Interviewing Strategy with Paul Bunda | SocialTalent

Interviewing strategy is a phrase that we may not actually say very often. Traditionally, there isn't much work done between recruiter and hiring manager on interviewing strategy. Often I'm the recruiter talking to the hiring manager, saying, hiring manager, tell me who do you want to interview and what process shall we use? Let me know and I'll get right on it. However, it's important that we address how we can step up and lead more, how we can show up as talent advisors and in the assessment process. Is it realistic to think that we're going to build a strategy for every single interview? Probably not. We'll likely have to prioritize in the same way that we do around the type of market insights we might bring to the conversation, or how much effort we might put into sourcing strategy. Ultimately, if we want to create speed and quality for the hiring manager, it's critical that we show up with a point of view and actually build some recommendations. When I talk to hiring managers and ask them what they want out of interviewing, or if I were to talk to your hiring managers, they'd probably say similar things. They want to make sure that the interview team is on the same page on the hiring criteria, having a shared framework on what good looks like. If you've spent any time with hiring managers, you'll likely agree that many of them are not necessarily good interviewers. They often don't know how to structure a great process. This is where we can lend some help. Hiring managers often want some very specific recommendations. Perhaps they're aware of problems like interviewers asking duplicate questions. Maybe they're not sure whether a certain type of person should be involved in the interview and they could benefit by bouncing ideas off of someone like us. Perhaps they ask things like, should I have my boss involved for this level of role? Or do you think we need to have a peer? Or is it weird I'm bringing in a manager candidate? Perhaps they say, should the people that are going to report to the manager be part of that process? Or even do I need the HR director involved? We should have a point of view and be ready to coach on these topics. Finally, in our decision making process, hiring managers sometimes just default to consensus. I must have all six interviewers in agreement before I make a decision. Meanwhile, other hiring managers just default to hey, thanks for your feedback. I'll let you know when I decide. We have an opportunity in those moments to provide some coaching, some pros and cons, and different decision making models, and to show up as a facilitator to help the hiring manager make a quality hiring decision. These are all examples of ways we can step up in the following episodes. I'm going to give you some practical how to information to help you lead in each of these areas.