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Streamline interview process to get the best hires
Every organisation casts a wide net to hire the best resources. Nevertheless, only a few can actually boast of bagging prized catches on a regular basis. In spite of spending huge amounts of money on the recruitment process, most organisations end up recruiting mediocre talent.
This is because of certain inherent gaps in the interview process. These prevent the organisations from spotting the right talent and making productive hires.
Undoubtedly, the quality of hires depends to a large extent on the competence of the interviewers and the tools they use to assess the candidates. It is a common practice to constitute ad hoc interview panels based on the positions for which interviews are conducted.
Their decisions are wrought with judgmental bias, as some of the members on the panel are unprepared to handle interviews. All result in snap decisions and superficial assessments.
If right candidates are rejected on wrong grounds, it is a waste of time, money and effort. An analysis of the assessment process can throw light on why average candidates score over good candidates during the interviews.
The personal likes and dislikes of the interviewers actually turn the tables in favour of mediocre candidates and lead to the rejection of good candidates.
Quick judgment by the interviewers during the first few minutes is major reason for such mix-ups. A candidate may be good but he often fails to make a good first impression on the interviewers because of initial nervousness.
A good interviewer can distinguish between initial nervousness and incompetence. In the case of nervousness, he will put the candidate at ease and then assess him on all the important parameters. Only then will he select or reject him. A weak interviewer on the other hand will reject the candidate based on the first impression.
Some members of the panel may take an instant liking for some candidates. Educational background from top-notch universities and previous experience at reputed organisations are some factors that play an important role and give a distinct edge to some candidates over the others.
The interviewers tend to be considerate towards the candidates they like and push them forward. In their zeal to hire candidates from top universities or those having MNC experience the interviewers overlook other more important qualities that determine the right fit.
The person could be a high profile candidate but can be a hiring mistake if he is not a perfect match to the job in question or the company culture.
Even if there is a single interviewer who is unprepared or less than competent, chances of losing good candidates is high.
This is because he is likely to base his selection and rejection of candidates on wrong reasons.
A person could be a highly efficient manager or a technical expert but may not be so good at assessing potential candidates as he lacks interviewing skills.
Many organisations are recognising the importance of honing interviewing skills of their employees.
They are focusing on training their employees to spot the talent best suited to their company needs.
Hiring in haste leads to repentance later. Here are some guidelines to systematise the hiring process to enable the interviewers to take more prudent decisions and hire productive resources:
• Make the assessment process more formal and evidence based.
• Make the selection or rejection of candidates a team effort. Individual yes/no votes of interviewers should be replaced by a consensus vote.
• Introduce a systematic rating system to enable the interviewers to arrive at a consensus regarding each candidate’s suitability to a particular job role.
• Develop a rating system after a thorough analysis of skill requirements of each job role. List the necessary skill sets such as technical skills, problem solving abilities, qualifications, experience and other qualities specific to the role in a score card after assigning due weights.
Soft skills and general cultural fit should also be given due credence.
• Conduct periodic reviews of the assessment process and the interviewers’ decisions.
It can help in rectifying hiring mistakes. Training panel members on how to rank individuals with respect to important parameters can help reduce interviewers’ bias.
A systematic approach to hiring process can reduce the ill effects of snap decisions and superficial assessments.
This way the quality of hires improves drastically and the organisation can gain better value for the time, money and efforts expended on the hiring process.
N. PURNIMA SRIKRISHNA
faqs@cnkonline.com
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