It happens far too often: a promising candidate sails through the interview process, but then starts to seem unsure and uncommitted. Your team has spent hours on screening and interviews, but in the end, you have to back out before making an offer—or worse, rescind it. Now you have to start over with a candidate pool that’s dwindling daily.
Ineffective hiring processes waste time, money, and resources as HR teams and business leaders interview and onboard new hires, only to have 14.48% of new hires last fewer than six months. And when a new hire leaves, leaders are left with gaps to fill and the process repeats all over again.
This perpetual cycle can hurt your company’s bottom line, cost you time and talent, and take a toll on existing staff who have to pick up the slack.
Here’s how can organizations make sure they’re getting the right candidate the first time—one who’s both a great fit and won’t leave in six months.
Let candidates ‘go rogue’
I believe our outdated hiring process calls for a new approach that lets candidates “go rogue” during the interview.
Interviews should be an opportunity for both parties to learn about each other and establish expectations. For example, everyone involved should wonder why the last person in the role failed.
But the traditional approach to interviewing has become stale, formulaic, and performative. Candidates know exactly what questions to expect, and many know just what to say to get an offer. Interviewers don’t provide genuine insight into the role or culture, and the conversation often feels scripted on both ends. This process unfortunately leaves both candidates and interviewers with no clue about whether they are actually a good fit until it’s too late.
By flipping the script on the typical question-and-answer format and instead having authentic conversations that mutually benefit candidates and companies, leaders can get past the textbook answers to find out what’s really important to candidates and both parties can spot red flags that signal potential disaster.
Don’t let your business’s productivity and bottom line suffer from stale Q&As. Instead, implement a strategic interview process that lets candidates go off-script a bit. Here’s how:
Keep it casual
When candidates arrive in their best suit, it sets a very formal tone that reinforces the performative aspect of the interview. They feel put on the spot and not comfortable opening up about who they are and what they want out of the opportunity.
Tell candidates, “Don’t consider this an interview. It’s just a conversation.” Encourage them to dress casually. This approach lowers the superficial façade, enables more meaningful conversation, and takes the edge off, so you can really get to know one another.
Oversharing can be helpful
When interviews have the same structured questions that everyone expects, it’s like asking AI for the answers: you get robotic, canned responses. Instead, ask candidates to tell you about themselves, about situations they’ve encountered, what kind of culture they’ve come from, and how well it worked for them (or didn’t). What might they have changed about their previous employment or their previous supervisor? Let them go off on tangents. The more they talk off-script, the more you learn.
You’d be surprised how many times I’ve heard candidates say, “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, but . . .” and then they dish some dirt on their previous employer—or even themselves. Making candidates feel comfortable can expose both green and red flags that otherwise wouldn’t have shown if they hadn’t let their barriers down. This goes for leaders and interviewers as well: If you’re transparent about the challenges of the job, you’ll build trust and set appropriate expectations for the role.
Stop leading the witness
After a series of disappointing interviews, when the next closest fit candidate comes around, interviewers often give them the answer they want to hear within the question. For example, an interviewer might say, “This is a very fast-paced environment. How do you feel about that?” Or, “We expect our team to be creative and come up with novel solutions. Can you do that?” Of course, a candidate is going to say they can handle it. That’s what you want to hear, right?
Go beyond leading questions and ask candidates for an example of a previous role that fit their pace or about creative solutions they’ve introduced in previous jobs. Make it clear that there’s no right or wrong answer, and that you are willing to work with them to create the environment that works for them. Being mindful about how you structure questions can completely change the response you get in return.
Lose the ego
A lot of company leaders think, “Why wouldn’t everyone want to work for us?” and assume leaders or key players should be flocking to their doors. But when was the last time you did a culture audit? How do you stack up against the competition? It’s typically not until someone leaves that business leaders start asking questions about where they’re going, why, and what they’re gaining at a new employer.
Instead, drop the ego and figure out what you need to do to secure top talent. How could you improve your culture, hiring process, or candidate screening? Ask yourself what you might do to better present what you offer as an employer.
Position yourself as an employer of choice
Most leaders approach interviews from the perspective that they’re screening the candidate. But the candidate is screening you as an employer as well. In a market with ample opportunity and choice, it’s important to position yourself as a unique, progressive leader and a company worth joining.
Explain how you differentiate from the competition in terms of benefits and growth opportunities. Be prepared to answer the question, “Why do you love working here?” and if candidates don’t ask, offer your perspective anyway. It’s equally important to be honest about what you are not. Sharing a little about current challenges your company is working on is a quid pro quo to gain their trust and avoid surprises that appear on the first day, which can begin the descent into turnover.
Take a mentoring approach
Ask candidates about their priorities, what they’re looking to get out of their next move, and how they’re evaluating companies. Understanding how they’re prioritizing will quietly tell you their must-haves. Be clear about which of those you can currently offer, which you’re willing to work on, and those that are less likely.
By being transparent and demonstrating that you would like to try and adapt to meet their needs and expectations—and, of course, actually doing that once they’re hired—will help you build affinity, loyalty, and commitment.
It can be difficult for some companies to drop the conventional interview script—old habits die hard. But shaping interviews that allow candidates to go rogue to get past the canned answers can help you hire the just-right fit for the role the first time, saving you tons of time and effort in repeating the process—and hearing those same scripted answers—all over again three, six, or 12 months down the road.
Shannon Gabriel is the vice president of leadership solutions practice at TBM Consulting Group.
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