5 New Interview Techniques You Should Be Using

By Julia Dunn on April 17, 2018

Most of us–especially employers–are familiar with the classic job interview techniques. You invite a candidate in for an interview, and when the day arrives, you present the candidate (or group of them) with a list of questions. Maybe you even send the questions to them in advance so they can prepare. In the conference room, as they begin to answer “why do you want this job?” and “do you prefer to work better collaboratively or individually?” you begin furiously scribbling down notes and details surrounding their qualifications and abilities. You’ve looked at the candidate’s resume, and feel as though you have a good sense of whether they are right for the job or not.

But what if the usual interview techniques so deeply integrated into the hiring world are actually letting qualified candidates slip through the cracks? Is it time to rethink and revamp the way we hire? Probably. Here are 5 new and different interview techniques you should start using.

Image by Caspar Rubin on Unsplash.com

1. Consider task-based challenges to reduce bias

Whether we like it or not, we carry implicit bias in our minds at all times. You may think your hiring practices are inclusive and equal-opportunity, but if you aren’t taking active steps to confront the subtle (yet still influential) bias that impacts your every decision, you might unknowingly exclude candidates whose abilities are perfectly suited to your open position.

You can’t address your potential implicit biases without knowing what they are; it’s helpful to take the Implicit Bias Test, also known as IAT, which has been widely used by professionals. The test, created by Project Implicit and researchers at Harvard University, is divided into various tests based on identity category. For instance, the “Gender-Career” test “often reveals a relative link between family and females and between career and males.” The Skin-tone (‘Light Skin – Dark Skin’ IAT) IAT “requires the ability to recognize light and dark-skinned faces.”

While this isn’t really an interview technique in itself, addressing implicit bias can lead to more inclusive hiring practices and better interviews.

You may have heard of the term “blind auditions” in the context of hiring; Gapjumpers, a company providing tools to “interrupt hiring bias to impact diversity, talent and business goals,” has pioneered these blind auditions through their platform, which employers can adopt for more accessible hiring.

Gapjumpers writes on their website,“Unlike with job boards, contract search firms or résumés, on our platform you host challenges tailored to your team’s needs to attract the right talent. Job applicants take challenges to help interrupt inherent biases in talent selection. Our blind audition process streamlines talent selection saving hiring managers and recruiting teams valuable time and resources by delivering a shortlist of top talent that has already demonstrated the skills they have and are committed to the opportunity.”

If you think hard about it, there is little reason to turn down an applicant who can successfully accomplish the demands of your job simply because their educational or personal background doesn’t necessarily look like we expect it to look. Using blind auditions in your workplace can make the hiring process much more fair and balanced, reducing the consequences of implicit bias and increasing the chances that qualified underrepresented or marginalized candidates make it onto your team without getting lost in the process.

2. Assess candidates using an “evidence-based” process

Evidence-based recruiting essentially means recruiting against a scorecard that outlines a set of factors necessary to be able to succeed in the job. An article by ere.net discusses an evidence-based process in which candidates are judged strictly relative to the following criteria:

  • Technical Competency to Do the Work

  • Motivation to Do the Work

  • Team Skills with Comparable Groups

  • Job-related Problem-Solving Ability

  • The Consistent Achievement of Comparable Results

  • Planning and Executing Comparable Work

  • Environment and Cultural Fit

  • Trend of Performance Over Time

  • Character and Values

  • Overall Potential

This list seems fairly transferable to many types of jobs, regardless of field. These evidence-based processes often tend to attract more optimal candidates; here are a few reasons why, as articulated by Inc.com:

  1. “The best people are only interested in the work they’ll be doing, not the skills they need to do the work. These people will be more willing to engage in a preliminary conversation if they find the work internally motivating.

  2. Assessment accuracy increases, since it’s based on the candidate’s past performance in comparison to real job needs, not his or her presentation skills and first impression.

  3. The structured performance-based interview has been found to be more legally sound and more predictive than the traditional behavioral interview. Here’s the key reason: Performance objectives are more meaningful and far more objective than a laundry list of skills and experiences.

  4. The structured process ensures all hiring managers are evaluating all candidates properly across all job needs. Most hiring managers naturally overvalue the quality of a person’s technical skills and competencies rather than the quality of the results they’ve achieved.

  5. The use of a formal, jury-like evidence-based assessment reduces the impact of emotional or biased decisions.”

Evidence-based hiring practices “[describe] what the person needs to accomplish, not the qualifications the person needs to have.” Plenty of studies have shown that employers often make up their mind about candidates within the first few minutes of the interview, and the rest of that time is spent conducting a “confirmation bias”: if the candidate begins an interview strangely or awkwardly (or gives an off answer), you might spend the rest of the interview finding reasons to reject the candidate.

The opposite holds true as well: if a candidate makes a great first impression, you’ll be looking for reasons to hire them thereafter. Most of us know, however, that we cannot consider a candidate’s performance in a traditional interview accurately indicative of their temperament in a non-pressurized, non-artificial setting. If you tend to make very immediate judgments about candidates during the interview process, evidence-based hiring could help you refocus on the actual skills needed for the job and less on your personal judgments about the candidates.

