Day 196 of writing every day.
Interviews are the end goal of the job hunting process that either makes or breaks your application for an open position. After completing six or so interviews, I find myself questioning the hiring practices being used as they feel somewhat haphazard to me at the core.
Why are we all preparing to ask the same type of questions and answer them in a way like some mating dance ritual? If you stumble the slightest or the employer took one look at you and just isn’t interested, then it’s all as vain as some peacock trying their best in front of a disinterested hen. It’s not an honest measure of your ability to succeed at a job and if your presence would be a positive or negative one to the work environment.
Yes, we all want skilled and qualified workers to do our jobs, but skills can be learned. Workers are more likely to stay if loyalty is nurtured with good treatment that begins with training and giving them space to grow rather than limiting them to roles if they stay and want promotions.
Cultural values can affect the chances of individuals remaining loyal or choosing to jump ship when it’s convenient, but people coming and leaving is a part of the workplace culture in modern economies. If a company simply isn’t able to grow, then the most ambitious of people will leave and move on like they have before and will in the future until they decide they’ve had enough and want to settle down.
Getting back on track, I get the feeling that a lot of interviewers are going in with the attitude of “weeding out the trash” and choosing the strongest candidate based on a process of eliminating through pressure testing and trick questions that at times seem to have little to do with really trying to find out who someone honestly is.
Instead of weeding out the trash, I think the philosophy of interviewing people for a position should be built on finding a diamond in the rough. No one is perfect and ideal for a job. We all want to paint a perfect picture of ourselves and but in the end that just creates an environment created out of fiction.
Do people really care what your interview performance was like after you get hired for a job? If anything, they’re only agreeing to start spending time with you to some degree and give you things to do. Instead of trying to figure out all the bad things someone might bring to the workplace, spend more time trying to get the positives of their character on top of the skill set and experience they say they are bringing to the table.
These thoughts might come across as naive, but if companies keep failing to find the right people that bring the talent they need to help them succeed, then maybe it’s time to change the way they screen candidates and narrow down the people they deem worthy. Maybe the people they’ve been rejecting might have included some of the very people they needed.
Thanks for reading!
One Chance Works 