At some point you’ll be faced with hiring people. It’s a tricky
process, and one that can often go wrong. As a manager hiring someone,
you need to take responsibility for the process and the outcome. While
bad hires can be a result of many factors, the manager shares some
responsibility for the failure. Either you hired the wrong person or
you failed in some way to support them once they were hired. This is
yet another area where a good manager should take responsibility for
both successes and failures.
And remember, you should expect the candidate to be prepared for the
interview, but they have every right to expect the same courtesy from
you. Interviewing without planning is a waste of everyone’s time. Make
sure everyone is clear on the role and responsibilities involved, and
what key traits you are looking for in a candidate. You should also
take notes during the interview – just enough detail to remind you of
key things the candidate said.
What follows are some suggestions to help with the interviewing process.
Summary
When hiring there are three questions that have to be answered:
A) Can the candidate do the job?
B) Will the candidate do the job?
C) Will the candidate fit in with the rest of the team/company
Hopefully (A) is pretty obvious. The candidate may not have exactly
the skills and experience you need, but they have to convince you that
they are able to do the job.
(B) is all about the candidate’s motivation, whether they can manage themselves and their general attitude to getting work done.
(C) is really about personality and interpersonal skills. Some
people may be able and willing to do the job and just not be a fit for
the company. In a perfect world you really want a candidate that will
fit with the rest of your team. If they don’t, it’s a recipe for
trouble down the road.
How you establish answers to these three areas is up to you. What
follows are some general guidelines.
Process
As a general rule, any prospective hire should be interviewed by at
least two people within your company. However, other than for very
senior staff or very early hires, it is my opinion that “full day”
interviews where candidates meet everyone including the company dog are
largely a waste of time.
Ideally, the candidate should be interviewed by their prospective
manager and a prospective peer within the company. The manager should
focus on (A) and spend some time on (B). The peer should also spend
some time on (B) but primarily focus on (C).
Why shouldn’t the manager focus on (C)? Except in the smallest of
companies, the manager will not be the one working directly with the
candidate on a daily basis. Conversely, while a peer may have an idea
of the skills necessary to do the job, a manager should be better
qualified to make that call.
Generally you should keep the interview relatively informal. Not
unprofessional, just informal. Most candidates will be nervous and a
draconian environment isn’t going to help. A perfectly capable
candidate for a demanding job can still suffer from nerves. Besides,
the more relaxed the candidate is, the more likely they are to be
themselves (for better or for worse). Remember, while you are hiring
the ideal candidate, what you end up with is the “real” candidate.
Anyone can make themselves look good for a couple of hours in an
interview. That’s pretty far removed from 40 hours a week.
Finally, always always always follow up after an interview. Even if
the answer is “no”. Don’t keep people hanging on indefinitely and let
them know what their status is regardless of whether it’s good news or
not. Why? First of all, it’s just not good business practice. Secondly,
they may be right for a different position in the future, or know
someone else who may be ideal for the position. A bad reputation
travels faster and lasts longer than a good reputation. Don’t let
something as trivial as interview follow up impact your company.
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