The Interviewless Interview
Everyone accepts that the interview is one of the least successful ways to select people for a job. But perhaps this is not surprising.
Some time ago the CIPD reported that only 21% of those that undertake job interviews have been trained. Even if trained many of those will only undertake an interview once or twice a year and thus lack experience.
However, the main problems with an interview is that, no matter who is doing it, the interviewer brings with them a huge number of prejudices, opinions on what is required to succeed in the job (many of them irrelevant) and other baggage that gets in the way of selecting the right person for the job.
Indeed Walt Disney was so aware of his prejudices that when he auditioned for the “Voice” of Snow White he made each actress speak her lines from behind a screen so that he would not be influenced by her appearance.
So the question put here is: Suppose a process could be undertaken that could accurately measure an individual and the information supplied by them against a known set of criteria without the need for time consuming interviews. Would that save time, increase accuracy and the chances for a more successful appointment?
The information that would be assessed against the agreed criteria would include:
A deeper review of the applicants CV
? A written statement by the applicant on their job requirements
? Online Numeracy & Literacy questionnaire
? Online Personality Test
? Personal references taken up at time of application
? Educational Qualification Certificates sent in by applicant with CV
? Applicant writes a report to a problem relating to the job
By benchmarking these measurements against a pre- determined list of job requirements and scores it is possible to identify a “preferred candidate”.
However, no selection process can remove meeting the candidate altogether. After all, there may be specific issues that need addressing.
It’s at the “Preferred candidate” stage that the individual is invited to meet those that he/she will be working with.
The objective of this meeting is NOT to review the CV or other submitted material, although some questions to increase clarity could be made, but merely to ensure that the applicant can communicate properly and that the personality fits into the culture of the team, is able to present themselves, etc.
At this point physical demonstrations of abilities could be demonstrated by the applicant. For instance: if a Training Manager was being recruited it would be at this point that the applicant be asked to deliver a short training talf for fifteen minutes.
So how could “Cheats” be avoided?
Readers might ask how cheats could be avoided by online questionnaires. This should be easy by ensuring that the questionnaires and reports being supplied are properly measured with “Known criteria” against the job and that questions asked are changed at regulat intervals.
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A highly interesting blog.
However won’t there be a tendency for a second meeting to always develop into an “interview”?
However I can see if properly managed there could be some advantages to the company in terms of money saved and the reduction in the “halo and horn” effect that is often so damaging and the start of job failure at a later date.
The concept of the seconf interview being a meeting as opposed to a repeat of the interview done by the headhunter is one that we have tried as a result of this work and we have found that it does work.
There is, however, always a tendency that the second meeting will always contain some repeated information. We found that the candidate was also keen to ensure that information that He/she wished to say (but had obviously tols the headhunter) was also included.
Otherwise an excellent idea and one that identifies a recruitment process that covers more that the traditional.
Derek,
Unless handled well there is a danger that the meeting with the preferred candidate develops into a second interview. There will, inevitably, be areas that both parties will wish to develop (either to reinforce the application or to probe areas that may not have been completely understood or answered).
However the principle is the same. The second meeting should be less formal, focus on culture and personality fit because the detailed investigation into job capability, qualifications etc. has already been completed.
Excellent blog and certainly a topic to consider.
The recruitment of Top Talent could certainly be undertaken using such an interview process on the basis that it is more thorough and in depth.