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In February, the New York Post published a story about a Reddit thread that included the "secret" tests interviewers used to determine whether a candidate should be hired — things like whether or not they accepted a cup of coffee, how they drank their water and how long they took to make a decision. But
"Every hiring manager thinks they have a special question that only they come up with that elicits some nuanced insight into a candidate," says Nelesen. [But] these random 'gotcha' questions do not help out in terms of their ability to isolate the people that are likely to be high performers."
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Research shows that structured interviews, which generally include consistent questions and assessments meant to identify skills and experience, are the best method for making objective, fair hiring decisions. They also save time: The Journal of Applied Psychology reports that it takes three to four unstructured interviews to get the same level of job performance prediction provided by one structured interview.
In a recent SHL study about candidate sentiment across the hiring process, interviews were especially important to their overall hiring experience, Nelesen says.
"[Candidates] feel it's their best opportunity to represent all of their skills and capabilities and attributes and motivations, and why they're a great fit for the role," he says. "What we see is that when that seriousness is not met, it's very off putting. If the interview experience doesn't match their expectations, and they have other good options, candidates will walk away."
This doesn't mean that an interview needs to be stiff, or that questions have to sound mechanical, but it does reflect the need for employers to make sure their interviewers are using the methods that help them land them the best applicants.
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Tech makes interviews easier
Technology, like the offerings from SHL, streamline the interview process by providing interviewers with customized questions and assessments for different roles, as well as analytics from interviews themselves, says Nelesen. In addition to studying how answers are judged, their software sends surveys to job candidates for post-interview feedback, helping companies to improve their process. It can also help employers make sure their interviewers are doing their job well, Nelesen says.
"We can isolate the way interviewers behave, and cross-reference that against how candidates are interpreting this experience," he says. "If you have interviewers that have a low net promoter based on the candidate feedback, you can dig into what's causing that and what you have to do to fix it, along with how that interviewer benchmarks against other interviewers across that organization. There are tools to peel back this black box that [makes it] hard for HR teams to know what their interviewers are actually doing or saying, and who's good or bad at it."
Nelesen points out that AI has an important role to play, helping hiring experts make their decisions — and save time — by providing services like notetaking and interview summaries.
"This is what AI is really, really good at: It's taking that transcription, marrying it up against something like a grading rubric, and it's distilling the most nuanced analysis and synopsis of that discussion in a way that's really useful for an interviewer," he says. "It's not just a record of the words that were said, but actually the most critical part of that answer, or, 'This is what we can infer about this candidate based on the way they responded to that question.' And AI can do that both at a question level but also in aggregate."
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Where HR comes in
HR's role in interview design is critical, especially when including questions about culture, values, or any other topics that can be seen as sensitive, Nelesen says. He emphasizes that intentionality and effort should be clear throughout the entire candidate experience, including each of the questions posed by an interviewer.
When companies do the work to make their interview process thoughtful and efficient, they are much more likely to come out on top in the battle for great talent. While no hiring setup is one-size-fits-all, seeking out tried and true methods and incorporating a modern tech twist is a good place to start, Nelesen says.
"There are lots of well-established models that you can gain easy access to [that will help you] figure out the kinds of questions that are likely to yield the best outcome," he says. "And trust the science; it exists for a reason."
