However, you can conduct an interview in a structured way to allow you to gain valuable and unbiased qualitative and quantitative information to help support a well-reasoned hiring decision.
People typically behave a certain way in certain patterns - whether in personal or work situations - because that is their behavioral style. And they will likely behave in each work environment as they did in others. So the job of the interviewers is to understand that behavioral style. This approach is well regarded and known as
Behavioral Based Interviewing (BBI).
"While you certainly don't need to be a psychologist, you need to be a behavior detective."
---Jay Schneider, HCA
Senior Project Director
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Your principal task in the interview is to take the strategy you developed based on the position description, the shadow position description and the resume review, and translate that into your questioning approach and questions. "While you certainly don't need to be a psychologist, you need to be a behavior detective," states Jay Schneider, HCA Senior Project Director.
What are you looking for? Certainly the skills and subject matter knowledge that are essential to the position. But as we mentioned in previous articles, you must determine fit and the best way to do this is to see where the person has demonstrated the behaviors and characteristics that will allow them to prosper and succeed in your particular situation. That is where BBI techniques empower you. Questions do the heavy lifting in an interview. Well thought behavior-based questions are your best friends in the interview and constructed properly will yield the information you need to know.
"Pay attention and use all your senses - eyes, ears, brain and yes mouth, but limitedly, You should speak no more than 20% of the interview before the candidate's time to ask questions at the conclusion of the interview," Schneider says.
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"Pay attention and use all your senses ~ eyes, ears, brain...you should speak no more than 20% of the interview."
---Jay Schneider
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Questioning
Regarding three types of questions:
- Open-ended questions = Good. These cannot be answered by yes or no. "What is the work pace and time commitment at your company?" vs. "Do you work long hours?" The first question provides more information, allows you to observe/listen and perhaps reveal new questions you need to ask. Don't use 'state of being' verbs such as are, have, is, did, etc. to begin a question.
- Theoretical questions = Not so good. "What makes a good manager?" This can be answered quite well by a business professor in an MBA program but does not necessarily mean one can do it in real life.
- Hypothetical questions = Sometimes.They can be occasionally useful to test creativity but the answers won't predict behavior.
To construct a behavior-based question, think of the trait you are assessing and get examples. Simple and direct lead-ins include: "Think of a time..." or "Explain to me..." or "Share with me..." or "Give me an example of...." Then add a comment about the trait, behavior or skill. Two examples are: - Management -- "Give me an example of a problem employee. What special steps did you take to manage him and what were the results?"
- Leadership -- "How do you view the difference between management and leadership? Give me some examples of where your leadership actions impacted...."
In the next issue of The Advisor we will provide a number of examples of questioning approaches and questions so you can get the most out of the whole interview process.
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AVOID!!
--Halo Effect - Attractive, well dressed and personable candidate will sometimes impose unwarranted positive influence on the interviewer thereby distracting from the goal of conducting an effective interview. --Mirror Image - Similar background or personality style to the interviewer is another bias factor and potentially can derail an effective interview.
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Meet An Associate Jay Schneider
Jay is a Senior Project Director with the talent acquisition group of HCA. He has over 30 years' experience in recruiting, search, counseling, and training after a successful financial career. His role is leading talent acquisition projects, developing best practices in talent acquisition, coaching and retention management program development. Prior to HCA, Jay was the Washington, DC area director of career placement services for PricewaterhouseCoopers for almost 10 years. Before that he was the Washington, DC regional director for Source Finance, a national recruiting and search firm. He provided client services to a variety of clients, including Fortune 100 corporations, small entrepreneurial compa- nies, and professional firms across the spectrum of Washington, DC area industries. Jay began his career in financial management where he held senior positions with several companies, including Telenet, MCI and Schlumberger Ltd. Jay graduated from Yale University and earned an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a CPA. He has been active in many civic, community, and professional organizations.
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Meet An Advisor
Sarah Happel
Sarah provides profession- al development services to HCA clients. She excels at cultivating performance excellence in individuals, teams and organizations. With over 15 years in communication and transition management, she has worked with leaders from 5 continents and is fluent in 3 languages. A Fulbright grantee, Sarah brings her framework of team dynamics and a winning mindset to every engagement. Great teams use modern methods of learning, data collection, and analysis to enhance their performance and Sarah brings this orientation to the corporate playing field. A Georgetown University certified leader- ship coach, she has experience with numerous 360 instruments, including a certification in the Hay Group's ESCI. As 2011-12 executive chair for the International Monetary Fund Family Association, Sarah led a 35-year old association to a new playing field, creating a new brand, spearheading orientations, workshops and an award-winning coaching program. Sarah has taught human communication at Lasell College in Boston.
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