Finding the right employees is critical to the success of any organization, but interview processes typically lack the clear set of operating practices that provide stability, clarity, and objective measurement.
Unless organizations clearly identify the employee characteristics needed to succeed, the hiring process will become time-consuming, frustrating, and risky. In the end, hiring the wrong person can lead to conflict and delays that end up costing you time and money. Make sure your organization is set up for hiring success by using the process we’ve outlined below.
Before The Interview Process Begins
Internal discussions that generate a clear vision for the target role and a clear fit with your organizational goals and purpose are crucial. Without a complete understanding of what you expect from the person you hire, it won’t matter how much information you have or how impressive they are.
Before starting any interviews, lay the groundwork for success by first having conversations with colleagues and leaders to get clear on what you need from the role and how that person will fit into their potential team.
With that foundation you should next reflect on your current interview process and, specifically the extent to which it does (or does not) support systematic and consistent candidate evaluation. Fortunately, there are some simple steps you can take to ensure smooth, fair process and enhance your likelihood for success.
Three Critical Interview Components
There are three parts you should include in your interview process. Having these pieces in every interview will help simplify your process and increase your odds of success.
1. Structure
If your interview processes differ for each candidate, or your interviews lean towards organic conversations, it’s very difficult to compare candidates on the same criteria. Structured interviews, which feature a fixed set of predetermined questions in the same order, are a key step to establishing consistency.
Using a robust, selection appropriate, behavioral assessment provides an additional path for getting the information you need from each candidate, based on your set criteria, to support systematic comparisons and more informed decisions.
When candidates are asked the same questions and evaluated against the same criteria, it’s easier to compare candidate quality and correctly assess long-term fit.
Importantly, such structured evaluations will also help us avoid confirmation bias. Without predetermined questions and preset criteria, we risk using the time to simply confirm our first impressions formed in the interview’s early moments. With set questions and structures in place we quickly reorient the interview process to the information we need.
2. A deep understanding of the role and the critical personality traits
A deep understanding of the role and supporting personality traits lets us fairly compare candidates not only against each other but more importantly against the target personality traits deemed critical for success.
A personality assessment together with supporting internal discussions provides a framework for focusing on those traits that support success and helps you ignore traits that are possibly appealing but ultimately irrelevant for the role.
Without a list of critical traits, it’s easy to mistake confidence and a firm handshake for competence and shared purpose. With a clear list of key traits, this mistake is easy to avoid.
3. Discussing personality with candidates during the interview process
Interviews are an opportunity to explore both strengths and weaknesses with your candidate.
Allowing those you interview to discuss perceived mismatches between personality and role requirements can help you more accurately assess their ultimate fit. Often you will find that they are aware of those gaps and, crucially, have found effective workarounds such as leaning on team members or structuring their daily workflows differently.
Using a personality assessment in conjunction with these three components will increase your chances of hiring an individual who will succeed in their role and help your organization.
More Sources for More Success
Conducting multiple interviews with each candidate is important but it’s ultimately in the broader service of gathering information from multiple sources.
We urge organizations to collect different, non-redundant sources of information to paint a holistic picture of each candidate. More accurate candidate evaluations are built from a combination of technical competencies, personality assessments, and systematic interviewing together with traditional resumes and personal references than any one or two of these elements alone.
Collectively, this breadth of sources can dramatically increase the likelihood of making the right hire.
A Successful Interview Process
The interview and hiring process doesn’t need to be painful and it doesn’t need to feel like a guessing game.
Your hiring process and success will increase when you make sure your methods include:
- Structured questions
- A deep understanding of the role
- The tools to discuss important personality traits with your candidates
In the end, you’ll have an objective process, a richer base of information, and a clean, straightforward path to fair candidate evaluation.
We Can Help!
At Paradigm Personality Labs, we are on a mission to offer high-caliber assessments and tools to help you understand your workforce. Our approach is people-centered, holistic, grounded in science, and outcome-focused.
If you’d like to learn more about how we can help you create a better interview process, visit our website.
