The 80-20 Rule of Interviewing
Conventional wisdom says that the job candidate should do most of the talking in an interview…approximately 80% of it. The interviewer’s 20% is for asking the questions and clarifying the candidate’s answers. This 20% does not allow much time for the interviewers’ resumes, musings about their interview experiences, or current events. While some conversation is needed to build rapport, keep it brief.
What happens when the interviewer does all of the talking? They hire good listeners (the candidates who laughed at the right jokes and made the interviewer feel good) rather than the person who can increase sales, boost morale, decrease costs, or improve customer satisfaction.
Even seasoned interviewers can fall into the trap of talking too much. When reviewing the candidate’s resume, perhaps they find that they have a school or hobby in common. Maybe the candidate mentions a recent trip to the interviewer’s favorite locale. Whatever the topic, the interview gets sidetracked and its effectiveness is diminished. The purpose of the interview is to learn about the capabilities and motivation of the candidate and to ensure they are well-informed about the job and company they are potentially joining. Make sure you stay focused on getting the right person for the job so you can meet your business objectives. After all, it’s hard to fire someone who laughs at your jokes.
If you’d like to learn more about effective structured behavioral interviewing and selection decisions please contact Kammy Haynes.
How Big is Big Enough?
In evaluating a selection or training program, a frequent question is, “How much gain in performance justifies the program?” This is a good question and allows you to think about the return-on-investment of your people initiatives.
To determine if the gain is worth the effort, consider the dollar benefits of that gain (such as X% more sales). In some cases even small improvements can be significant. If the benefits of the change are more difficult to quantify (Y% increase in customer satisfaction ratings), consider whether the difference would make the participants significantly better performers relative to others (for instance, moving from the 30th percentile to the 70th percentile) or meet some other objective measure (able to answer more than 90% of customer questions correctly).
The value of performance changes are hard to evaluate in a vacuum. Consider the size and relevancy before determining if they are big enough.
If you’d like to discuss return-on-investment further, please contact Warren Bobrow.
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