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Traditional Interviews Are A Lousy Way To Select Staff
The cost of employing the wrong person has been assessed as equivalent to 2 years wages or salary. This is without taking into account other losses.
By: Peter Mitchell
The cost of employing the wrong person has been assessed as equivalent to 2 years wages or salary. This is without taking into account other losses.
By: Peter Mitchell
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Many businesses are damaged because they have unsuitable people in critical positions. You've already met them. These are the people who make you say, "I'm never going back there again. The service was lousy!"
These people get hired because the method used to interview them hasn't worked very well. Job interviews alone are not a very good way of ensuring that the right person is employed. First of all, most people are not trained to interview. Secondly, the techniques that they use can only select the right people by luck.
Work it out. The traditional interview is a competition for a job in a strange environment and the candidate has to use skills which have little or no relevance to the vacancy.
The interviewer is trying to find out things about the candidate and the candidate is trying to make sure that none of this is negative. What happens is the interviewer asks questions and the candidate formulates answers to meet the perceived needs of the interviewer.
Think about some questions that are used in the traditional interview.
"Tell me a bit about yourself." This is an invitation to either tell lies or avoid the truth. This, is like many other questions used during the traditional interview that do not help the interviewer to assess future performance.
The first impressions gained by the interviewer are very important. The rest of the interview is spent in trying to confirm the initial opinions. This means that the questions will be couched in such a way as to give the candidate the latitude to answer them in a way which will satisfy the interviewer. This is not a good recipe for success.
The traditional interview isn't about the best person for the job, it's not about ability, it's not about skills, is not about knowledge--it is about interview performance. There is no way you can tell from the traditional interview who is the best person for the job. All you can tell is who has the best interviewing skills.
There are plenty of books available on how to succeed at job interviews and they normally come complete with typical questions. Traditional interviews have to very predictable for an author to write down the questions!
It is little wonder that traditional interviews regularly fail to identify the best candidate.
This means that the traditional interview should be changed to one that can predict future performance.
Peter Mitchell is a business consultant who has helped many businesses to lift their labor productivity in the workplace at little or low cost. His practical guide The Key To Productivity should be on every manager's desk and used to install your productivity improvement program. To find out more go to www.thekeytoproductivity.com.
These people get hired because the method used to interview them hasn't worked very well. Job interviews alone are not a very good way of ensuring that the right person is employed. First of all, most people are not trained to interview. Secondly, the techniques that they use can only select the right people by luck.
Work it out. The traditional interview is a competition for a job in a strange environment and the candidate has to use skills which have little or no relevance to the vacancy.
The interviewer is trying to find out things about the candidate and the candidate is trying to make sure that none of this is negative. What happens is the interviewer asks questions and the candidate formulates answers to meet the perceived needs of the interviewer.
Think about some questions that are used in the traditional interview.
"Tell me a bit about yourself." This is an invitation to either tell lies or avoid the truth. This, is like many other questions used during the traditional interview that do not help the interviewer to assess future performance.
The first impressions gained by the interviewer are very important. The rest of the interview is spent in trying to confirm the initial opinions. This means that the questions will be couched in such a way as to give the candidate the latitude to answer them in a way which will satisfy the interviewer. This is not a good recipe for success.
The traditional interview isn't about the best person for the job, it's not about ability, it's not about skills, is not about knowledge--it is about interview performance. There is no way you can tell from the traditional interview who is the best person for the job. All you can tell is who has the best interviewing skills.
There are plenty of books available on how to succeed at job interviews and they normally come complete with typical questions. Traditional interviews have to very predictable for an author to write down the questions!
It is little wonder that traditional interviews regularly fail to identify the best candidate.
This means that the traditional interview should be changed to one that can predict future performance.
Peter Mitchell is a business consultant who has helped many businesses to lift their labor productivity in the workplace at little or low cost. His practical guide The Key To Productivity should be on every manager's desk and used to install your productivity improvement program. To find out more go to www.thekeytoproductivity.com.
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Don't Underestimate The Importance Of The Employment Interview
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A Step By Step Guide On How To Structure The Employment Process
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