3 Refreshing Approaches to Conducting an Interview
In the midst of creating a three-fold project to recruit, retain, and empower teams, I offer hiring managers 3 approaches that will more quickly reveal who applicants are beneath the “formal interview.”
Go with me here:
Your open position is waiting to be filled.
You collected a stack of applicants.
You’ve got your interviews lined up.
Now it’s time to get cracking. What questions do you ask?
Here are 3 refreshing approaches an interviewer can take to discover who candidate really is beyond their resume:
1. TAKE A WALK
Before you even touch on strengths, weaknesses, qualifications, or salary, get to know the human in front of you.
If you’re not conducting the interview via Zoom, take a walk. Get out of the boardroom, office, or coffee shop and take a stroll. Remove the barrier of a cold desk or table between you and walk alongside the interviewee. This will help calm their probable nerves, as some research indicates “that eye contact can increase anxiety levels, which suggests that walking side by side…could feel more comfortable for some folks.”
In this walk, focus on questions like:
What’s your ideal work environment?
What led to you applying for this position?
What areas of our company are you especially excited about?
As you stroll, it’ll be easy to determine for yourself if you enjoy walking and talking shop with this potential employee acting like a little relationship demo for you.
Show them around the office and notice their reaction.
Recognize how they interact with the various characters you come across when out and about.
Getting individuals up and out of the stagnant interview setting that they prepared for and on an unpredictable city street will more quickly reveal the kind of person they are.
2. BIGGEST MISCONCEPTION
“What is the biggest misconception people have of you?”
This question will show you the interviewee’s level of self-awareness and their ability to process outside feedback.
Are they offended that people find them cold or unapproachable or shy? How do they frame that criticism when retelling it to you?
Did they try to correct the misconception in response, or did they cast blame on others for misunderstanding them?
There’s a chance they’ve never been made aware of any misconceptions others have of them. Essentially, what you see might jus be what you get with them, and that’s helpful to learn as well.
3. RED BRICK TEST
“No right or wrong answers. If I gave you a red brick and a white cloth, what would you do with them? I’ll give you 60 seconds to list as many things as you can think of.”
This is a trick out of Ray Blakney’s book.
The idea is to get a picture of someone’s ability to think outside the box, on their feet, and tap into their creativity.
This exercise is a good indicator of how comfortable someone is with giving a less-than-perfect answer. Candidates gripped by perfectionism or fear of failure likely will not give more than 2-3 answers, whereas someone unafraid to look a little silly to get the job done will go the distance and deliver.
Spotting a good hire goes beyond determining whether their pre-cooked answers are passable or not. In order to truly grasp the quality of their character, creativity, and potential we must approach them from unexpected, human angles.
Approaching recruitment with a refreshing strategy will go far in revealing who interviewees are beneath the surface.