Questions sans answers
by Miki SaxonI write and coach a lot about hiring, why it’s important, how to think about it, how to actually do it, how your MAP affects it, etc., and now and them some of it actually sinks in. But what I can’t seem to get across is that one of the worst thing you can do when interviewing is what the legal world calls “leading the witness.”
What’s that mean when interviewing? It means giving the candidate the answer inside the question. The following is from a real interview.
- “We at XYZ believe that teamwork is a major factor in our success and are looking to hire more, are you a team player, Ms. Candidate?” The candidate responded that she believed that being a good team player was of paramount importance for a company’s success.
- “There’s a lot of spreadsheet work in the position, in what programs are you most knowledgeable?” the candidate responded that she was familiar with QuickBooks, good with Adobe PDF suite, and very skilled in MS Office, especially Excel.
The interview continued along these lines, the candidate was rated a great match and hired. Unfortunately, her skills and attitudes weren’t consistent with the interview answers and the hire didn’t work out.
What happened? Did she intentionally lie, or did she unconsciously say what the interviewer wanted to hear? In most of the cases I’ve seen it’s the latter. Candidates are taught that the most important thing is to “get the offer” no matter what. Add to that, that people are smart and are actively trying to please the interviewer. The result is that they will give the “right” answer, believing that they can learn the skill/ develop the attitude/do whatever is needed once they have the job.
Managers are also prone to the “whatever it takes” school of interviewing, assuring candidates that the position/company/manager/work will fulfill the desires they’ve described—whether that’s true of not. Those hires rarely work out, either.
So remember: don’t lead the candidate and don’t follow where the candidate leads! Better yet, print this out and tape it up where you’ll see it when you’re interviewing.
