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Interview
fatigue is what sets in after you have interviewed several
people for an open position. At this point, all
applicants start to sound the same. They are all
“bottom-line focused” with a “deep belief in teamwork and the
value of the individual.” They all “strive for
quality improvement while lowering costs and improving
morale.” They are
all boy scouts:
strong, clean, thrifty, brave, reverent, and on and on. This is the point at
which you know you are approaching the interview danger
zone. This is
when your level of fatigue with the process can push you
closer and closer to making a snap decision by saying
something like, “Oh heck, this last one is fine. Just hire him and
let’s get on with our business.”
Breathing a
huge sigh of relief, you hire him. On his first day, your
“fine” new hire, “Mr. Evil,” slithers in on the first day of a
too-long string of days that get worse and worse before you
finally part company. At which point,
everyone is amazed. “How could we have
missed that?” everyone says, “He did all right in the
interview.” Let’s
look at what might have gone wrong, and what you can do about
it.
The Basic Fisherman’s
Error
The basic
fisherman’s error is made by all first-time fishermen,
especially the ones who are about ten years old. The error lies in the
expectation for what will happen when the first-time fisherman
throws his line in the water. The expectation is
that a big fish will immediately grab hold of the hook and
obediently jump into the boat. When that doesn’t
happen, the older and wiser fisherman offers the timeworn
advice, “Patience, patience, patience.”
The new
fisherman learns throughout the day that the winning strategy
is to throw your line in the water again and again and again
until you do get a bite. Exactly when that will
happen is impossible to predict. You may go all day
without a bite and then tomorrow reel them in one after the
other.
And so it goes
also in finding the best-qualified candidate for that open job
you want to fill.
Patience. Patience. Patience.
Panning For Gold
The reality is
that there are probably five or six “nuggets” (people who
become serious contenders for the position) within 50 miles of
where you are sitting. It would be nice if
you could simply send these five or six people a letter,
letting them know the position is open and asking them to come
in for an interview. That way, you wouldn’t
have to waste a lot of time with candidates who are almost,
but not quite, a good fit for the job. But you don’t know who
or where these five or six people are.
So you get the
word out with ads in trade and local papers, on job posting
bulletin boards, and by every other means available. What happens is that
regardless of how you word the ads and job postings, a lot of
people who are not qualified for the position, for one reason
or another, will apply and you will have to spend hours of
your time in interviews with some of them.
Interview Fatigue Can Strike
Anytime
It makes no
difference whether you have scheduled a series of two half-day
interviews or set aside a morning to call fifteen applicants
to screen them for basic requirements; interview fatigue can
strike at any time. It comes about because
you get overloaded with information, and because you are
asking the same questions over and over, and often hearing
answers that vary only slightly, according to which self-help
book on “How to Interview” the applicant read!
Be prepared and
be in control of the interview process. Plan your interview
strategy; you
might start with a series of short phone interviews for all
the most promising applicants in which you establish that they
are still interested and are basically qualified. Next, you might follow
up with a schedule of more in-depth interviews for applicants
who reach the next stage in your selection process. Conducting any of
these interviews makes you a prime candidate for interview
fatigue, and the best way to avoid it is to plan ahead.
To Avoid Interview
Fatigue
Use the
following three steps to stay focused and fresh throughout the
interview process. Steps 1 and 2 should
be done before you start interviewing applicants.
Step #1 – Define the essential requirements of the
position
What specific
requirements will the position require of whoever fills
it? Think of
things like education/knowledge, training/certification,
computer skills, experience, management/personal style, and
any other factors that are job-relevant. In addition, make a
list of non-essential, but “nice to have” characteristics --
things that, while not essential, would nonetheless be a plus
for whoever fills the position.
Step #2 – Create an Interview Form
Know what you
want to ask in the interview, and build an Interview Form that
includes it. The
Interview Form is what you will use to take notes during the
interview, if you can do this comfortably, or on which you
will write notes after
the interview while it is fresh in your mind. The Interview Form
should include each of the job’s specific requirements that
you have identified in Step #1, plus all other questions that
you plan to ask every applicant, and it should be designed so
that you have room to jot down your notes. Be sure to date it,
and include a space for the applicant’s name.
Step #3 – Use space between the interviews to write
interview notes
Schedule only
as many interviews as you can manage along with all your
other responsibilities. Don’t try to be
Superman or Superwoman about it. If you know these are
going to be in-depth interviews, schedule no more than
two-three per day, with enough time between them to make
thoughtful notes.
Here’s why: if
you schedule interviews too close together, or too many in one
day, your memory of applicants you interviewed in the middle
of the process may get lost. This is because we
tend to have the strongest memories of the first one or two
and the most recent interviews, while those in between sort of
fade from memory.
Leave time between interviews to make sure your notes
are complete and thorough, and to include details that will
jog your memory.
Some Final Tips
- The
5 Ps – In the interview, Preparation and
Patience Prevent Poor Perception
of the applicant. Knowing about
Interview Fatigue doesn’t automatically confer immunity to
it. It isn’t
like getting a flu shot that inoculates you and means that
you can put any worries about ever getting the flu out of
your mind.
Remember the 5 Ps.
- The
more senior the position, the more damage that can be done
by hiring the wrong person. Therefore, the more
senior the position, the more rigorous and thorough the
selection process should be. Beware of the
temptation to short-cut the selection process.
Avoid
the fallacy of looking for the “perfect candidate.” Even if the “perfect
candidate” does exist on this planet of six billion souls, the
odds of finding him are very low. Instead, look for the
best-qualified available applicant from among those who, while
not perfect, meet the requirements of the job.
Remember, People are not your most
important asset!
The RIGHT People are!
To hire the best, test!
To reveal management potential, test!
To diagnose
problem behavior, test!
Best regards,
Kurt G. Helm, Ph.D.
Phone Toll Free
800-886-4356
Email: khelm@helmtest.com
Website: http://www.helmtest.com/
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© 2007, Kurt G. Helm, Ph.D. All rights
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allowed to use material from this newsletter in whole or in
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Helm, Ph.D., of Helm and Associates, Inc. Please visit our
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more information about how to avoid hiring mistakes by using
pre-employment testing as part of the applicant evaluation
procedure.”
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