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WHY DON’T WE TRAIN PEOPLE HOW TO INTERVIEW?

Why don’t we train people how to interview?

In a manufacturing business if you have a technician who operates a manufacturing robot, do you hire them, give them the manual and then let them get on with it? No of course you don’t. You induct them, you train them, you supervise them and then when they are ready you let them loose on your precious machines.

So why, in people focussed businesses, do firms not train their people to interview people properly. Sure, they train their HR teams, and they might even send round suggested questions and if a manager is really lucky they may get to go on an interview techniques workshop for half a day, but this is the exception and not the rule in my experience.’ I think some firms operate with an unhealthy level of assumed knowledge ‘well surely if this Director or Partner has made it to the top of the firm then they must know how to interview people just through experience’ I am sure the partner is amazing at their job leading client relationships and solving their issues but that doesn’t mean they are any good at recruiting people.’ I eat a lot of food, but I am pretty sure I wouldn’t make a good Michelin star chef.

If your business runs on people power (and most do) your first interaction, your first relationship building opportunity with that new colleague is the interview process.’ If they feel that the interview was challenging, fair, thorough and interesting then they will think of you as challenging, fair, thorough and interesting and are likely to already be building a level of respect for you and your organisation before they even walk through the front door.

I have lost count of the number of times very senior individuals have come out of meetings saying ‘well that was the same meeting as I had last week, just with a different face.’ It suggests to individuals that you haven’t really thought about the process, or briefed your interviewers properly which in turn suggests them that maybe you don’t find them important enough to care

The generational motivators are changing, no longer can you buy the best talent.’ This generation, and you can call them anything from Generation Y to the ‘Avocado generation’, look for different things from their employers – sure they want to be rewarded, but more importantly they want to be valued and work for a company with values. I have said it before – retention starts at recruitment. Interview properly, interview effectively and value each interaction

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