Hiring is such a critical role for managers and supervisors, yet many of them take a casual or mistaken (read legally dangerous) view of the job. In today’s CED, we share a few of the worst interview approaches we’ve come across.
1. Great Interview — Fascinating Person
We had great rapport — we talked baseball (she’s also a Dodgers fan), politics (we share political views), and religion (she might start going to my church). I hired her on the spot.
This doesn’t sound like an interview; it sounds like a match.com date. It doesn’t seem that the questioning ever got around to being job-related.
This is bad news for both the company and the new employee. Neither party is going to be very happy, since there’s little likelihood that her skills will meet job requirements, or that the job will meet her ambitions.
And on top of that are legal problems, too. If someone who wasn’t hired charges discrimination, the company won’t be able to mount much of a defense. You don’t want to be on the witness stand saying, “I rejected the candidate who is a member of a protected class because she roots for the Angels.”
2. Why Bother?
It’s not really worth too much effort in the interview because you never know how they are going to do until you get them on the job anyway.
If you do a thorough job-based interview, plus background and reference checks, you will have a quite good idea of how the person will perform. If you don’t put the effort in, you surely won’t find good candidates. And you surely will be open to lawsuits.
3. The Easy Way Out
When it’s hard to choose between candidates, I just hire both; then, after a few weeks, I keep the best one and let the other go.
Moral questions aside, this is a poor approach. Terminations are negative all around and they breed lawsuits. Why set up a system that actually requires one right off the bat?
4. I Demand the Brightest
It’s always good to require a college degree — then you know you’re getting well-educated people.
Your job requirements should be matched to the job. Requiring a college degree for a routine or menial job is not wise. It appears to be discriminatory. And the people you hire probably won’t be well-suited for the job.
The real costs of a bad hire — webinar coming Nov. 30
5. Give Me a Football Player Every Time
Our manufacturing jobs require some heavy lifting — we hire fellows who’ve been on the local high school football team.
Evaluate candidates individually against job requirements. Cast a wide net for applicants. Never specify a sex (or a requirement that automatically eliminates one sex or the other).
Tomorrow, we’ll bring you the rest of the top 9. Stay tuned.
Download your free copy of Questions To Ask in an Interview: Interview Questions for Employers today!
When I first started interviewing employees way back when, I had no training at all, so it was easy to make these mistakes. Thank god I received training before I made an innocent mistake that could have resulted in a lawsuit.
When I first started interviewing employees way back when, I had no training at all, so it was easy to make these mistakes. Thank god I received training before I made an innocent mistake that could have resulted in a lawsuit.