Getting
the Most From Your Candidate Interviews
By
O.J. Kerr
Working
with an executive search firm allows you to benefit from
its counsel, knowledge and expertise when it comes to
finding top talent for your firm. And while your search
partner can identify and recommend the best candidates
for you to interview, it's up to you to assess their ultimate
overall "fit" with your organization.
As
you go into the interview process here are a few things
to keep in mind:
Before
the interview...
In
addition to a candidate's resume, your search firm should
provide you with a candidate profile outlining its screening
and assessment of a presented candidate. This will include
key information about a candidate's strengths, weaknesses,
career objectives, salary expectations, insights and any
discrepancies or red flags on their resume (i.e. gaps
in employment, interpersonal skills, confusing career
choices, etc.). You can use this document as a reference
point when preparing for your candidate interviews.
You
should also review this document with your search partner.
Because search consultants interview up to 1,000 people
each year they can often provide insights and perspectives
(and coaching) far beyond what you'll see in a resume.
Go
in with a game plan
It's
a good idea to establish your interview agenda prior to
meeting candidates. Your goals during the interview sessions
with candidates should be threefold:
-
confirm
their skill set
-
determine
their "corporate fit"
-
sell
them the role
One
way to achieve these interview goals is by preparing
a list of standard questions to guide each session.
The trend is to use behavioural-type questions that
ask candidates to draw on their own professional experiences
and allow for greater dialogue during the interview.
Having different answers to the same questions will
enable you to compare multiple candidates both quickly
and fairly.
Break
the ice
Interviews
are often uncomfortable, awkward situations - and this
doesn't always allow you to observe an individual's
best qualities. Warm up the candidate (and yourself!)
with small talk and some easy questions to ease the
mood (i.e. "Was our office easy to find?"
or "Are you familiar with the neighbourhood?").
Once you've established a rapport you will get better
responses to your heavier, pithier interview questions.
The more candid the interview, the better you'll be
able to uncover the candidate's strengths and weaknesses
and decipher how sincere the candidate's answers are.
Confirm
the candidate's skill set
Ask
candidates for concrete work examples with respect to
certain aspects of your job opportunity. If they are short
on examples, they might be short on experience! Some insightful
questions may be:
Determine
corporate fit
Probably
the most important thing you can do
is determining corporate fit. While your recruiter has
worked hard to understand your company, you have the best
pulse on your corporate culture and the team the candidate
will be working with. How a candidate interacts with different
personalities and handles different peer-to-peer situations
are very important when determining how well he or she
will mesh with a team and how the team will accept its
new member. Some examples of questions to ask the candidate
are:
- How
do you deal with stress on the job?
- How
did you deal with a team member who wasn't pulling his
or her weight?
- What
would your boss or peer say is your greatest strength?
- What's
the worse thing we'll hear about you if we do reference
checks?
Sell
the role
Most
interviewers are so intent on qualifying a candidate that
they forget that the candidates are simultaneously trying
to qualify the opportunity for themselves. Great candidates
often consider multiple opportunities at once to ensure
that they get placed in a role that best suits their current
professional and personal needs. Allow candidates
to tell you what they're looking for in a job so you can
then feature the benefits of your role that best align
with their wants and needs.
In
closing...
Let
the candidate know when you will be making a decision about
your role. Make sure you can make this decision fairly quickly
because a good candidate will not be on the market for very
long.
Once
the interviews are complete, provide feedback on the candidates
to your executive search firm. If a candidate follows
up with you directly about your role, you should feel
comfortable with referring him or her back to your recruiter
- after all, this is part of the reason why search firms
are engaged in the first place: to take some of the work
off your plate.
Remember
that good people sometimes get passed up for positions not
because they're poorly qualified, but because they just
aren't the "right person" for the job. Candidates
may cry foul, but you can't afford to ignore your well-honed
subjectivity when it comes to building your company's workforce
and keeping your company's best interests in mind.
Only
you can decide whether or not a candidate is
well-suited for work at your organization, so close the
door and let the interviews begin!
-
O.J. Kerr's passion for people and commitment to superior
customer service makes her an excellent partner to clients'
executive search and recruiting assignments. [full
bio...]
| IQ
Insight is published by IQ
PARTNERS Inc.
IQ
PARTNERS helps intelligent companies hire better,
hire less and retain more. Our services include
Executive Search & Recruitment, Qualification
& Assessment, Employee Retention, Career Management
and Contract HR Services. We specialize in Marketing,
Communications, Media, Technology, Legal and Financial
Services, and operate at the mid-to-senior management
level. IQ PARTNERS has offices in Toronto and
Ottawa, and internationally via the Aravati
Global Search Network.
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