Bad Interviews Defeat Good People. Every Time.
Imagine you have to hire someone for your company without using any form of interview.
You have a pool of four finalists. Each meet the minimum requirements. Each person is entirely unknown to you. And it’s a key role. Your performance in the company will be dependent on the performance of this individual. Hire well and you will see some real gains. Hire poorly and you might find yourself demoted.
Again, you cannot use interviews. You cannot speak with the person, meet them, see them, or hear their voice. No video, no audio.
What would you do? How would you select the best person?
I, for one, would throw a battery of tests at the candidates. I would have them complete a work assignment, take a cognitive test, a personality test, and provide written answers to structured questions. The first set of structured questions would be in essay form. The second set, as a final round, would be an IM exchange.
This would not all happen at once, mind you. I’d have the candidate do this over a span of three rounds. I think the pacing is important.
And I would do the tests myself. I’d write my own answers before ever issuing it to others so that I could compare myself to them.
