How To Talk Only 25% Of The Time
Do you spend more time talking than listening
when you interview? Interviewing experts say
that the most effective and efficient interviews
are those in which the interviewer talks only
25% of the time!
After years of interviewing, I believe I
finally have it right! I’ve learned to plan with
the structure of a systems engineer, control
with the underlying authority of a judge, probe
with a surgeon’s finesse, listen with the
thoroughness of a counselor, and assess
individual skills and attributes with a
photographer’s eye for nuance.
The hard part, of course, is to do all this
while only talking 25% of the time and while
doing the other 50 things I’m responsible for
each day! We all know why we need to make time
for interviewing - so we don’t have to keep
doing all the jobs of those positions we haven’t
yet filled! We also know why we should only talk
25% of the time - if we talk too much, how will
we learn all that we need to know about the
applicant. You do, of course, need to talk some
or how will the applicant learn all that they
need to know about the job and the company?
If you find yourself talking too much,
examine the reasons - some of us talk too much
during an interview because we didn’t plan the
questions and assessment methods we’d use and
are winging it. We figure if we just keep
talking, the applicant will never know that we
actually forgot they were even coming today –
much less prepared for them! Some of us have had
some pretty interesting interviews like:
- the time the applicant was shown to my
office while I was getting water. When I
entered my office, the applicant was going
through the papers on my desk – she said she
was trying to learn more about me and the
company!
- or the time the applicant came early for
an interview and demanded that I see him
immediately. I was finishing another
interview and told a staff person to ask him
to wait until the scheduled appointment
time. The staff person called back,
obviously upset, and asked me to please come
out front. There, I encountered the
applicant, who told me in no uncertain terms
how rude it was for me to have kept him
waiting – and even slammed his fist on the
desk, when stating that he made a lot more
money than I did and it was unconscionable
to be kept waiting. I obviously did a rather
poor job of pre-screening that one.
These type of experiences tend to make us
want to talk more so we feel in control.
However, you can be in control and keep your
talk time to 25% by doing a small amount of
pre-interview planning.
Set criteria for the position (this could be
your job description or job analysis - make sure
to update it - or you can write a list of what
you're looking for based on what they’ll need to
do).
Gain information about the applicant based
on the criteria before the interview
Save yourself and the applicant time by
pre-interviewing by phone and mail. Ask
questions like "What do you have to offer our
company?" "If you had this job what would you
expect yourself to be doing every day?". You'll
get a better picture of this applicant than the
standard, "Why do you want this job?" "Tell me
about yourself" questions. Ask for and check
references (check them before the interview and
save time, plus you can use information from the
references to probe).
Think about the time and the location -
allow sufficient time so that neither you or the
applicant feel rushed. Consider not only how
long you’ll need for the interview, but also
what time of day and what day of the week would
be best. If you are super busy in the morning,
you won’t get what you need from a morning
interview. Now, if the applicant sounds like
they meet your criteria, call them in for an
interview.
Plan the questions you’ll ask and
assessments you’ll have them do, as well as
anyone on your staff you want them to meet and
talk with (be sure your staff people plan their
questions too), and anything you want to show
them. Pre-interview planning—gaining information
before the interview, planning the best time and
place and the questions, assessments and others
to meet—will allow you to control your
percentage of time talking about the position
and your operation, so you can spend as much
time listening and probing as possible.
The way to get the applicant to talk more?
Ask as many open ended questions as possible.
Instead of "Did you have a good attendance
record on your last job?", try "What was your
attendance record on your last job?". Instead of
"Are you interested in learning how to use new
equipment?", try "What new equipment are you
interested in learning?" or "Tell me about the
kinds of equipment you’ve worked with in the
past and why you enjoyed using them?". Avoid
questions that are leading or can’t possibly
produce a truthful answer, like "How did you get
along with your co-workers?". Only ask questions
that are job related - i.e., that you "need to
know" the answer to. There is a great deal of
information we "need to know" about applicants.
If we ask for this information using all
encompassing questions, we may be asking for
information we don’t need to know in order to
determine if the applicant is the best one for
the job.
We need to make our questions more pinpointed
- first by determining the essential functions
of the job, then by designing questions that
address only those issues. For example, if the
job requires someone who is 21 or older, you
don’t need to know how old they are – you only
need to know if they’re 21 or older. So ask "Are
you 21 or older?". If you ask "How old are
you?", they tell you 42, and you don’t hire
them, you run the risk of being accused that you
didn’t hire them because of their age—whether
you took that into account or not—and you’ll be
in the position of proving that age had nothing
to do with your decision. Save yourself time and
money by asking only specific "need to know"
questions. This will also indicate to the
applicant that you’ve prepared for them and
they’ll feel better about you and your
operation!
Record the applicant’s information as you
gain it on a checklist of the criteria required
for someone in the position. The job description
or job analysis works well for this. Doing this
will ensure that you’ll be comparing apples to
apples when you make your hiring decision, and
allows you to explain/prove why you chose one
applicant over the other. Also, if you’re taking
notes, you look more like a listener and you
can’t talk so much!
Be a great interviewer by talking only 25% of
the interview time!
-Carolyn B. Thompson
Carolyn B. Thompson is the President of Training
Systems, Inc., a customized training and HR
consulting company that helps small and medium
sized organizations enhance their ability to
recruit, inspire and retain quality employees
and improve performance through training.
Training Systems, Inc. also provides training
design and facilitation services to training
companies and the training departments of large
companies, and professional and trade
associations. Carolyn B. Thompson is an
experienced trainer and consultant knowledgeable
in the challenging area of employee recruitment,
inspiration and retention. She’s written and
published a book entitled "Creating Highly
Interactive Training Quickly and Effectively",
wrote the books "Interviewing Techniques for
Managers" and "The Leadership Genius of George W
Bush" and is currently writing a book about
on-the-job training, and co-authoring another
book about using biblical principles to manage
employees.
©Training Systems, Inc. 2000
www.trainingsys.com
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