Interviewing on the Fly

First scenario - interviewing on the fly

Just moments before the interview, did you pick up the candidate's resume, glanced at it rapidly, and then rushed over to meet the applicant to conduct the interview? And then during the interview, did you just ask the best questions that you could think of at the moment? And when you were finished interviewing all the candidates, did you make a "gut" decision as to who was the best applicant?

Second scenario - interviewing to find the best

Or did you thoroughly prepare for the interview doing the following? First, did you update the job description, figured out exactly the job functions, and came up with the specific soft and hard skills required for the position? Then, did you develop the selection criteria for each hard and soft skill? And, did you use these selection criteria to build behavior-based questions to find out whether the candidate would be able to perform the main job functions? And finally, did you develop an evaluation procedure to help you assess each applicant in an objective and unbiased way?

99 per cent of all the managers that I have asked this question to, tend to fit towards the first scenario.

What is the cost of interviewing on the fly? Extremely high of course!

What is more cost effective for you - to invest a few hours upfront properly preparing for the interview, or to have to spend countless hours dealing with a poor performer?

Hiring on the fly costs you way more - much-much more - than what you need to invest up front to properly prepare for the interview.

Conclusion: The next time you need to hire a new employee, think twice before repeating the same bad-old habit of interviewing on the fly. It could potentially become a way too expensive nightmare!

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