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Hot Tip #14 - Why You Should Hire People Who Are Weak Interviewers

By Lou Adler, May 30, 2007

There is good news and some bad news on the hiring front. First, I'll give the bad news. There are three big hiring mistakes many people are now making in greater numbers than ever before:

1. Hiring someone you shouldn't have. The person interviewed well, but underperformed once on the job.


2. Not hiring a great person because the person didn't interview well. Many top performers are not great interviewers. In fact, this might be the easiest person to hire since no one wants them.


3. Not attracting a great person who did interview well. Talented people who interview well are the hardest to recruit since everyone wants to hire them.

Read more articles by this author.

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Now, I'll give you the good news. These three errors are easy to avoid.

To start eliminating these three fundamental hiring mistakes, a broader definition of competency is required. Following are the ten factors I've seen to be the best predictors of on-the-job performance:

1. Technical competency


2. Motivation to do the required work


3. Team skills in comparable situations


4. Job-related problem-solving skills


5. Trend and consistency of growth over time


6. Achievement of comparable results


7. Cultural fit


8. Planning and organizing comparable work and teams


9. Character and values


10. Upside potential

A broader definition of competency, like the above, will go a long way towards eliminating hiring people who are underperformers. Too many managers and interviewers narrow their focus to just a few of these traits and then assume global competency or incompetency. It's far better to assign each interviewer two or three traits to assess and then collectively debrief. Here's an article you might want to read for more on this topic. This way, real evidence is used to evaluate competency on all required job factors, rather than just gut feelings and intuition.

Staying objective is also critical to eliminating common hiring mistakes. Don't assume that a well-prepared and enthusiastic candidate with a great first impression is a top performer. Conversely, don't assume a nervous or soft-spoken candidate, or one who is unprepared, or one who doesn't "look the part" is an underperformer. Getting past the presentation is a critical aspect of minimizing errors attributed to bad assessments. Collecting complete evidence across all job factors is essential, whether the person makes a great initial presentation or not. People who are weak interviewers but top performers now represent the hidden pool of top candidate, so don't overlook them. You'll need to sharpen up your assessment skills and increase your objectivity to see these hidden gems.

While increasing assessment accuracy is a critical piece of minimizing many hiring mistakes, the "good person, not interested" problem requires still another solution: better recruiting skills. In today's competitive market, recruiting skills and the ability to attract top people are becoming more and more important. Unfortunately, many corporate recruiters and few managers are as effective as they need to be here. The key to better recruiting is to influence the candidate to value the long-term career opportunity over the short-term issues.

Eliminating hiring errors due to assessment and attraction requires increased objectivity, extra effort and more discipline. As the talent shortages get worse, start seeking out bad interviewers. Not only will they be easier to recruit, a few of them will turn into your best hires.