When I started my career as a team leader I was excited to learn interviewing skills as this was the foundation of forming a performing team, as a young team manager who was just elevated I would tend to select people who had similar traits that I possessed however this wasn’t a comprehensive way of getting right talent.
Getting the right resource is never easy , I remember reading Iacocca -Autobiography of the great Lee Iacocca. When Henry ford Jr. fired him from Ford (Because he had become too famous), he decided to join Chrysler which was a sinking ship then , his mission was to put Chrysler back on track and for that he wanted to build a world class team. He then said that “In any interview its difficult to know if the guy is hard working or not AND if the guy has horses sense.” Challenges of interviews were different then and different now.
Over a period of time I changed gears and wanted to learn more and more on how to interview people more effectively, to minimise the chance of a wrong hire. I had experimented with stress interviews , quick questions, objective type questions etc. All of this did help to get some perspective of aspirants but gradually I realised that the best way to know inside out of candidates was to make them extremely comfortable so that they could express themselves without any fear. This lets you know the real side of people, this is also a trap because when people are too comfortable they tend to open up much more if not completely and that’s what is the objective of any interview.
So, my first principle is to clearly state that :
“Its a discussion not any interview. What I intend to know from the discussion is both your personal and professional side of life.”
I also give specifics like:
Touch upon following in no specific order: Where were you born, anything significant you want to touch upon from your childhood, schooling, college days, what extra curricular activities were you part of.
Who are your best friends , what do they do. What do you like about about them.
Your stints and accomplishments ? Which is your biggest personal and professional achievement.
Do you have a special talent?
What’s one thing you are really proud of?
Any difficult situation where you emerged successfully, how did you turn it around?
Whats your understanding of current role?
I take out time to talk great stuff about my company so that even if candidate is not shortlisted/joining the team they have great impression of the workplace.
Above format has given me great comfort in assessing people the right way , cross questioning wherever necessary in between is an integral part of the interview.
Whats has been your learning inbox me.
