The Not-So-Effective Interview A Tip From The Manager’s Answer Book

Arriving at the office suite for her interview, she rang the bell. There was no receptionist, but a gentleman opened the door and let her in. “I'm here to see Krista,” she said. “I'll get her,” he replied. 

Krista came out in a few minutes, introduced herself, and escorted her to a conference room. She gestured to water and coffee. “Help yourself. I'll be right back.”  

When she returned, Krista was followed by the man and another woman.  “I'm Zack and this is Jeanine,” he said extending his hand. Settling in a chair, Zack quickly took charge of the interview, with Krista and Jeanine occasionally asking questions. 

She was briefly thrown off her guard. This was not the interview experience she was expecting. She thought she’d be interviewing with Krista. Everyone was pleasant and professional, and all the questions asked were relevant. However, no explanations were offered as to who Zack and Jeanine were and why they were part of the interview? It was distracting. The experience did, however, result in a job offer the very next day, an offer she accepted. 

Manager’s Tip:  The interview is an integral part of the candidate experience, and we talk about it in The Manager’s Answer Book.  

Query: “Should I interview them (the final candidates) myself or ask some of the department heads to join me when we meet the candidates?”  One piece of advice we give: “if you choose to do a panel interview, let the job applicant know before they arrive for the interview, and give them the names and titles of who will be on the panel.”

We have more to say about interview types and processes, which you’ll find on page 95 of The Manager’s Answer Book.  We hope you’ll take the time to read it. 

What's Your Exerience

Recently, I heard a colleague talking about the customer experience. He had nine customer experience imperatives that he thought every company should practice.  I couldn’t help but draw the comparison between the customer experience and the candidate experience. So many of these imperatives apply to HR, especially in our roles of attracting the best talent to our organizations. Let's take a look at some of these imperatives.

Personalized and tailored experiences. It's no longer a one-size-fits-all world in many respects.  There are a great deal of tools and differing technologies that help us source and attract candidates to our organization. Custom tailor experiences for your candidates as you would for your customers. It’s the platinum rule rather than the golden rule that’s important. We’re not all alike, so treat other people the way they want to be treated not the way you want to be treated. For example, communicate with candidates using the media that they prefer and use and not the media with which you’re most comfortable. This means varying communication methods as well as sourcing methods. Know where to find your ideal candidate.

Provide advice and learning opportunities. Be a curator of information. For example, through blogs and white papers on your website, or through LinkedIn, share information about what your organization or industry is doing. Use storytelling to share facts and antidotes. Give people something to talk about. Get candidates excited about your company so they’ll want to work for you.

Be a part of their journey. Remember the job search is not just one experience at a time but rather it's the path that the candidate takes from the time they start exploring new opportunities to when they come to work for you. Their journey is made up of a countless string of experiences that relate to you: how they first heard about you, what their first visit to your website was like, what they may have learned about you on social media, their first interaction with someone from your company, what the interview was like – from the time they parked their car to when they met their potential future boss.  These are all part of their experience. Make sure their journey is a positive one.

Engaged employees. Consider the individual a candidate will meet when they first set foot into your organization – their future colleagues. If you have an engaged and friendly workforce it’s going to show – no shine – through to the candidate. Consider the story I heard recently from a young man pursuing his teaching certificate. On a visit to a local school to complete an assignment for his studies, he was blown away by the people he met. Students and faculty walking down the hall greeting him in a friendly manner – “Hi, how’s it going? Can I help you? Hey, who are you – welcome to the school.” It’s certainly a place he’d like to work.

Neither HR nor talent management work in a silo in their organizations. All the departments and parts of the organization work together and can learn lessons from each other. A business model that is built around positive experiences is a win for everyone!