HIRE BY COMMITTEE – THE GROUP INTERVIEW

I cringe when I hear a candidate will be interviewed by five or six people at once and that the hiring decision will be made as a group and not solely by the person who will be his/her manager. Why?

1. It is best to be sure that everyone in the interview group have the same vision of the job, duties, the role the position plays in the organization, and the experience and personality traits required to perform in the position. It is my experience this is never the case.

2. Team members may have hidden agendas that influence their decision on a particular candidate. One candidate walked into a team interview to meet a person on the team he declined a promotion for, earlier in their careers. Guess who didn’t get the job.

3. It’s not easy to make a good first impression on five or six people at once. One or more is bound to feel “less noticed” (less important, snubbed?) than the others.

4. Team interviews seldom follow a specific question set that will identify strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes, motivational factors, management style and cultural fit. When a group conversation starts going one direction it is difficult to turn it back to interview mode.

5. If you interview a candidate long enough and with many different people, sooner or later you can find a reason not to hire that person.

A hiring manager should have candidates meet with other staff one on one, take all interviewers comments into consideration and trust his own judgment to make the correct hiring decision.

This blog posting was submitted by NIRA member Jim Peterman of JR Peterman Associates, Inc.