Two out of every three hiring mangers fear they will miss something about a candidate at an interview that will come back to haunt them. This makes the hiring interview one of the most expensive conversations a manger will have.
In late 2008, Scott Erker, Ph.D., of DDI, surveyed more than 3,500 job seekers and 1,900 interviewers about the interview process. The result, Are You Failing the Interview, is a new study exploring how hiring managers think they’re doing in the interview process and examining candidate reactions to interviewing practices. His research findings lead to some interesting findings:
Interviewers make hasty decisions
Forty seven percent of managers spend less than 30 minutes reviewing candidate’s interview results with other work colleagues before making a decision. Interestingly, most of these managers ultimately made independent decisions with only very brief consultation with other interviewers (this supposes they had a panel interview – most didn’t!).
In short, most managers make a hiring decision in less than 30 minutes. Or to paint a more vivid picture, would you decide to marry after 30 minutes with your blind date?
Scott’s research is quick to explain that you can make good decisions in the above time frame under the following conditions…
- The interview was multi-rated – i.e. more than one person conducted the interview.
- The answer to each interview question was rated and entered into a rating sheet that aligned the questions to the competencies required for the job.
- The interview team reviewed and discussed the candidate’s answers immediately following the interview.
Half the interviewers had no formal training.
This is one of the biggest issues – all told, 58% of interviewers reported having either no interview training or relying on their gut instinct; 16% had no idea how to conduct an interview!
It’s interesting to see that of those who have had formal interview training, 84% (versus 66% no formal training) were more confident in their hiring decisions, their hiring skills and the quality of people they hired.
Interviewers are unrealistic about their skills
Many hiring managers thought they were pretty good at “reading” people; they felt they had impeccable instinct. The old “I can pick ’em when I see them”. They justify their confidence with statements like, “I’ve been hiring people for 20 years”. Or, “I always make the right decisions”.
Who are these people fooling – they are fooling themselves. Nobody can “read” people in the space of 30 minutes – some spouses may argue it’s impossible to do after 30 years!
Underneath the brazen air of confidence sits the real story. Sixty-four percent of interviewers admitted missing critical information that showed up later and was a major contributor to poor performance
Lack of legal diligence puts companies at risk
Only 5% of managers (the lowest ranking) had concerns that they would ask illegal or inappropriate questions. However, when tested against 7 illegal interview questions, most got these wrong. This puts your organisation at great risk of a personal grievance.
One of the simplest illegal questions, “Are you married?” highlights this risk. The average incorrect answer across all countries surveyed was a whopping 67%.
Interview techniques turn candidates off
The employment interview is not just about the employee – what about the candidates? Just under half of all job seekers rated the following as big “turn-offs”:
- The interview was more like an interrogation
- The company took too long to get back to me (if at all)
- The company was not “up-front” with details about salary, hours of work and job expectations.
- They kept me waiting for a long time and asked irrelevant questions that had nothing to do with the job
- I felt they had no time to talk to me and that they were totally unprepared for the interview.
Most hiring managers are very poor at conducting a multi-rated behavioural interview. Yet, the way most managers interview, a general chit-chat is akin to making a hiring decision after staring into a crystal ball.
Unstructured hiring interviews are the most expensive and the least valid predictor of future job success, yet, they are the most used tool in the hiring process – beats me!
