“Hiring the wrong people is the fastest way to undermine a sustainable business.”
Kevin J. Donaldson, CEO and founder of Real Wealth Solutions
Before we look at How to recruit let’s deal with why recruiting is so risky and ways to mitigate this risk. The Department of Labor and EEOC has fined companies $500billion, in the last year for violations. The majority of these fines have to do with hiring practices. Applicants can, at any time, file a complaint against you for recruiting whether it’s accurate or not. The best way to protect yourself as a business owner is have a strategy you stick to for all interviews.
Interview Strategy
The following strategy will save hours and hours for the business leaders and applicants.
Number Two is HUGE.
First Make a schedule Pick 2-3 days in a week and block out 45-75 minutes per interview.
Doing this will save time by ensuring everyone who needs to be in the interview is there.
Your goals should be 10-15 interviews a week
If you need more than 30 interviews to select a candidate then something is wrong. You either need to adjust your posting or screening questions.
If you need more than 2 interviews with a candidate then you are wasting time and need to adjust your efforts and question asking.
Second, HUGE TIME HACK, Pre-Screen your candidates. The reason you do this is because candidates falsify their resumes and experience far too often. When you pre-screen, you are cable to ask screening questions of technical relevance. If the candidate does not answer satisfactorily you move on.
As with resumes, during pre screening, if you hear a lot of we, ask further questions. This could mean the team they were on did the function but they had one small task. I like to ask, “What was your specific responsibility with this?” and “How did you accomplish it?”
We all value time, especially when it’s respected. Start on time and end on time. This is the first time this person will have interacted with your company. You want to be punctual. It shows professionalism and that your company is competent. Remember, these candidates may be on lunch break or had to take time off of work to do this. So, respect their time.
Tell them what is going to happen in the interview. Doing this will remove anxiety and provide them a path forward with no surprises.
Ask open ended questions and behavioral questions. Ask questions where the candidate is able to demonstrate their abilities as the subject matter. Ask each candidates the same questions in order to avoid missing key information or misremembering.
Who should be in the room? Only those necessary to make the hiring decision. Two people maybe three. It’s not the best idea to have an unbalanced ratio of genders unless it is unavoidable. I like to have at least 2 representatives from the company in the interview. It’s unfortunate, but this is the world we live in. An interview is no longer an interview. It’s an opportunity for victim thinking and retaliation.
Use a script. This will help with efficiency. Have a 1-2 minute opener about eh company and let them have the same. Then dive into the questions. Have 1-12 questions. 15 takes too long depending on the questions. This is another reason why a second pair of ears is helpful as you will both be taking notes during the interview.
Remember the point is to listen more than you talk. Don’t go on a 20 minute intro about the company and how great it is. If you feel compelled to do this, then do it at the end.
I’ve seen business owners ramble for 45 minutes. Ask the candidate no questions and give me the thumbs up to hire them. This only leads to many unknowns and less than average performers being invited into the company.
Ask if they have any questions. Those who do not have any questions I put a bit lower on the selection list. This is their opportunity to engage with the company and they are choosing not too. This means they are looking for a job and not to be a part of a company and it’s culture. There are multiple areas and ways to misstep during an interview. This is one area that needs a well executed plan.
Final Thoughts
Your questions must be related to the job. If a candidate mentions being pregnant or kids or a single parent or medical condition, both interviewers should take note of it and also write that this information was not solicited. This is a fast way to end up in a lawsuit.
Quick story, I worked for a multi-billion dollar company in education and we were interviewing for an Accounting Director. This was not my job posting but I was asked to help do the interviews. My coworker did not pre screen the candidate. On paper she had everything. During the interview we asked her to use a computer to parse some data in certain ways. 15 minutes later I come back and she hasn’t done anything. She did not even know how to open excel or what it was. She confirmed twice that she was expert level.
She didn’t get the job and filed a EEOC complain and sued us. She lost, but it cost us seven figures to defend. The EEOC said we did nothing wrong and still opened all of our locations nationwide to discriminatory testing. We had 15,000 employees. It took 2 years and we had to submit every month, proof we were not guilty. The money lost was tiny compared to the time. You do not want to be on the EEOC radar. Do not interview anyone who is not 100% qualified.
Conclusion
Make and set a schedule using block time.
Pre screen candidates! Save a ton of time and avoid interviewing unqualified candidates
Make and stick to a script
Ask the same questions of every candidates and take excellent notes
Don’t interview alone.
If it takes more than 15-20 people then something is wrong in the Job Posting or screening process.
Finally, if you reject someone, there is no reason to tell them why. Whatever you tell them can be used against you. This is sadly the where the victim mindset has taken us.
