Interviews

Today I had an interview with a future candidate in which I introduced behavior based questions. I am a strong advocate on keeping the process very consistent and driving the interview with standardized questions. Too many times organizations leave the hiring process up to one person and do not set measurements for these results. Hiring the right people is the most important task a business can take.

Today I held a panel interview in which the candidate met with myself and another person. For most candidates this is a very uncomfortable situation but is very effective. The candidate is surrounded by multiple people and they will only have to share experiences and history once. There is nothing more frustrating for a candidate to explain their resume 3 times to 3 different people, this process eliminates this frustration. This process also allows the panel to have a discussion about the candidate after the interview and deliberate over the questions and answers.

Although it is important to have follow up conversations of the candidate it is important that you have 100% consensus when making a hiring decision. If for some reason you have any reservations about someone you should hold off and look for another candidate. I think it is important to remember it is not how much you pay people it is the people that you pay. Hiring is an art and attracting and retaining the best talent takes skill and patience.