The Power of Feedback
There seems to be a trend toward first stage telephone interviews which to be honest I can perfectly understand. I use the same principal when it comes to dating why waste time meeting someone face-2-face if it becomes apparent you can’t even hold a good telephone conversation. For phone interviews I swot up like I would do for a face-to face interview.
Last week I had 3 telephone interviews so I was happy with that in terms of a positive week. The one that lasted an hour that I didn’t get - did however go well. Ok, yes you read that right, I didn’t get the job, but was nice about this one was that the interviewer took the time to consider our call and to make her decision. She then drafted a lovely email to not only thank me for my time but to also give a considered, constructive response about how she’d come to her decision. Reading it on paper - I really couldn’t fault her reasoning – it completely was bang on and now I am continuing with the other two roles where my skills are so much more suited. And it’s helped me think more about what I really do want from my next role and where my strengths really lie.
Useful tailored feedback is awesome but let’s be honest it is very rare. Here are some of the things that interviewers tend to reel out to candidates that aren’t quite so constructive or helpful:
Too experienced, you'll get bored
This old chestnut which is reeled out again and again. My CV clearly shows the level of experience that I have and the types of work that I’ve done. I’ve obviously showcased the highlights rather than the mundane but you must have liked what I put down enough to invite me in.
Tip for interviewers: Please, please come up with something more original – find out more about the candidates motivations – they could have been out of work for a while and want to get their confidence back up. They may need to money and while this isn’t the most exciting job right now, it might be what they need to get back on their feet. They’re applying for a reason.
Didn't know what we want/want someone more like this
Actually, this one has worked both against me and for me. It’s the one where the interviewer/s can’t quite put a finger on what they really want so they invite a plethora of people in with varying skills, knowledge and experience to try and then define what they want. A bit of a scattergun – thrown the dice approach which can go either way for the candidates.
Tip for interviewer: Maybe just think a bit more about what it is you really want – it’s never good to waste time, something that applies to both sides of the table.
The Carbon Copy
This is the difficult one where the interviewer wants a carbon copy of the person who is leaving. If they could clone them, they would, those will be difficult shoes to fill. The skills the knowledge, the approach, all the questions will be geared towards replicating that person. So even if you do get the job , you’re probably never going to be able to fill those insurmountable shoes.
Tip for interviewer: Life moves on – employees do leave but the skill is looking at what skills and things really need doing in that role to take things even further and make it even more effective.
Anyway, in summary even formulaic feedback as mentioned above is better than none at all. If a candidate has spent time researching, applying, rehearsing and taking the time to attend an interview – it’s always polite to thank them and to give them some kind of response in conclusion. And, if you can give tailored, constructive feedback as to why they did or didn’t get the role – it’s even better and you know that you’re helping someone to develop who they are.
