By Lou Adler, April 30, 2009 – The Asia Times

When you become a really good interviewer, you realize the interview is the best sourcing, recruiting, and closing tool ever invented.

Back in the early ’80s when I launched my recruiter career, I was filling senior staff positions (engineers, accountants) and mid-level managers, and quickly realized these few common truths about human nature:

1. Most hiring managers make selection decisions based on limited information and their need to fill the job.
2. More candidates – even the best ones – make superficial guesses about the job based on limited information and their need to change positions.
3. Managers don’t trust recruiters.
4. Candidates don’t trust recruiters.
5. Knowing the job can help create trust.

Before becoming a recruiter I had held a number of line manager positions in engineering, finance, distribution, and manufacturing, so knowing real job needs was a given. Without this background, I wouldn’t have been able to be an effective recruiter as quickly. To develop instant credibility and to offset any lack of job knowledge, I suggest recruiters prepare performance profiles (a list of performance expectations) to gain a deeper understanding of real job needs. This also helps managers focus on something more important than skills, experiences, and personality when evaluating candidates.

Knowing real job needs also allows the interviewer to use only one basic question to assess most job factors like competency, motivation, leadership skills, and ability to achieve consistent results. This involves asking the candidate to describe his or her major accomplishments in great detail (at least 10-15 minutes per accomplishment!) and then comparing them to the performance expectations for the job.

With a performance profile as the assessment benchmark and the one-question interview as the measuring stick, here’s how to use the interview to make more placements:

1. “Out-fact” the hiring manager. Details, facts, examples, dates, org charts, names, and percent changes can be used to rebut a manager who is using gut feelings, superficial information, or a narrow range of factors to evaluate a person. For example, to assess team leadership, I ask candidates to describe the types of people involved in each accomplishment and get examples of how the candidate influenced these people. This is a great way to overcome the manager’s intangible feeling that the candidate “just won’t fit.”
2. Create an opportunity gap. Over the course of the interview I have candidates describe in detail their biggest technical, individual, and team accomplishments. I then compare these to the performance profile looking for gaps and areas for potential growth, learning, and stretch. These differences can be used to demonstrate that the job is a real career move, not just a lateral transfer. This same information is also great for comparing different jobs and minimizing the chance of a counter-offer. For example, job growth can be demonstrated if the job involves technology the candidate hasn’t used much before or if the person will be involved with more senior-level managers or a more diverse team.
3. Negotiate compensation. If one of the projects in the performance profile involves managing a bigger team or handling a bigger budget, the recruiter can use this as incentive to forgo a big boost in compensation. To do this, suggest that even though the candidate is a little light on experience, you’ll offer to present the person to the hiring manager if the candidate is willing to consider only a modest increase in compensation for a major increase in growth.
4. Get the candidate to sell you. During the interview, describe one of the most important performance objectives in glowing terms. Then ask the candidate to describe her most comparable accomplishment. As you dig for details, look for the gaps as described above. Then suggest you’re concerned the person doesn’t have the requisite experience, but that you’d consider other relevant experience. If the person finds the job exciting, she’ll start selling you on her accomplishments.
5. Clarify expectations. As a set-up for each accomplishment-based question, describe one of the performance objectives from the performance profile. Then ask the candidate to describe a major comparable accomplishment. Do this throughout the interview for each objective. By the end you’ll know if the candidate is qualified and the candidate will have a clear understanding of real job needs. This will help when the candidate is comparing different job opportunities, since most top performers consider the type of work and the inherent growth opportunities as their prime selection criteria.
6. Prevent all dumb hiring mistakes. Most interviewers overvalue skills, experience, personality, and first impressions when assessing and comparing candidates. To minimize this, spend the first 15 minutes reviewing the candidate’s work history and then asking one 10-15 minute accomplishment-based question before making any yes/no type decision. After about 30 minutes any candidate nervousness and the manager’s initial emotional reaction to the candidate will have dissipated. At this point it’s okay to consider continuing the interview or stopping it, if the candidate isn’t a clear fit.
7. Increase assessment accuracy. While we suggest using a 10-Factor Candidate Assessment template to evaluate and compare candidates across all job factors, it’s based on the idea of comparing the candidate’s best work to the performance expectations described in the performance profile. The trend of growth over time, the consistency of the track record, and getting numerous examples of going the extra mile, clearly reveal job fit and motivation to do the work.
8. Impress the candidate and portray the manager as a leader and mentor. Candidates have extremely positive feelings about the hiring manager when they’re listened to and given the chance to describe their accomplishments in great depth. Candidates want to work for top managers and potential mentors. Describing real job needs, conducting an in-depth evaluation interview, and demonstrating areas for growth is the best way to demonstrate managerial competence and true leadership.
9. Get great referrals. When asking about team projects have candidates draw 360° work charts. These describe all of the connections the candidate has to others inside and outside the company. As part of the assessment look for growth in influence with different types of people. Also, while preparing the charts have the candidate give you titles, names, favorite bosses, potential references, and previous mentors and mentees.  Later, these can be used as leads for sourcing candidates.
10. Close more offers. It’s much better to have the candidate sell you on why the job is a worthwhile career, rather than you having to sell the candidate. The latter comes across as desperation and you’ll always pay more than necessary. Worse, the job probably isn’t the career move described. When candidates sell you using the techniques described above, it means they clearly recognize the job as an opportunity, and superior to others they’re considering. Of course, all desperate candidates will attempt to sell you, so you need to use the opportunity gap idea as the set-up here.

When you start with the idea that someone you’re talking with in the early rounds is eventually going to be made an offer, you realize how important these early discussions are for setting the stage for the close. During the process many candidates will lose interest and hiring managers will get lazy and overlook or misjudge some of the best people. Good interviewing skills can prevent these mistakes and hold the deal together. Consider the interview a core recruiting tool. As far as I’m concerned you can’t be a strong recruiter unless you’re a better interviewer than your hiring managers.