By: Rashna Rani Baruah
An interview, whatsoever may be the type, one-on-one, panel interview, group interview, remote video interview, is the key to any job. A job, which may change your life, and in turn, you may be the one who will change the business forever. Of course, the hiring party here expects the graph of profit fly high. But does it happen always? Is it always like being able to hire the best to lead any organization to the zenith of success? Well, the answer is for you to ponder.
Among the hiring experts, one notable global exponent on hiring, Claudio Fernández-Aráoz, author of the books like It’s not the How or the What but the Who, Great People Decisions, Hiring Without Firing, etc. , a frequent lecturer at Harvard Business School, coined a typical interview as ‘conversation between two liars.’
The reason being, in typical interview, where a set of archetypal or classic questions are asked, both the interviewer and the interviewee depict a utopian image. With ‘embellished’ (a term used by Nick Chandler, the Managing Partner of Chandler Executive, a boutique executive search and human capital consulting firm) reputation, the organization tries to draw the competent candidate and with ‘embellished’ profiles the candidate tries to impress the interviewer. The real picture or the actual requirements are mostly left to be discovered. As the classic questions are the repeated ones, the candidate is found ready with answers, which hitherto fabricated, is downright perfect answer to bag a handsome package. Such conversation not only promotes glorified lies but also exacerbates with the possibility of partiality, more time consumption and inability to identify the weakness of the candidate. Even seeing the long years of experience may not help if the candidate lacks potential, which according to Fernández-Aráoz, “includes the ability to adapt to ever-changing business environments and grow into challenging new roles.”(The Big Idea: 21st-Century Talent Spotting)
However, fortunate are the hirers, as with the advanced era of technology, especially the emergence of AI, so much more has been changed. With the paradigm shift in the need and nature of jobs, there is prima facie evidence that the companies have adopted more reliable ways pertinent to the process of selecting worthy candidates. Additionally, with the looming challenge of pandemic, we landed almost on a virtual world with terms like ‘hybrid work’, ‘remote flexibility’ and started using the effective techniques which had been looked up to be emceed in the recent future, just a few years ago.
After a survey of more than 9000 recruiters and hiring managers, the Global Recruiting Trends 2018 report revealed that the old school traditional methods of interviews would become obsolete soon due to its dearth to provide a vivid picture of the candidate’s real skill and talent. The report highlighted that the new interview techniques are gaining favour, such as assessing candidate’s soft skills (63%), understanding candidate’s weaknesses (57%) and interviewer bias (42%). Along with that recruiters and hiring managers, globally, shared that AI is a bold disruptor, and is helping them save time (67%), remove human bias (43%) and deliver the best candidate matches (31%). Respondent also said that AI is most helpful when sourcing candidates (58%), screening (56%) and nurturing candidates (55%). Even cloud based hiring platform like Zoho Recruit has come into the scene which can successfully track the application of the most efficient candidate.
In an exclusive interview, Fernández-Aráoz, who was also ranked by Bloomberg as one of the most influential executive search consultants in the world and selected by Thinkers50 as one of the world’s leading thinkers on talent, affirmed that the focus is now on potential and curiosity rather than on competencies. So, to actualize the same, organizations need to comply with two basic things for choosing the right entrant: behavioral based interview (on job situation or placing the candidate in real work situation) and reference checking (confirming the data produced by the candidate with someone who he/she worked closely with).
Hence, it’s time for ‘Gen Zs’ to understand the pivotal role of developing skills. The league of thriving leaders should be able to justify what the pro-tech Steve Jobs once said, “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do. We hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”
