Tips for managers: Getting the most from a first-round interview (with handout)
As a leader, your most important role is to hire the right people that can effectively move the business forward. Digging deeper into interview conversations is crucial to finding the perfect hire.
As a first time manager, I remember being thrown into my first interview with very little to no guidance. I’m sure the candidate could sense how nervous I was. Most interview guides are boilerplate, similar to job descriptions. I’m going to outline a simple and easily-repeatable framework for digging deeper with a candidate in your first-round.
Start with respect for candidates.
This seems obvious, but the first step is to make sure each candidate feels welcome and comfortable. After doing a lot of interviews - and you will do a lot as a manager - your mind and spirit get depleted and you could be tempted to start checking off the boxes without putting much thought into the outcome. As leaders, the most important job we have is to hire the right people that can positively move the business forward.
Candidate interviews are likely the most important meetings of your day.
Assuming the candidate has already been vetted to ensure he/she has the basic “must-haves” qualifications for the role, the first interview should go deeper to better understand the person you would be working with.
A simple way to measure the success of the interview is to make sure you truly understand the candidate’s responses to these questions:
Why are you applying for this role at our company?
What motivates you, and how has that motivation impacted your work in previous roles?
Where do you want to go in your career, and how does this role help you get there?
Each answer opens the line of communications, allowing you to listen and follow-up with questions to get clarification where it's needed.
Let’s take a more in-depth look at each question to understand where you can gain more insight.
Why are you applying for this role at our company?
Immediately, you want to gauge how much hands-on knowledge the candidate has regarding your business. Did they read a few articles about the leadership team or something from one of your blog posts? If you’re not sure, directly ask “what did you do to prepare for this conversation?” Unfortunately, this is where many candidates fall short. In many cases, people are talking to so many companies that they can’t keep them straight in their mind, or the candidate didn’t think it was important to do some basic research ahead of the interview.
This question is also a great opportunity to pivot the conversation and further understand the candidate’s interest in the day-to-day requirements of the role. Are they excited to do the work necessary to be successful in the role, and what experience do they have that is relevant for the role?
What motivates you and how has that motivation impacted your work in previous roles?
Whether you’ll directly manage this person or work cross functionally with them, it’s important to understand what makes them tick. For some candidates, the answers will focus on salary while others will talk about building new things or the company’s vision. Go one layer deeper and try to understand where that motivation originates from. Is money important because they need to support their family? Is the desire to be part of your company’s vision tied to a personal experience they had in a previous role? Understanding their core motivation will help you sell the candidate on your company/team down the road if you want to move forward with them.
Going back to their previous roles, ask them how they dealt with situations where they didn’t hit their monthly or quarterly goals. How did their motivations push them to react and adjust? How did they work with their manager when they may have been struggling?
Nothing is simple, so understanding how someone deals with adversity and how they prefer to be managed will tell you more than you might think.
Where do you want to go in your career, and how does this role help you get there?
Keep the conversation in the short term (2-3 year) goals vs long term goals. Where have their thoughts taken them about their career? What skills do they believe they need to master before they’re able to get to that point in their career?
Selling the candidate
It’s highly likely that the candidate you’re speaking with is also speaking with other companies. Employees are a company's most valuable asset and your company can’t grow without them.
You’re the person doing the interviewing, but in reality it goes both ways. Roughly 20% of offers are rejected by candidates. These are the most gut-wrenching incidents, as you and your team have spent the most time and energy on these candidates, but it didn’t lead to the outcome you were hoping for.
If you get to the point in the conversation where you believe the candidate is a good fit, use the questions above to sell them on you and your team. Tie your conversation back to the why, what and where questions and use the information you’ve learned about them to prove that you were listening and that the offer you’re extending aligns with their goals and aspirations.
These core questions can be a lot to discuss in a 30 minute call. If it takes you more than one call to get the answers to these questions, that’s fine. It’s important to understand the answers to these questions before moving forward with a candidate. Additionally, if the person peaks your interest when reviewing their resume, consider scheduling more time for the first conversation.
If you have your eyes set on a specific candidate, one of the biggest advantages you have is speed. Push your team to set up the next interview round as soon as possible. Employers that make offers fast are winning in this highly competitive market. It’s possible to be one step ahead of other companies that may be just as interested in your candidate, but you have to be the one to take action.
I’ve attached a simple handout that you can have handy each time you conduct a first-round interview, allowing you to keep the “deep dive” philosophy front and center. 👇
