It happens too often: Hiring managers bring on candidates with great resumes who had the perfect responses in an interview, only to realize that once in the job, they are not the right fit. Experiential Interviews can assist you in avoiding that problem and help you find the perfect candidate to fill your role.
According to Indeed, candidates are asked to preform sample work or even collaborate with potential coworkers. Interviewers put candidates’ skills to the test and gather in-depth information about their backgrounds instead of relying on short answers to standard questions. This can be beneficial to both parties. While employers gather a more accurate gauge of performance and behavior, candidates have the opportunity to see what the role will actually entail.
Ask candidates to show, not tell, their skills
When hiring for any role, you’ll need to know if the candidate has the necessary “hard skills”: those that are job-specific and quantifiable, gained through training, education or certification. Instead of having candidates tell you what they can do, ask them to show you these skills by performing the essential functions of the role.
To see how they might perform on the job, first create a list of all the hard skills required for the position — then test candidates on those skills by giving them a task on the fly or having them bring in something prepared. If you’re hiring for a role you’re not an expert in, ask someone who currently holds that role for ideas on how to apply key skills. And make sure you give each candidate the same tasks so you can compare them accurately at the end.
Experiential interviews are like an audition for the role you’re hiring for, allowing you to see the candidate’s talent in action before you make a decision. Make sure to watch for body language and nonverbal cues when observing candidates’ behavior, as well, to get a more accurate picture of what they would be like at work. For example, someone who tenses up when asked difficult questions might not be a good fit for a spokesperson role.
Open-ended questions will tell you more than ‘yes’ or ‘no’
In addition to the hard skills needed to execute required tasks, candidates will need a number of “soft skills” to truly excel in your role: interpersonal skills or behavioral characteristics, such as communication, empathy and patience. While a candidate might be able to handle your role on paper, a soft-skills mismatch means they won’t thrive in your work environment.
To determine whether a candidate has the soft skills you need, ask open-ended questions that provide the opportunity to talk about past work experience. “Yes” or “no” interview questions are rarely a window into someone’s actual behavior. Starting questions with prompts such as “Give me an example of …” or “Tell me about a time when …” is helpful in getting a more complete picture of a candidate.
Consider the difference between asking, “Have you ever worked on a team before?” and “Can you tell me about your experience working with teams?” The latter will give the candidate room to expand on their answer and provide more information about their work history.
The skills needed to succeed in an interview don’t always overlap with the skills needed to perform a job. Using experiential interviews will give employers a real sense of the candidate before hiring them, give candidates an opportunity to see what is expected of them and, ultimately, lead to more successful hires.
Original article here.
Follow our Recruiter Blog and Social Media: