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A Publication of WTVP

If you're still using conventional interviews to staff your company, you're doing it wrong.

Interviewing is a vital part of the staffing process, so in order to select the best talent for your organization's needs, the interview must be done right. But conventional interviews don't work. Across the globe, hiring managers are turning to experiential interviews—the kind where the candidate does real work to demonstrate their skills—to fill positions in their companies. Why? Because conventional interviews give only the smallest glimpse of the candidate, and an inaccurate one at that.

During conventional interviews, job candidates are always on their best behavior. They say what you want to hear and share only the best parts of their backgrounds. This is why the person interviewed isn't always the same person who shows up for work. But experiential interviews allow employers to base their hiring choices on facts, instead of guesses.

During experiential interviews, you get to see candidates doing sample work, rather than speaking conceptually about the job. Computer programmers can be given specs to write computer code, accounting candidates can analyze financials, and marketing staffers can design a promotional campaign.

Regardless of industry, embracing experiential interviews can help you find better talent faster. When you get to witness candidates doing the job firsthand, you can automatically assess their skills and instantly have a complete image of the person you've just met. That way, there are no surprises or disappointments. There are four stages of experiential interviews:

Stage 1: Compare the candidate's written materials to your company's hiring profile. Your hiring profile—the specific standards, skills and qualifications you require job candidates to meet—gives you a point of reference when viewing each candidate's qualifications. Compare all candidates to your hiring profile by viewing their résumés, job applications, and if needed, a few written questions. Any candidate who matches the most important skills, experience and education level moves on to Stage 2.

Stage 2: Conduct a brief phone interview. For most roles, a 20-minute (or less) phone conversation allows you to hear how the candidate communicates as you review their background and discuss the job. This stage also provides an opportunity to discover how their values, helpful behaviors and personality features may or may not fit into your company culture.

Effective phone interviews can cover lots of ground using short and simple questions. For example:

If the candidate matches these additional requirements, they move to Stage 3.

Stage 3: Hold an in-person, hands-on interview. Here, you'll have the candidate do sample work—both alone and with others—while interviewers observe. The interviewers can use this time to assess how well the candidate performs. If the candidate demonstrates an ability to do quality work, they move on to Stage 4.

Stage 4: Complete reference checks. Reference checks (and background checks, in certain roles) are used to confirm that the candidate fits all of the required criteria for the job. If they pass this last stage, they're offered a job immediately, or the next time a seat opens.

Hiring managers are challenged to find the very best talent available. Experiential interviews are key in this process, helping you really get to know the talent and see how they will perform in real work scenarios. Allowing them to show not only who they are, but what they can do, helps them shine—and helps you make the best decision for your business easier, faster and more accurately than ever before. iBi

Scott Wintrip is the founder of the Wintrip Consulting Group, a global consultancy in St. Petersburg, Florida. For more information, visit wintripconsultinggroup.com.

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