The Savvy Interviewer’s Guide to Conducting Successful Interviews
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The document outlines effective interviewing processes to improve hiring in expansion-stage software companies. It emphasizes the importance of structured interviews, identifying key roles, responsibilities, and appropriate interview styles and formats. By following the guidance, companies can enhance their hiring effectiveness and reduce the risks and costs associated with bad hires.
The Savvy Interviewer’s Guide to Conducting Successful Interviews
- 1. SAVVY THE INTERVIEWER’S GUIDE How To Conduct Successful Interviews and Improve Hiring Effectiveness
- 2. The Savvy Interviewer’s Guide | 1 foreword Most executives at expansion-stage software companies understand that identifying, hiring, and retaining top talent is one of the most important components of building and scaling a great business. They typically also understand the potential risks and costs that they can incur when that process doesn’t go as planned. According to a 2013 Career Builder study on the true cost of mis-hires, for example, 66 percent of employers reported that bad hires lowered their company’s productivity, affected worker morale, caused drops in sales, led to strained client relationships, and even resulted in legal issues.1 Not surprisingly, bad hires typically have a direct financial impact as well. In fact, a report by the SHRM Foundation found that direct replacement costs, including accrued paid time off, temporary coverage with overtime or contingent employee costs, and staff time for exit interviews and administration, can reach 50 to 60 percent of an employee’s annual salary.2 If you factor in indirect costs, including any adverse effects on organizational performance, culture, and employee or client relations, the total expenditure of replacing an employee can range from 90 to 200 percent of annual salary. That’s not an expense that many growing software companies can afford. How can you avoid a bad hire and make the right hire in the first place? While there are many ways to increase the probability of making great hires, at OpenView we have found that one of the most effective practices is to place greater emphasis and focus on the interviewing process. Doing so will help you to more effectively identify candidates who align with your company and the role you are hiring for, filter out candidates who might lead to any of the aforementioned consequences of a bad hire, and create a more predictable, repeatable system for hiring success. “The Savvy Interviewer’s Guide: How To Conduct Successful Interviews and Improve Hiring Effectiveness,” outlines the steps companies need to take to ensure they have an effective hiring process in place and are bringing only A-level talent into their company. By reading this eBook, you will learn how to plan and execute a successful interview process, assemble the right interview team, ask questions to properly vet candidates, and manage feedback following interviews. The process laid out in this eBook will require you to invest a great deal of time and attention into your hiring process. However, even if that process saves you from making just one bad hire, you will find it to be worthwhile. 1 “Two Thirds of U.S. Employers Say Bad Hires Negatively Affected Business Last Year,” The Hiring Site, May 13, 2013. 2 “Retaining Talent. A Guide to Analyzing and Managing Employee Turnover,” SHRM Foundation. William Tincup CEO of HR Consultancy, Tincup & Co.
- 3. The Savvy Interviewer’s Guide | 2 chapter 1: what are the components of an effective interview process? Before diving into the mechanics of interviewing best practices, it’s important to first understand the core components of an effective interviewing process. To do so, you need to answer the following questions: »» Who should be involved in the interviewing process and what is each person’s responsibility? »» Which style of interview should you use? »» What interview format or medium is most appropriate for your hiring needs? This chapter will help you answer those questions and provide the insight necessary to execute an interview process that will allow you to more effectively identify, filter, and vet the talent your growing business needs.
- 4. The Savvy Interviewer’s Guide | 3 The Key Roles and Responsibilities for a Well-Managed Interview Process Generally, there are two main functional roles that must be assigned before you begin a candidate search — a point person who will lead the hiring process, and a team that will support that person by conducting interviews. More specifically, each of those roles has the following responsibilities: Point person: Typically a hiring manager or an internal recruiter, this person is responsible for driving the hiring process, including communicating the interview process, feedback, and next steps with both candidates and the interview team. Interview team: Once the point person is in place, he or she must assemble the interview team. In addition to the hiring manager, this group may include the candidate’s future peers, the company’s management team, HR representatives, or board members. The exact makeup of the interview team will vary depending on the nature of the role you are hiring, an issue that we will cover in greater detail in Chapter 2. For checklists of responsibilities for each of these roles, see page 23 in the Appendix. To be successful, it’s critical that the interview team understands its role in the hiring process, and agrees upon the profile of the candidate it will look for. Doing so ensures that a consistent message is relayed to applicants. Additionally, the point person should also make it clear that hiring decisions do not need to be unanimous. Ultimately, it’s up to the hiring manager to digest feedback from the interview team and to make a decision that he or she thinks is best for the company and the role being filled. All of these functional roles must be determined at the start of the search so that everyone understands what they need to do in the hiring process, and to ensure that it is standardized for all candidates. Having the point person and interview team in place will help streamline the process so that candidates are not pulled into additional rounds of interviews unnecessarily.
