Interview Tips for the Hiring Manager

Well, I know Hiring Managers don't like to be coached on how to do interviewing. But I think they don't mind reading a blog and making those necessary changes... so here I go with some tips.

1. Doing Structured Interviews

Often Hiring Managers do not have a structure around their interviews. When I say structure I don’t mean the sequence of questions but I am referring to more about the logic. For instance not many hiring managers know about the concept of using CAR (context, action, result) or STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result ) models which are really helpful. If the candidate says that he has been able to hit a revenue of X Rs (or $) in the very first quarter of his last job, asking context related questions such as what was the target, how well established the product is, what was the most sales done by anybody in team. Action related questions would be some thing like, what did the individual do get that sales, was it any different from any one else, what specific actions he has taken to cross sell or up sell the product. Questions related to Results center around, what percentage of total sales he contributed, was there any dip in costs related to their sales or did it cost more, did he end up exhausting the sales pipeline has success allowed good references and hence a perennial pipeline. To put it simply what was the context, which actions the individual took that made the difference and how did it impact the top or bottom line.

2. Interview Notes taking

Its a good practice to take interview notes. Agreed that it is difficult to keep an eye contact with the candidate while simultaneously taking notes, but as long as you tell the candidates upfront that you are making notes, it will make more happy and attentive too. The advantage with notes taking is, it will be easy to see whether or not the candidate suits the role. Cross comparing candidates that you meet over a period of over a week or two is easier. There are times when you will be impressed by the candidate but your Interview notes may not show enough reasons or facts which go in favor of hiring the candidate. The common mistake Hiring Managers do it they observe the candidate and straight away jump to evaluating the candidate. There are 2steps in between which are Recording and Classifying which a necessary to make intelligent and prudent hiring decisions.

3. Taking Decision

HM’s tend to keep candidates on hold. It is ok to keep a candidate on hold till a Hiring Manager sees at least 3 candidates. This helps to compare the candidates and take a good look at the talent available in the market. But keeping candidates on hold even after meeting the 1st three candidates would mean that the HM is indecisive and is going to waste both the candidate and the recruiter’s time. All the hiring manager has to take is a HIRE or NO HIRE decision. No sitting on the fence. Again using the above two techniques (Structured Interviwing and Notes taking) it becomes so easy for a Hiring Manager to take a decision.

4. Employment Branding
The Hiring Managers will assume a new responsibility as part of their interview process. Irrespective whether or not they like the candidate they have to make sure that the candidate experience is taken care off. Often times Hiring Managers are too occupied with testing the candidates abilities and spend little or no time to see whether or not the candidate is getting excited about the Opportunity or not. Some sensible Hiring Managers the moment they arrive at a hiring decision will spend the rest of their conversation during the interview to tell the prospective candidate about the career opportunities that lie with the specific job and company in general. But going forward Hiring Managers will be doing this to every candidate that they meet. Logic – If a candidate is meeting up with hiring manager it is obvious that the candidate has passed the assessments (if any) has shown fitment in the Recruiter Interview, and in some cases passed the technical/peer interview. So even if the candidate is not a 100% fit he is a decent prospect in terms of promoting the company. Birds of same feather flock together. Impress the guy with the opportunity with you, so that even if he does not get selected he will not bad mouth the company but rather feel that he missed an opportunity with a good company. Chances are that he might share about the opening with a stronger candidate than him. Your candidate becomes your recruiter !!!!

A look @ Sourcing with a different Lense

In the coming years, there's going to be phenomenal change in terms of how recruiters/companies source for candidates. Just the way traditional newspaper job ads were replaced by Internet job boards, there will be major shift in the ways and means of sourcing. Given below are few of my predictions around how sourcing channels are going to change…No I am not clairvoyant I am just a recruitment specialist who says things as it is..  

1. Job Boards will go under the scalpel
Yes, you read it right. I don’t mean to denigrate the usefulness of job boards. They still will exist but definitely not in the same form and shape. They got to change. The problem with the Job boards is companies will increasingly perceive that active candidates hanging around in job boards as C players who are not "HOT" and who do not have either enough performance credentials or enough contacts to find themselves a job they dream. May be they will give links to the candidates profile on the other social networks. May be they will give ratings to the candidates. May be they will allow recommendations to be attached as part of the resumes... I cant predict from here which way the wind will blow... but its going to change the direction in someway or other.

2. Social Media Recruitment
The loss of job boards is the gain of social networks. Passive candidates will get as much attention now as the active candidates. Recruiters will be forced to use Social Media networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Plaxo, Zoominfo, as they will be the new bastions of talent pools. No I am not talking about just having an Id and posting Job Descriptions. That will not get them any where. What they have to do is "listen", converse and interact with the talent. Which means that they would have to read stuff written in the groups, they would have to post questions, answer queries to make the top talent sit up and listen.

3. Employment Branding
Companies will increasingly put their efforts into employment brand building. They got to. They don't have a choice. Their career sites, their PR, their Job Ads, all would need to carry a strong employment branding message. Companies will have to talk about to the candidate pools about the benefits, values, or attitudes of the company so as to make sure it is attracting the right talent and repelling the candidates who don't fit their culture.

4. University Relations
Campus Recruitment is out, that’s old thinking. University Relations is in and it’s the new paradigm. You will see companies approaching the colleges right at the beginning of the year rather than just before the students pass out. Companies will partner with the colleges, collaborate and reap the benefits. To have a seamless integration what is needed is long terms efforts & yearlong investment and not a quick fix solution of campus hiring in October/November. Summer Internships & Regular Internships will grow. Companies will track the top students throughout the year, mentor and coach and build relations.

It’s no more a question of reaching candidate pool deep and wide, the success mantra now boils down to reaching top talent. If your sourcing techniques are not tailored around this then you are going to miss your bull’s eye by a mile.

Feel free to add any other major shifts in sourcing as comments

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I am a Recruitment Professional, an avid reader, and Social Media Enthusiast. I will be using this blog space to share interesting stuff that I get to learn on an every day basis.

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