An interview evaluation form, also known as a candidate evaluation form, is a tool designed for hiring teams to report their feedback about a job applicant after a round of interviews.

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Great interviewers are not born…they’re made.   While the notion that some managers are better at judging talent can be true, there are some simple things that an average interviewer can do to become a better interviewer – fast!  Here are three of our favorites: Continue reading →

Culture eats strategy for breakfast.   Ever hear that saying?

I hear it all the time.   And it’s true.   Basically what it means is that no matter how brilliant your strategic “plan on a page” is, it won’t happen if the company culture doesn’t support it.

While I’m not a fan of using the word “fit”, it’s a term that most people understand as meaning — someone who fits the culture.    The problem that I have with that mindset is that when you over-index on “fit” you become blind to building a diverse workforce.    That’s how an “old boys network” gets built.

To combat this, I recommend assessing for cultural fit  AFTER you’ve identified what your culture really is and what types of behaviors you’ll allow inside your company. Continue reading →

The freelance movement is upon us!

In the United States alone, it is estimated that 30% of all employable people are working as freelancers.   Since they’re not on anyone’s payroll, our government calls them “unemployed.”   The truth is, they’re anything BUT unemployed.

One of the biggest challenges that people have when hiring a freelancer is knowing who to select.   Since there are hundreds of thousands of freelancers in the U.S. and many millions more concentrated in talent surplus areas across the world, buyers have more than enough candidates to choose from.    As a result, learning how to interview a freelancer is critical. Continue reading →

In the last several years it’s become clear to me that companies need to start rethinking their interview process and the questions that they ask.

While some companies have begun to design modern assessments, most are simply reusing the same questions that have been asked for the last 100 years.

To be truly effective at interviewing, you need to spend time constructing questions that have the ability to uncover the skills or motivations necessary to be successful at your company.

So why do we, as interviewers, continue to fall back to the line of questioning that began at the dawn of the industrial revolution?

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Recently, I was so shocked by the transformation that one of my coworkers made during a panel interview that I decided to sit down and write about a topic that no one ever really talks about — interview styles.

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The Interwebs are a wonderful thing, aren’t they?   You can make financial transactions online, keep in touch with friends halfway across the world and now, thanks to websites like Glassdoor.com, job candidates can be fully prepared for their next interview.   In fact, they can actually walk into the interview knowing exactly what questions you’re going to ask them!

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A very basic task that a recruiter must perform is following up with a candidate immediately after an interview.   We call this a post-interview candidate debrief.   This routine task lets you know if a candidate is still interested, what their concerns are and what they’re thinking relative to salary, relo, benefits, spousal concerns, etc.
 

Another use for the follow-up call is to do a little candidate experience checkup. 

Don’t wait until a bad review ends up on GlassDoor before you address a nightmare experience that someone had.

 
What I’ve found over the years when probing around this area is that there are clues to why you’re scaring off really great talent.  These clues can be found in the follow-up call script.
 

Call it what you want — spying on your hiring managers or simply collecting feedback on your hiring process — but the series of questions below may help you gain insights into improving your interview process and increasing your “Offer-To-Accept Ratio”.
 
It’s goes something like this…
 
“So, tell me about your interview experience with us…”
 
1.   Was your itinerary accurate and helpful?  How could we improve it?

2.   Did the interview start on time?  Where there any hiccups during the day?

3.   Regarding the people you met with…did everyone stick to the script or was it more of a casual conversation?

4.  Would you say the interview was easy or hard?   Why?

5.   Did you feel a connection between you and the hiring manager?  In what ways?  What about the other people you met?  Who were you most impressed with and why?
 
Using some of these questions in the past, I’ve had candidates tell me some really concerning things.    For the most part, I usually hear that managers don’t stick to the script…they make up their own (bad) interview questions and usually talk too much…not letting the candidate properly sell themselves.
 
I thought it would fun to just assemble the top 5 complaints that I’ve heard from job applicants over the years in hopes that it saves at least 1 reader out there from making one of these common mistakes.
 
So here you go…how to scare off great candidates in 5 easy steps (or less):
 

Step 1:  Start by adding an excessive number of interviewers to the agenda.

A lot of managers cover up their insecurities by adding 6, 7, 8…10 people to the interview process.  Research has shown that beyond 4 or 5 “key” people, the law of diminishing returns kicks in.    Having more opinions doesn’t always generate a better outcome.  In fact, it slows down and complicates the process and contributes to “group think” — not to mention creating a bad candidate experience.
 

Step 2: Screw up the candidate’s agenda or itinerary

There’s nothing worse than being nervous in a strange building, in an uncomfortable outfit and everyone is scrambling to figure out where you’re supposed to be.    It’s also a bad signal if you, the interviewer, show up late.   Not only does it make you look disorganized but it also cuts down your assessment time and forces you both to feel rushed.
 

Step 3: Show up unprepared for the interview

Don’t wait until the last second to print off a resume or put together an interview guide.   Interviewing is extremely important and it takes a lot of concentration.   You must be in the right mindset to evaluate talent.    If you’re scrambling for a pen or a conference room or a bottle of water for the candidate, you’re already off course.
 

Step 4:  Conduct an easy or overly friendly interview

Weak candidates love easy interviews.   Top candidates are scared off by easy interviews because they begin to doubt the quality of talent at the organization.    Make your interviews hard and relevant.  Ask great questions, probe deeply, test, give homework, etc.   Not only will you get better results, but you’ll make the best candidates think that your company sets a high bar for talent.   You don’t have to play Sergeant RapidFire with a candidate, but you should challenge them in every way possible.
 

Step 5:  Sell the job too hard, too early

This seems simple enough.  You’re supposed to sell the candidate right?    Yes and no.   You should, but not too early and not too hard.   You don’t want to come off as desperate, needy or unprepared.  Take your time and ask all of your interview questions.  Assess the candidate properly.   Then, when you’re satisfied that the candidate is “top drawer”, you can sell the job.   Let them ask questions and then sell based on their biggest needs.

Modern resume sourcing technology has made finding candidates today incredibly easy.   The problem is…it’s a little too easy!

Companies today are receiving more unqualified applicants than at any point in the history of employment.   As a result, we’re seeing a shift in the recruitment technology market from companies offering services to help you “find” more candidates, to services that save you time by “filtering” down applicants. Continue reading →

 
Have you ever interviewed a candidate and knew right away that it’s just not going to work out?
 
I think we’ve all been there.
 
So how do you handle this? Do you let them finish the scheduled itinerary or do you cut it short?
 
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