- 5. The Savvy Interviewer’s Guide | 4 3 Interview Styles (and How to Decide Which One is Right for You) Depending on the role you are hiring for, your interview team, and timeline, there are several different interview styles that may be utilized for a single interview process. Below are three common interview styles that are particularly effective. TRADITIONAL INTERVIEWS Typically conducted as phone screens, traditional interviews follow the progression of a candidate’s career, using the candidate’s resume as a basis for asking questions. This type of interview focuses on the candidate and his or her background and is used to screen candidates based on predetermined job requirements and to gather initial data. Use traditional interview techniques to obtain clarity on a candidate’s motivations, career decisions, skill set, credentials, career progression, and cultural fit. In addition, determine whether or not the candidate possesses both the intrinsic and concrete qualifications necessary to be successful in the role. For instance, during the phone screen, you should try to uncover a candidate’s motivation for considering new opportunities, interest in the position and your company, timeline for starting a new role, and compensation history and requirements. More specifically, a traditional interview should be used to probe for the following information: Timeline: A large portion of a candidate’s decision to move from one company to another is timing. Ask questions to determine if anything is anchoring the candidate to his or her current company, or if there is anything that would prevent that person from accepting the opportunity. It’s important to ask these ques- tions to determine how invested a candidate is in making a move. The goal is to uncover potential obsta- cles such as a significant year-end bonus, a planned six-week sabbatical, a possible upcoming promotion, or anything else that could potentially delay or prevent them from accepting an offer. Job search activity: Whether candidates are passive or active in their search, they may be currently con- sidering opportunities with other companies. Ask candidates if, and where, they are in process with other opportunities to avoid surprises later on. If the candidate is about to receive another offer and you have just started your interviews, you may want to expedite scheduling future interviews or remove them from the process if your internal hiring timeline cannot move quickly enough.
- 6. The Savvy Interviewer’s Guide | 5 Compensation requirements: When asking for a candidate’s current compensation and compensation require- ments for accepting a new position, acquire a total breakdown, including base salary, variable, and any equity options. Be aware of the compensation range for the open role. If the candidate’s requirements and/or current earnings are outside of the hiring budget and there is no flexibility, explain this to the candidate. If the candi- date is unwilling to consider a lower package, do not move the person through the process. The information above should only serve as a high-level candidate filtering mechanism. As your interview process progresses with subsequent phone screens and onsite interviews, your interviewers will begin to dive into performance indicators through the use of behavioral and skill-based interviews, which are outlined further below. “Hiring intelligent, adaptable people who embody your core values is everything. Let this eBook serve as a guide to help you attract your future generations of ‘A’ players and leaders.” Ben Russell, VP People, Monetate BEHAVIORAL INTERVIEWS The principle behind behavioral interviewing is that past behavior and experience are often indicators of future behavior, and therefore future performance. This method is most often used to evaluate specific competencies that are deemed fundamental to achieving success in the role. At a high level, a behavioral interview focuses on the skills and abilities that will lead to high performance. It is a line of questioning that gathers information on how a candidate handled a specific situation, what actions he or she took, and what the end result was. You will find examples of behavioral interviewing questions later in this chapter. Question topics will vary based on the role and competencies that are being screened. The more you are able to diversify ques- tioning to achieve a balance of moderate scenarios with challenging ones, the broader the insight you will gather. The goal of behavioral interviewing is to understand how candidates have responded to roadblocks, opportunities, accomplishments, and failures.
- 7. The Savvy Interviewer’s Guide | 6 Probing questions are essential to push the candidate to move beyond the surface and to provide more relevant detail. After a candidate’s response to an initial question, probe further and challenge him or her to be more specific. For example, ask follow- up questions such as: Importantly, behavioral interviewing is only effective if you follow the BAR (background, action, result) method. As an inter- viewer, your job is to push candidates to provide explicit details about the background of each situation, the action they took, and the end result, since this will provide you a better understanding of how they may handle similar situations if they were to join your company. To develop a list of behavioral interview questions, use the list of core competencies that you develop during the search kickoff (which we will discuss in Chapter 2). Keep in mind that one behavioral interview question may pertain to multiple competen- cies. You should ask multiple questions for each competency to ensure consistency, and questions should be as specific as possible to the activities performed in the position. What specifically did you do? What action did you take? What did you do next? What was the result? Why was that your next step? How did you handle the fallout from ABC result? What did you do to encourage the team? How did you come up with the plan of action? What could you have done differently?
