5 common hiring practices & why they don't work!

Introduction

While the way we work is evolving and going through drastic changes, the process of hiring has pretty much stayed stagnant. 
 
When you think of interviews, you conjure up an image of a room of serious-looking panellists sitting across from you, ready to grill you about your skills, experiences and more! And this has become the accepted norm of the hiring process, and eligible candidates prepare endlessly to succeed in this process. Many recruitment experts have written books, blogs and have detailed the common questions and scenarios qualified candidates can prepare for. 
 
                                                                       
 
While some organisations are evolving and using unconventional methods and techniques during the interviewing process, many others still rely on archaic practices that can often be misleading. 
 
If we trace back to the history of the interviewing process, the first evidence is seen during World War I when psychologist, Robert Sessions Woodworth from Columbia University, designed a personality test called the ‘Woodworth’s Personal Data Sheet’. It was used to identify soldiers prone to nervous breakdowns during an enemy bombardment. 
 
Later there is evidence to support that Thomas Edison took written tests as he was weary of college graduates and did not trust them. But over the years, technology has evolved, and today, we have automated processes to screen resumes. 
 
While all organisations have their own way of interviewing potential candidates, some common interview practices seem ubiquitous. While they might have been developed for a certain goal in mind, there are many reasons they don’t work! 
 
Let’s take a look to understand why! 
 
  1. Tell me about a time when you…

Almost every interviewer uses some version of the question, ‘Tell me about a time when you…’ According to the Society Of Human Resources Management, this question assumes that a candidate’s past experience can predict their future performance. 
 
                                                                                         
 
There are many problems with this assumption. If you are asking a candidate about conflict management, then the candidate with the most dramatic conflict might have the best answer. Similarly, if the question is about demonstrating leadership qualities, then the candidate who had the most opportunities to display this, could give the best answer. But none of these circumstances is within the control of the candidates and is dictated by the many external factors including the kind of organisation one worked for, where the organization was on the growth curve and the culture of the organization. 
 
Unknowingly, this kind of question might show a potential candidate in poor light, if they had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, or were in the wrong role, to begin with. Or if the organization culture didn’t allow for employees to take initiative or had a lot of bureaucratic top-heavy processes in place before they could lead change or manage conflicts. 
 
In today’s market, interviewing should be about evaluating a candidate’s future potential and not past achievements. 
 
  1. How many footballs can you fit in this room?

 
While there is merit in asking candidates questions that require out-of-the-box thinking, they need to be carefully crafted for a specific outcome in mind. 
 
For example, if you want to see how creative or innovative a candidate is, then you can design questions that require creative thinking. Or if you need to see problem-solving skills, then you can craft questions that can test that skill. 
 
But some interviewers are known to ask brain-teasing questions that only make the candidate nervous and out of place. 
 
For example, Elon Musk is known to ask, ‘You’re standing on the surface of the earth. You walk one mile south, one mile west, and one mile north. You end up exactly where you started. Where are you?’
 
                                                                    
 
Here are a couple more examples: 
 
“Would you rather fight one horse-sized duck or 100 duck-sized horses?”—Whole Foods Market meat cutter job candidate 
 
“What would the name of your debut album be?”—Urban Outfitters sales associate job candidate (New York)
“What would you do if you found a penguin in the freezer?” Trader’s Joe’s job candidate
If these kinds of questions are intentionally designed, then they might serve a business purpose but otherwise, these questions might not predict anything and only make the interviewer feel smart. 
 
  1. Sell me this pen…

This is a sales question and should be asked only when interviewing sales candidates. But more often than not, inexperienced interviewers tend to use this age-old question as a part of the interview process. 
 
                                                                                           
 
While it can get really good answers and insights into salespeople and their style of selling, it might be irrelevant for many other roles. 
 
And this is just one such example. Many times, interviewers may not spend enough time thinking about the role they are hiring for and might have a common set of popular questions for all interviews. 
 
  1. What gets you excited about coming to work?

Many organisations ask questions like these that can determine the cultural fit of a potential candidate. 
 
Here are some questions that intend to gauge the cultural fit of a potential candidate: 
  • In what type of work environment are you most productive and happy?
  • What are the characteristics exhibited by the best boss you have ever had—or wish that you have had?
  • What do you do for fun?
  • Are you still friends with any previous colleagues?
  • How have you changed over the last five years?
 
                                                                
While culture is critical to the success of any organization, very few organizations have clearly defined cultures. Leaders might not take the time to define and educate their teams. 
 
And without this in place, there is a risk of inviting biases into the interview processes with these kinds of questions as everyone has their own version of what the company culture is. Effectively, the interviewer would be depending on their ‘gut feeling’ to hire, which subconsciously translates to interviewers choosing candidates who are similar to them. 
 
Cultural fit in some way hinders the hiring of demographic and cognitive divergent people as somewhere the interviewer is geared to look for similarities. 
  1. Strengths Finder, Type Indicator…

Many organisations use personality tests during the hiring process to screen potential candidates. Most personality tests test a person’s skills, attitude, attributes and fit them neatly into predetermined boxes. This is supposed to help interviewers gauge how well they can fit in with their existing teams. 
 
                                                                       
 
While a personality test gives insights into a person’s nature, it is very restrictive while understanding their potential. Also, there is the risk of wrongly administering the test or intentionally gaming the test to get certain results. It also introduces certain biases if the interviewer mistakenly believes that certain traits are required for certain roles. They might wrongly eliminate good candidates who fail to show these traits. Administering and reading personality test results requires a lot of expertise which not every recruiter might be equipped with. 

Conclusion

While recruitment and hiring can be a tedious process, there is merit in rethinking and evaluating your interview questions with the end goal in mind. If you know what you want to find out and why it can make the whole process easier and more objective. 
But we understand that it can be daunting and intimidating. In such cases, it would be helpful to take the guidance of experienced recruiters. We at FlexiBees, have a robust hiring process with deep vetting and provide only the most suited and qualified candidates for your business needs. 
If you want to explore hiring flexible talent, then click here to give us a shout.