Let candidate show ability to do the job

Last week's "Headhunter Challenge" asked how a manager can select the best job candidates. Here are some of the Headhunter's thoughts. His full commentary is at www.nwjobs.com/headhunter.

There are dozens of methods for interviewing job candidates. Almost all of them are based on indirect measures of "fit." Almost none directly assess ability to do the job.

My approach to interviewing, for the candidate and the employer, is controversial because it dispenses with reading between the lines. It ignores inferential interview tools — methods designed to gauge how people might perform in the future based on how they explain their approach to how they did a job in the past. Why dance around the subject of ability when the manager can just ask that candidates show how they would do this job now?

Granted, much can be learned from descriptions of past performance (the so-called behavioral interview). Likewise, a broad-ranging discussion about life, goals and motivations can reveal a lot about a person that's relevant to an employer. These two evaluation approaches are popular in all businesses, and our readers seem to like them, too.

However, none of this matters until another question is answered first: Can the candidate demonstrate the ability to do the job properly? (If the job is a new one to the candidate, can the candidate demonstrate the ability to study the work, then organize and execute a smart plan to do it?)

Many managers prefer to first assess if a candidate will get along with the rest of the team. That is, does the candidate's personality "fit"?

I've had managers tell me the biggest mistake they make is hiring people because they like them. Of course we want to like people we hire, and we want them to fit the team socially. But what does it matter if they're not able to do the job?

Likewise, it doesn't always matter how a person performed in previous jobs. People grow, learn and change. Pity the poor applicant who tries and fails, then learns how to be a productive worker. In a behavioral interview, such candidates are lost because all they can talk about is their failures. An interview about their past doesn't reveal that they can do this job now.

Opinions on this topic can be strong. I know mine are. I believe letting a candidate demonstrate how he or she would do the job right there in the interview is the most important assessment a manager can do.