After spending a few weeks searching for a new office manager, we’re at interview stage. Last week, we conducted a second round of interviews with candidates. Even though the position will not directly report to me, I requested to be a part of the process at this stage. The three of us on the Management Team decided that since we have a small staff, any hiring decision ought to be made in consultation with the other team director.
Now after being on the interviewee side of the table for the past few months, you’d think that I would have learned a few things. Maybe I did. What I found interesting was that I was very cold with both candidates. Not unfriendly, but definitely at arm’s length. Isn’t that how we’re taught to be in interviews?
I distinctly noticed that they were nervous and was curious to see how they would handle their circumstance. Would they find a groove? Would they find this groove in spite of me and my colleagues? Do I want to make this easy on them or do I want to test their ability to handle stress? Is that the purpose of the interview? Of course it’s not the sole purpose, but the whole experience is a test of the candidate’s interactions and responses to pointed questions.
So why am I less than satisfied with how I performed as an interviewer and the interview process as a whole? Because deep down I know there is a better way. I slipped into a preordained role of "interviewer" keeping to the pattern of what an interview is supposed to be like. Sure it wasn’t completely my interview to conduct (after all, I was invited to this second round). However, as a part of the Management Team, I have the ability to introduce other models of hiring. With this thought, I get to actually take a challenge and transform it into yet another opportunity.
Seems like a lot a rambling with this post. If you’ve made it this far, thanks for being a co-conspirator in at least beginning to rethink the whole hiring process. Let’s have some fun making it up as we go.
RE: "What if it was an actual conversation focused on mutual learning."
Dial up the sound of cheering, please!
I've had a number of those - on both sides of the table. They have always worked out well, even when I was the applicant (or consultant looking for a gig) and the work went to someone else.
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