Are You a Poser When You Interview?

You know how to spot a weak candidate.

But who's watching you?

Every person you interview.  The way you behave is often the tipping point to whether the headlining superstar or solid role player speaking to you about joining your team - will be inspired, or keep looking for another career opportunity.

The problem?

Most hiring managers have never been coached on how to interview.  Never been fully trained.  Never given a full set of interview tools - from initial candidate contact through interview workouts then negotiations, and finally staying in contact, so your new player is excited about their first day on your team.

You’re told to just... interview.  Confidently.  Repeatedly.  And often, expensively wrong.

TRUTH CHECK

Interviewing is a skill.  Like every skill, it requires coaching, practice, and honest feedback to improve.

Here is how you should have been prepared to hire great people:

TOOLS:  Were you given a full set of interview scorecards, questions, exercises, scenarios, scrimmages to run with existing team members?

STANDARDS:  Did a hiring expert explain, demonstrate, and test your understanding of body language, tone of voice, how to set expectations, and how to be a role model for the team member you want the candidate to be?

3T:  Did anyone Teach you the basics, Test your understanding, then Train and mentor you until you mastered the skills?  The basics are your Standards (above), active listening skills, and how you communicate with candidates and your hiring team.

ROLEPLAY:  This is a key part of the second “T” of 3T:  Did anyone roleplay with you through one or more types of interviews?  Most people do not, and their interview skills show it.

COACH:  How often does someone sit in on your interviews or review recordings, and then help you expand your strengths and build your skills in areas where you can grow?

DEBRIEF:   Do you debrief with your hiring team after interviews, or just to make hiring decisions?  Sometimes the failure of a candidate is the interviewer’s fault - and not debriefing your process and interview skills is allowing good people to walk away, or motivating candidates to speak negatively of your company.

EXIT:  There’s a lot of key skills and processes to demonstrate at the end of each interview and how you communicate with candidates - who are a match or not.  One key checkpoint most people disregard:  Do you ask candidates how the interview went for them?  Was there anything they wanted to learn that was missing?  How could it have been better?

If your honest answer to most of these questions is no - you are making hiring mistakes.  You are checking the box - being irresponsible in some areas rather than your best.

The candidates across the table have often been coached, or at least they prepare and rehearse.  The good ones are their best.

Are you?

The best leaders hire great people.  But great hiring requires great interview skills and process - the result of creating a superior hiring process and mentoring program for everyone on your team involved in adding new people.

If you realize you and/or others involved in your hiring could be better, then let's talk.

#HiringStrategy #HiringManagers #LeadershipDevelopment #HiringMistakes #GreatLeadersHireGreatPeople