WEBVTT

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With all my bad luck at hiring...
it all sounds too good to be true!

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Well... actually... I had a
breakthrough when I realized

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that there are two dimensions
to structured interviewing.

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So... First, there's the skill of
gaining behavioral predictors.

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Think of them as samples of past-behavior,

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that reflect on a candidate's job skills.

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Then, there's the interviewer's skills

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of managing their own cognitive perspectives

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and gut feelings about different candidates.

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Cognitive perspectives?

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Yah... that's what the interviewer
believes about people.

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So, things that can influence
the fairness of an interview...

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like stereotypes, biases,
gut feelings or general impressions

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that can get in the way
of making fair judgments

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about a candidate's job skills.

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You mean... training can help
interviewers be fair with all candidates?

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Not exactly...

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Only some people have deep prejudices...

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but most have some sort of bias.

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And either one can cause
unfair ratings and decisions.

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Sounds like you just need to
eliminate stereotypes, right?

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Correct.

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But it's more than just dealing with stereotypes.

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You'll need to adopt a selection system,

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and always use a structured,
job-related interview.

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So, ask all candidates the same
questions it equivalent times...

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and rate candidate answers
based on job requirements.

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I agree that selection
needs to be fair, but

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we hire based on our general
impressions of the candidate.

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Ouch!

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Well, what is your interviewing system like?

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I trust the judgment of my interviewers!

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Is that so bad?

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I mean, hiring based on a "system"
feels cold and mechanical.

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I'd rather go with my gut!

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Well, it's natural to have
gut feelings about people.

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But the difference is that
with a structured interview,

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you hold back your
general impressions.

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How do you do that?

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You concentrate on getting
samples of past-behavior.

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See, when you read a past-behavior
question to a candidate,

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they'll be primed to give an example
of what they actually did in a work situation.

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I can't say I've been batting a thousand
on judging ability to do a job.

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In fact, I just had to let go of a supervisor...

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who I thought was fantastic when I hired them.

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I wanted someone who
was decisive and firm.

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And from everything
I heard in the interview,

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I thought she'd be perfect for the job.

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But you asked her an "if" question,

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which invited her to speculate
about her strong points.

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And then you reacted by deciding
that she'd be "perfect" for the job.

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You're so right!

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After she was hired,
I found she was entirely too rigid.

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There's no way I could have
known that from an interview.

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Well... Maybe you could have...

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Okay... how?

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Many interviewers make hiring
decisions based on generalities

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in the candidate's answers.

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But with structured interviewing,

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you use past-behavior
questions to get information

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about what was done... so that
you can predict what they will do.

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Yeah, I hear ya, but...

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Just because somebody did
something one way in the past

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doesn't mean they're going to
continue to do it forever.

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Sure, the past isn't an
absolute predictor of the future,

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but it is more reliable than it got feeling.

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Okay...

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Let me show you what I mean.

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Suppose I had to interview someone

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who had to deal with difficult customers.

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Excuse me, do you have a second?

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Sure. What's up?

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Okay, well, we're having a little discussion

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and I think that you could be helpful.

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Do you mind if I ask you a question?

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Sure. Fire away!

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Okay. Ever had a customer, who was
really obnoxious about their order?

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Yah, it happens.

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Okay, well, when you've had to deal with
difficult customers, how did you handle it?

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Well... a few weeks ago, we had a customer
who had to wait for his order.

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He was really upset and in a hurry.

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Offering him a free coffee didn't work.

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So, I explained to him that his special order

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takes a little extra time....

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And I gave him a free breakfast
sandwich for his next visit.

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That calmed him down...

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And like clockwork...
he's in here every Friday morning.

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Great.

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You helped me make my point.
Thank you.

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My pleasure...

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Okay, yah, so I see.

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He told you about how he handled a
specific customer problem in the past.

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And that's a good bet he'd do
something similar in the future.

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But… how do I know
what questions to ask

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when all I know about a candidate

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is what’s on their resume
and application?

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Well, you know what job
you're trying to fill, right?

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Um.. yeah, but I don't...

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Well, just use the job requirements
as the basis for your questions.

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Okay, I see what you're saying.

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So, the questions come
from the job requirements

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that describe what needs to be done.

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That's right!