From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question:
I am the HR Director for a large company. Part of my role, is assisting managers in the hiring process. Very frustrating. Most times, these guys will make a hiring decision in the first 30 seconds of the interview. Our revolving door can barely keep track of the spin-outs. How can I get my managers to slow down, to make a decision only after they have asked some better questions?

Response:
Your description is typical of most hiring decisions that I see.

“There is a candidate down the hall interviewing for the supervisor’s decision. Everyone else likes him. Can you go see if you like him, too?”

So, here we are, 30 seconds into the interview and the candidate reminds me of my best drinking buddy from college. I had a half dozen questions that I scribbled on a yellow pad, but couldn’t find the pad before the interview started. I can always tell the candidate about this “great place to work.” If he looks interested, maybe he will take the job.

Can we stop our initial reactions (first impressions) in the interview? NO!!

We are people and cannot stop those first impressions. But first impressions are not sufficient to make a sound hiring decision. The reason most managers rely on those first impressions is that they are totally unprepared to enter the interview room. Most have only a sketchy intuitive understanding of the role and rarely more than six or seven prepared questions.

As an HR professional, part of your role, is to insist on a discipline in the hiring process. The first discipline is the creation of a coherent role description, where the tasks and activities are organized into 5-8 Key Result Areas. The second discipline is the preparation of ten questions for each Key Result Area. Now the Hiring Manager is ready, with 50-80 written prepared questions. For every written question, it is likely the manager will ask two drill-down questions, meaning, during the course of the interview, there will be 150-240 questions asked.

Now, we can have all the first impressions we want, but that first impression will be balanced by 150 pieces of data, specifically related to the role. The quality of your hiring decisions will rise dramatically.
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