Questions to Hire By

I don’t like interviews. Not behavioral. Not situational. Not case. Not stress. Yes, stress interviews are a thing in certain circles. I’m familiar with a host of others, including Rorschach tests, but the question is… how useful are they? By this I mean, how well do they predict a person’s ability to excel in the job?

More often than not the interview process is plagued by inaccurate job descriptions, a whole bouquet of biases, and affected by mood, sleep patterns, state of hunger and past encounters.  As if this weren’t bad enough, the pace of change in organizations ensures that whatever “requirements” were put in place for the original, and often protracted, interview process, will surely be blown to bits by month 4 of employment.

Wait, but that’s not all. When hiring into leadership positions the game is different. You find yourself sitting across from self-assured, articulate (I hope) candidate, who won’t easily show her hand, and has much more experience managing people than you do. You’ve got your questions and your poker face, but these folks can, and often do, “manage” the interview and interviewer quite handily. Trust me, the guy sitting there in an over-pressed shirt, gold cufflinks and shiny shoes will not give you any indication that he’s gonna curl up into a ball or throw a raging tantrum every time the shit hits the fan.