An Interview or CSI Investigation?

As a recruiter in hospitality for many years, I've been privy to the interview mindset of clients looking for new management and executive candidates. While various styles of interviewing come and go, has it ever seemed to you more like a criminal investigation?

If you said, "Yes!", there's good reason it seemed that way. In my experience, some intervieews approach the interview with the vigour of the most experienced CSI Investigator, as though they just picked you up off the street holding a smoking gun and pleading innocence.

The conductor of this type of interview has taken passion for their work to a new level and lost the primary intention of an interview: to tease the best from the candidate, not the worst. They take great efforts to ask the most obscure questions, give test questions that are not at all related to the position, and probe into your home or personal life. All with the aim to find information to use against you. Amazingly, when an interview becomes criminal it's often not because of anything the candidate has done, but because the interviewee has gone far beyond the probing behavioural question.

Too often an interviewer may wander in with a test in hand and ask you to complete it. It doesn't matter that you'll never be expected to know more than half the answers in relation to the job.

Let's not forget the computer savvy that crawl over the internet for clever and obscure questions that appear to test the candidates' ability to solve problems under pressure. Even working in the front line of the busiest restaurant where the pressure is intense, you'll not likely be in a life and death wine corking horror: it just doesn't happen.

Let's be honest, if a candidate is a proficient liar, the interview is not where you'll catch them out: you're just going to catch normal people making small mistakes. Just like you and I do. And you wouldn't want your career to hang on one small mistake, would you?

So, instead of trying to find ways to trip up candidates, let's remember the first rule of interviewing: show the candidate the same level of respect that you'd want to be shown. Be pleasant and courteous and make an effort to put the candidate at ease: that way you'll get far more out of the interview and you'll be able to make an informed decision when it comes to making the final choice.

Of course one must take into account the business culture and whether or not the person sitting across from you can fit in and you should be able to determine that during the course of a well conducted interview and this should also form an important part of the decision making process.

Remember that first impressions are important and go both ways: just as you'd be aghast if a candidate walked in wearing shorts and sneakers, think about the impression you're making on them. You are the front-line representative of your business. Observe the fundamentals and the interview process should be more rewarding and fruitful. After all, even the ccused criminal on CSI gets a phone call.