The Cardinal Rules of Good Interviewing

I remember conducting my first interview like it was yesterday. I was the production manager in a high-end furniture company and had department floor strength of 29 workers at the time. I was interviewing candidate ‘No.30’. But this interview was more significant for other reasons than just a nice round number. The position I was conducting interviews for was for the floor supervisor position. While there was a lot of talent in my department, they needed a leader to watch over the more trivial aspects of managing a team. Clearly the person for this job needed to have some ‘leadership’ under their belt. And so after sifting through numerous resumes over weeks, I finally narrowed it down to two candidates. I remember scheduling them on the same day, one before lunch and the other after. This was going to be a good opportunity to exercise some interviewing skills.

The first candidate had all the credentials on paper. He had worked in supervisory positions before, was used to being in charge and working under the pressure of goals and targets. But he was a very ‘by the book’ player. When I asked him what he would do in a unique situation, he could not think out of the box. The second candidate, whose resume did not match the first one’s, was a more intuitive leader. He seemed to understand the pulse of a team and had the creativity to handle out of the normal situations. So on the one hand I had a candidate who was very methodical and rigid and on the other I had a candidate who was intuitive and creative. In hindsight though I realized that I probably didn’t give them an equal shot or do justice to how their skills fit into the job requirements. I had interviewed them with different parameters and the results were apples and oranges. I had no way to gauge which one was better for the job. Looking back now I could have done things a lot better in terms of interviewing skills.

• Job requirement vs. Benefit to the job – While I gauged them on their skills and abilities, I was more interested in what they could bring to the job to add to its overall efficiency (or even diversity), instead of determining if what they had, was what the job fundamentally required.
• The Whole Package – I seemed satisfied with the fact that they were one-dimensional in their skills or abilities. While certain employees may lean heavily toward their natural strengths, it is important sometimes for the sake of their own careers that they grow or develop in the areas of weaknesses. Determining this is a crucial part of interviewing.
• Compatibility with Vision – Ultimately, what is most important is not what an employee can bring to the table or which one was better for the job but rather which one, in the larger scheme of things, would fit better not only for the job but also in the larger context of understanding one’s contribution to the company as a whole.

InterviewingSkills Training  plays a vital role in preparing the hiring manager to conduct interviews in an efficient manner to best determine the right candidate, not only for the job but also in terms of the larger need of the company. Even successful corporations today understand the importance of factoring in not only skill but also attitude in such training. 

MMM Training Solutions conducts interviewing skills training, corporate training, soft skills training, cross cultural training and leadership training programs for corporates in India and abroad.