Many companies have employees with no real training interview candidates; that’s as crazy as putting a teenager behind the wheel of a car with no training.
Your teenager just turned sixteen and is now eligible to drive. What do you do? Do you say,
Hey, you’ve seen me drive right? You know about the gas and the break and how the steering wheel works. OK, great, you’ve got the idea. Here are the keys to the car; good luck and try not to hit anyone.
That would be insanity. They probably do know what the pedals and the steering wheel do but that doesn’t mean they’re ready to drive. Mechanical knowledge (not the mechanics of the engine, but meaning the working components needed to operate the car) is not enough. Practice and experience are key.
Your new hire has been at work a few weeks when a candidate is scheduled to come in for an interview. What do you do? Do you say
Hey, you’ve been in an interview before, right? I think you were in an interview when we hired you. You know about asking questions and deciding if the person is good or not. OK, great, you’ve got the idea. Here are the keys to the interview room; good luck and try not to hit anyone.
It sounds equally crazy and yet this is exactly what we do. We think people, having been a candidate, are able to conduct an interview and yet it's as crazy as thinking a life-long passenger with no training is ready to drive the car.
You can learn to drive a car pretty quickly. It may take a while to get good, but depending on how quickly you pick it up, many people are significantly better after even a few hours of focused practice with a driving instructor.
The same is true for interviews. Even a few hours of training, including some mock interviews with reflection, can help you become a significantly better interviewer. It’s a massive ROI because better interviewers lead to better hires which is what drives productivity. Deloitte notes that for many Fortune 500 firms labor is 50-60% of the cost. If people were making decisions on 50% of your budget, isn’t even a few hours of training worth it?
For many office jobs, the people are the ones who make or break a company’s success. As such finding the right people is paramount and that means training up the people who make the selections.
(See also What Restaurants Teach Us about Hiring.)
It’s critical to learn about corporate culture before you accept a job offer but it can be awkward to raise such questions. Learn what to ask and how to ask it to avoid landing yourself in a bad situation.
Investing just a few hours per year will help you focus and advance in your career.
Groups with a high barrier to entry and high trust are often the most valuable groups to join.
