In the human resource
world, all executives who interview you expect to hire the best and the
brightest. In getting the crème de la crème, they
use different methods in achieving the results. Most of them use behavioral
analysis when interviewing and any careful HR executive will process all the
information required to hire a candidate only in one sitting. Today, I want to
take you through the mind of an interviewer; this article will give you insight
into the various philosophies and approaches used by interviewers.
1. To build a great organization, HR guys believe
you need to hire people that are smarter than you in particular areas. They treat each interview as a conversation.
When interviewing candidates for senior-level openings they try to find out who
somebody really is and how their heads work. Initiative, intellectual
curiosity, personal authenticity, and reason.
2. Others looks at where someone wants to go in his or her career but also look at where he or she has
been, not just in terms of recent jobs and education but in terms of life
lessons. It is incredible how many smart people with excellent credentials are
really clueless about what it might take to get people to work together.
Considering that later in their career they will be responsible for managing
hundreds or thousands of people, this becomes a significant issue. Personality,
and the perception that a person could work well with others, no matter what
their economic lot in life, counts for a lot. Any sign of elitism is the kiss
of death.
3. Just imagine a question in an interview like,
'What's the best practical joke you've pulled off, and why?' In that question
an interviewer is looking for a sense of creativity, a willingness to have fun, and at a deeper level an ease with others
that's made evident by a willingness to joke around and take some risks.
Moreover, the question breaks down some of the seriousness and tension in the
interviewing room. Interviewers also want to get a few good ideas of practical
joke endeavors.
4. Some want to find out if this is the person
who really made
things happen in
his or her prior positions. Sorting the doers from the posers might be the
hardest task of interviewing. Interviewers will always ask why the candidates
want the position not because there is a right answer, but because they want to
hire a person who will probably stay for awhile and to know if the candidate is
capable of making purposeful decisions.
5. Others like to ask interviewees to talk about their history and about how they got to where they
are, what they want to do now, and what they aspire to in the future. In the
course of the interview, interviewers listen for the major decisions they've
made and ask them to help them understand how they made those decisions.
6. Other interviewers enjoy what they call the 'little sister' test for candidates with brilliant
backgrounds like MBAs or PhDs. Here, they select one of the most specialized
items on their CV for example, their thesis and ask them to explain what it is
as if they were their 6-year-old sister. This is a great way to test their
ability to explain, synthetically and simply, very complex things. This skill
is key in many businesses.
7. The underlying philosophy is that HR selects employees one by one. Most employers know that without the best
people, they cannot be the best. Once interviewers establish that a candidate
has the necessary skills, it becomes a matter of assessing interest and fit.
The focus is on having candidates see a wide variety of interviewers. This
approach provides both the candidate and firms with a diverse set of
perspectives upon which to base a decision. Most important, this philosophy
enables a candidate to get a great deal of insight into the culture and
determine whether there is an appropriate fit.
8. Most HR people use behavioral - based interviewing most of the time, what they
don’t know is that many applicants come in with too many prepared answers, and
sound like politicians; no matter what question you ask them, they are going to
give you a prepared answer. To get more to the core of an individual, the
question should be, "What motivates you to be as successful as you
are?" and follow it immediately by another question, "Can you walk me
through how you set your goals?" These questions get to more of the
essence of the individual.
Now that you know how
most interviewers think and the approach they use, you need to put yourself in
their shoes and take the bull by the horns. I expect you to get to their mind
and pass an interview with ease.
