Brian sat down for a Zoom interview with the latest candidate for an admin role. This was the first time he’d ever hired a new staff member. He used to think that when hiring, a leader should just go with their gut. But recently, he’d read about how that can lead to biased decisions. What should he be looking for, then? Was there even a point to this conversation, or should he just make decisions based on the resumes in front of him? He couldn’t escape the feeling that he was doing this all wrong.
Brian was right to be concerned. Hiring is a very hard thing to do, and using the right recruitment strategies and interviewing techniques is crucial. The average business owner doesn’t have the muscle memory for hiring because they rarely have to do it.
And the costs of getting it wrong can be astronomical. Replacing a failed hire can cost 30–50% of the person’s annual salary, or up to 400% of a highly skilled employee’s salary. The mistakes hiring managers make can have ongoing repercussions, leaving businesses to either deal with an underperforming employee or repeat this expensive and time-consuming process to find someone else.
What are the most common mistakes made by interviewers, then? From affinity bias to lack of a structured process, several common pitfalls can lead companies to hire the wrong person — or make a bad impression on good candidates.
But by using the right interviewing techniques and strategies, you can steer clear of these blunders. Let’s review five common interviewing mistakes that companies too often make — and how to choose the right hire every time.
1. Hiring Based on Whether They Like the Person
One of the biggest hiring mistakes to avoid is making a biased hire. Affinity bias is rampant in hiring. We all tend to have an unconscious bias toward people we can relate to best, who often look like us or come from a similar background.
Too often, an interviewer “hits it off” with someone who went to a similar school or has a way of expressing ideas that mirrors their own. If they “go with their gut,” hiring that person based on these superficial factors, they might miss out on more qualified talent.
Falling into biased thinking isn’t just unfair to candidates. It also kills team creativity and causes businesses to stagnate. If you’re only hiring people who share your views, you’re not bringing in fresh ideas.
How to avoid bias, then? The first step is becoming aware of it. Then, seek input from others during the hiring process. Partnering with a third party like iaBlueprint can help you steer clear of bias, since we’re able to lend an objective view.
2. Not Ensuring Cultural Fit
When companies hire a person mainly because they like them, they also fail to look at cultural fit. That’s a really big deal. Growing a great culture starts with choosing the right people.
Looking at a candidate’s cultural fit and character should be one of your highest priorities. If you pick someone who doesn’t align, it will become a constant point of friction for your business.
Make sure the candidate aligns with your mission. Show them your mission statement and ask them whether they believe in it and why. Listen for authentic, detailed answers that highlight their principles, personal ethics, and motivations.
Then, give the applicant a copy of your core values and say, “These explain who we are. If they don’t match up to your own values, you’re not going to be happy here.” Ask whether they align with these values, and how. You could ask, “Can you tell me about a couple of times when something you’ve done showed alignment with these core values?” Again, look for sincere and detailed answers rather than generic or canned responses.
3. Hiring Just Because They Have Experience
Similarly, companies often fall into the trap of mainly looking at experience. Sure, experience can be important, but it’s not the most crucial ingredient to success.
As Patrick Chioni says, you need people who are smart, hungry, and humble:
- Being smart means not just having intelligence, but also emotional intelligence. Folks with both of these types of intelligence have good judgment and read people well.
- Being hungry means wanting to continually strive to do better. People with this quality are highly self-motivated and always seeking to grow.
- Being humble means seeing themselves as part of the equation, not the equation. Humble people are always seeking to learn from others, support the team, and share the credit.
If you find someone with all of these qualities, make sure they either have the right experience or like experience. Someone who has handled similar tasks can be trained. Humbleness isn’t something you can teach on the job.
4. Lacking a Well-Defined Concept of the Role
If you don’t have a clearly defined idea of what a role should look like, it’s easy to go off the rails during the interview process. You might be hiring for a brand-new role or restructuring several functions, which requires careful planning. Or maybe you need to narrow down the focus of an existing role. In either case, follow these steps to clarify responsibilities and expectations.
- Come up with an avatar for the role. What type of character, skills, and personality does it require? Describe a hypothetical employee who would excel in the position.
- Refine the job description. Make sure it doesn’t overlap with other functions. Craft a clear list of bullet points outlining its key duties.
With this description in hand, you’ll more accurately explain the responsibilities the role involves. Then, you can ask specific questions about candidates’ experience in these areas. For instance, you could say, “Tell me about your approach to handling client renewals.” Or, you could ask a prospective executive assistant, “On a typical day, what were the most important ways in which you supported the leader you worked with in your last job?”
5. Failing to Follow a Clear Structure
If you’re flying by the seat of your pants during the interview process, you’re setting yourself up to make bad decisions. Not implementing a clear hiring and interviewing process contributes to bias. It also makes a company look disorganized, causing good candidates to look elsewhere.
How to correct course? Outline the key elements of your hiring process: when to communicate with candidates, how many interviews you’ll hold, and who will attend. Use the same set of questions with all candidates to give them each a fair shake. Take notes, and then try to objectively compare their answers afterward.
You can use the STAR method of interviewing to gain insights on past behaviors and experiences. The STAR method prompts them to describe these four things:
- Situation they encountered
- Task it required them to handle
- Action they took
- Result they achieved
For instance, you could say, “Tell me about a challenge you had to overcome. What were you tasked with doing, and how did you handle the situation?” Questions like this one can help you assess whether a candidate has the right character and skills for the role.
Now that you understand the five common interviewing mistakes, you’re better positioned to make the right hire. But you don’t have to navigate the process alone.
At iaBlueprint, we know how to ask questions that draw out authentic and informative answers. Through our 12-step hiring process, we gain an in-depth understanding of how the candidate ranks in each of the areas that matter most. Since we screen candidates through role-specific assessments early on in the process, we can focus heavily on cultural fit and character in our interviews. Our 12-step process results in a thorough understanding of what each candidate brings to the table — and a 90% retention rate. By partnering with us, you’ll easily avoid the common mistakes hiring managers make and find the ideal candidate for you.
To discuss how iaBlueprint can help you hire the perfect assistant for your company, book a discovery call. I’ll talk with you about your needs and how a virtual assistant can help fill them. Instead of struggling with a lengthy hiring process, we’ll do all the legwork for you, interviewing talented and experienced people until we find the right one. Instead of making a less-than-optimal hire and wasting countless hours on recruitment, you’ll quickly and easily gain a trusted staff member who meets your needs exactly.