Ask a Manager commented on my last post "I was interested that you wrote that the best interviews are the ones where the interviewer does most of the talking. I've rarely heard that said and I wondered if you'd elaborate on it more?"
And of course, I'd be happy to do so!
While doing most of the talking, hopefully the hiring manager is sharing with you the real meat of the job, and giving you insight into the problems that the successful candidate will be expected to solve. (This is critical to being able to "close the deal" at the end of the interview.)
But probably the biggest reason is that when the hiring manager starts doing most of the talking, that usually means they've taken over the "selling" role in the interview process. This role reversal is usually a sign that the interview is going well!
I also make a point to tell candidates that "the best interviews are when the hiring manager does most of the talking" because when a candidate is actively thinking about letting the interviewer do most of the talking, they are less likely to ramble (the big pitfall for most candidates.)
Hope that clears things up a bit.
But now I must "Ask a Manager": How do you know when the interview is going well, from the hiring side?
2 comments:
Ah, now I see what you mean -- that when the interviewer is doing most of the talking, the candidate can take it as a positive sign. I was looking at it from the perspective of the interviewer -- and I always try to squash my desire to talk a lot because I want the candidate to spend as much time as possible talking, so I can gather more info about him/her. But you're absolutely right it gets harder to squash that impulse when I really like the candidate; I do go more into sales mode.
To answer your question, Karen, how do I know when things are going well from the hiring side? Well, here's how I can tell a candidate is really interested: When a candidate has clearly researched the organizaiton and its key players, that's always a sign he/she is serious about the position. Candidates who ask substantive, well thought-out questions about the job, especially more detailed probing into info we've already provided, signal they're really thinking hard about it, trying to picture themself in the position, and that's good. And of course some candidates express their interest in this particular job in a particularly sincere way; for instance, I've had candidates say that they want to work in our industry but only for my organization and are able to explain why they want to be with us over others. That's always great (and good for our egos).
Glad to clarify. And thanks for your input on how you know things are going well, it's something I'll be sharing with my colleagues.
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