- 8. The Savvy Interviewer’s Guide | 7 Here are some examples of behavioral interview questions for common competencies to use as a reference guide when creating a list of behavioral interview questions for your search: Working effectively with others: Would you tell me about a time when your team was veering off track and how you were instrumental in bringing the team back in focus? What did you do to ensure there wouldn’t be more derailments? Agility: Can you tell me about a project that did not go according to plan? What corrections did you make, and what were the results? Critical thinking and decision-making: Can you describe the steps you go through to make an important decision? What examples can you provide? Accountability and leadership: Can you describe in detail a project (or cite a specific project that this candidate was responsible for in a past role) that you were responsible for? How did you carry out the project and what were the end results? Efficiency and organizational skills: What is your process for prioritizing responsibilities? Can you provide an example? What could you do to be more efficient? During a behavioral interview, it is important to briefly document the candidate’s response to ensure you have uncovered the necessary detail. This information can then be used in your final decision-making process.
- 9. The Savvy Interviewer’s Guide | 8 SKILL-BASED INTERVIEWS While behavioral interviewing allows you to gain a deeper understanding of past performance, the most effective interview style for accurately assessing a candidate’s true abilities is a hands-on, skill-based interview. This type of interview provides an opportunity to see a candidate in action, better understand how that person evaluates himself or herself, and observe how the candidate responds to critiques. The skill-based interview method is most useful for roles in which the candidate could not perform the job well without these specific skills. For instance, if you are hiring an engineer who will be working with a specific technology and would need a certain level of skill to successfully make an impact in the role, a skill-based interview can be highly effective as an indicator of performance. The specific type of skill-based interview you use will vary depending on the role and the skills being tested. Here is a sample of skill-based interviews that you might use for different groups within your software company: Deciding on the Right Interview Structure and Medium In addition to considering what type of interview format to use, it is also important to consider the appropriate interview structure and medium for each position you hire for. For example, if a candidate will need to meet with a large number of individuals, or a team, you might use group interviews to streamline the process. When conducting group interviews, the individuals participating should meet in advance to deter- mine who will focus on which core competencies during the interview in order to ensure all areas are covered. Group interviews should be used when the candidate is meeting with peers or direct reports. If, on the other hand, you are having a candidate meet with the executive team or an employee the hire will work closely with, opt for interviews with a more individualized focus. Engineering Coding test Sales Web demonstration/ presentation Marketing Whiteboard strategy session Product Present product/feature idea and lead a discussion
- 10. The Savvy Interviewer’s Guide | 9 Similarly, the medium you use for interviews is important and may vary based on the position you are hiring for. For example, here are three possible mediums and how they might be used: Phone: Phone interviews are used as the initial screen with the recruiter and/or hiring manager as well as for initial interview team interviews if the candidate is not local and/or if the role requires a high volume of phone interaction. For example, if you are interviewing sales candidates, much of their job will likely be conducted over the phone. To get a clear understanding of the candidates’ energy, demeanor, and closing skills on a call, implement a series of phone-based interviews. Video/Skype: Video interviews are a potential medium to use in place of a phone or first onsite interview if the candidate or a member of your hiring team is not local. They give both the interviewer and the candidate a warmer, face-to-face interaction without incurring travel costs. In-person: In-person interviews are highly recommended for all potential hires. It’s important for candidates to come onsite to see how they interact with each member of the interview team and anyone they come in contact with at your organization, from the receptionist to the CEO. It’s also important to showcase the culture of your organization firsthand, and to get more clarity around whether or not the candidate will be comfortable and a cultural match. If a candidate isn’t local, and will be working remotely, it is best practice to either bring the candi- date into the office, or for the hiring manager or a member of the hiring team to travel for an in-person meeting. Laying the Groundwork for Successful Execution After reading this chapter, you should have a clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities that are required to effec- tively manage the interviewing process, as well as the various techniques and formats that can be used to best facilitate inter- views for specific jobs. In the next chapter, we will outline seven steps that will help you prepare for and conduct more effective interviews. The chap- ter also includes a sample scorecard for grading interviews based on core criteria, a list of common interviewing obstacles to avoid, and a fictitious sample case study of how a software company conducts a search for a sales director.