3. Take the “formal out of “formal interview”

Why do interviews always need to take place in a stuffy office or a large conference room with blank white walls?

A great way to revitalize your interview process is to switch up the setting. This will take the pressure off for your candidates, for the most part; psychologically, your interviewees will most likely feel more in their element in a casual space that lends itself better towards having a conversation more so than having an interview.

Lots of employers these days have taken a liking to the more casual interview simply because it’s easier to get a sense of the candidate’s personality. When applicants feel nervous, they can’t always show interviewers who they really are personality-wise or showcase how they would be as a colleague (especially in 20-30 minutes)!

casual interview, coffee, interview, conversation

Image via Pexels

Moving interviews to the grassy courtyard outside the office is a small way to start. If you want to get really innovative, consider taking applicants out for a casual lunch or coffee.

You’ll probably notice that candidates are more comfortable speaking with you, explaining their past work experiences, and answering complex questions. You may also find yourself becoming more at ease as the interviewer. It’s a win-win, and certainly one of the easier interview techniques to try out.

4. Ask the unexpected questions

Increasingly, employers are opting for much more creative questions than “what are your biggest strengths and weaknesses?” There’s nothing necessarily wrong with the classic questions, but at the same time, you only learn so much about a candidate from these more generic ones.

An easy way to change up your interview techniques? Revise your go-to questions list and consider one of these more interesting ones from FastCompany.com and HubSpot:

  • “How did you prepare for this interview?”

  • “What were you doing on your very best day at work?”

  • “In five minutes, could you explain something to me that is complicated but you know well?”

  • “What have you done professionally that is not an experience you’d want to repeat?”

These questions can catch interviewees off guard in a good way. The first question tests a candidate’s organizational skills while also gaining a more meta-cognitive idea of how seriously they take the interview process. You’ll be able to tell which candidates really scoured the company website well in advance of the interview, and who really wants the job. The second question allows the candidate to highlight their strengths in a more narrative format, and gives you insight into what makes them happy and fulfilled at work.

Infographic by Julia Dunn

The third question is great, namely because it gives the candidate a chance to showcase their communication skills and tests an ability to synthesize potentially obscure or convoluted information in a way that is understandable to someone outside of that field–a skill integral to so many positions. Finally, the last question allows the candidate to reflect on their past and share what about the experience was negative or unhelpful. This shouldn’t be a trick question, but rather an opportunity for you as an employer to view how the candidate processes negative experiences. Can they identify what they don’t like, what they wouldn’t want to do in a future position? Do they also have the ability to find a few positive in a largely negative experience?

One other interesting question from RecruiterBox.com, “What changes would you make if you ran the company?” offers candidates a chance to discuss their vision for the company. It may even give you, as the employer, some ideas for improving your organization!

5. Allow more of your colleagues to interview candidates with you

Often, candidates are interviewed by the people who would, if hired, become their supervisor or boss–but less often do we see interviews structured so that multiple colleagues in different capacities at the office can interview candidates.

If you are interviewing candidates to become a project manager or lead supervisor at your agency, consider structuring the interview so that you (their potential boss) are not the only one asking the questions, but the candidate’s prospective employees get a chance to pose questions–after all, these people would be working for the selected candidate.

As a matter of fact, Google actually hires this way; in an article by Wired.com, Senior Vice President of People Operations Laszlo Bock writes, “In a way, their assessments are more important than anyone else’s—after all, they’re going to have to live with you. This sends a strong signal to candidates about Google being nonhierarchical, and it also helps prevent cronyism, where managers hire their old buddies for their new teams. We find that the best candidates leave subordinates feeling inspired or excited to learn from them.”

Image via Unsplash

Allowing more of your organization’s current team members to participate in the screening and interview processes can lead to more balanced decision-making when it comes time to select a candidate, as the choice will not be left solely to a few people. This is a fairly easy interview technique to adopt into your company; all you need to do is involve a few more colleagues whose roles will intersect with the new staff member’s position in different ways.

You might also allow your colleagues to draft a few questions of their own that are specific to the capacity in which they will work together with the selected candidate. This will result in a comprehensive interview process and a more team-oriented approach to bringing new people onto the team harmoniously.

Just note that you may want to structure the interview so that only a few people are chatting with applicants at a time; in other words, if you want five colleagues total to participate in the interview process, consider having the candidates speak with two of them, then the other three of them as opposed to bringing all five into the room at once, which can feel overpowering and nerve-wracking.

If you have the time, you might even have each colleague interview the candidate individually, but for a shorter amount of time. The structure is up to you!

Becoming more critical of your own interview techniques, their shortcomings and their strengths, is the first step towards building a more just hiring process in your company. Taking a chance with one of these interview techniques could lead you to your dream candidates faster than you might expect!

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