God.
Nothing less. The power to make or break. The power to evaluate, pass judgement. Hold the future of a human-being in the palm of the hand.
Act superior. Look down upon. Condescending to agree, but ...yes; always with a 'but'.
The person across the table may be better-read, more qualified, proficient ..and is really sitting there because 'we need the talent' in the first place. Talent that we are losing. Talent that is hard to find. And we have also done the 1st and 2nd short-lists ourselves.
But...come interview time, and most interviewers seem to don an aura of superiority. Adopt God-like stature.
(its a moot point whether God would do that at all :-)
(but it definitely is rare to come across somebody who says & believes " I need to be a better interviewer")
Some time back, I had the pleasant experience of realizing this. I was sitting in front of an interviewer.
Here is how it started.
"Ravi" he said, "I am not good with interviews, so let's keep this as a discussion thing...or a meeting".
And then he went on."Actually I don't give myself the right to pass judgment on a fellow human being. Your resume' speaks for itself, and your having worked in such good companies, is very helpful from my point of view. Fact is, the colleges you've been through surely did most of the basic checking".
I was beginning to warm up to this guy.
"Now, if you are all keyed up and tense, I may not get to see you at your best. If you try to perform to meet my expectations, it gets messy, because you don't really know what I'm looking for. And then, I will get to see what you want to show, and not necessarily what is there".
That made sense.
"Now, look at it this way. Would you like me to be like that ? I could easily make up some window dressing that will encourage you to join us". This I had seen and experienced before.
He continued,"This meeting is about 'fitment', and let me tell you what I mean. We want to enjoy having you here with us, and add to our success. Similarly, we want you to enjoy being with us, and be more successful with us. That's it. That's what I mean by fitment".
"But Sir" I said, trying to get my piece in. "But, how will I know what the decision is".
"Good point, Ravi. This process should help us, both you and I, to make up our mind on whether this will be a right 'fit'. It will happen more easily if both of us are 'authentic'. Both don't try and 'sell' anything to each other. Both don't put on a charade, or make-believe. This way, when ground reality hits us later on in our work-life, we would have the right to say "I had told you so...and you walked into this knowingly".
Now... this was more like the 'God' in my own mind.
Graceful without being patronizing. Straight without being hurtful. Looking at the future, feet firmly planted in reality. Rationally emotional. Empathetic & transparent. Deciding today for a better tomorrow.
The rest is history.
ravi
Very interesting...
ReplyDeleteThe transparency factor is very essential in interviewing. I feel interviewing is a hard work and that giving the interview a face of conversation more than that of a traditional Q n A is a talent.
I completely agree with you Ravi. I wish others learn from your experience.
ReplyDeleteA very interesting and thoughtful insight!!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNice one...Even I had experienced same kind of conversation during my interview with the General Manager of Volkswagen,India.
ReplyDeleteVery nice... I wish its being followed by others too..
ReplyDeleteAwesome post!!! loved it...simple yet powerful message...looking forward to the future posts :-)
ReplyDeleteHave put my honest thoughts abt ur blog in my personal blog http://ideatezone.blogspot.com/2010/08/g-ravindrans-blog.html
ReplyDeleteNice post. I agree with what you are saying. That is a great attitude. However, I am not convinced that this approach would work in larger organizations with diverse interviewers (i.e. some might not be as good a judge of people), and large number of interviewees (i.e. some are going to be dishonest).
ReplyDeletecant agree any more with your perspective, Ravi. But can this attitude / capability be standardized?
ReplyDeleteNice post Ravi..I totally agree with you..
ReplyDeleteHaving watched people for over 20 years in the industry, (no, not as god:)) most people are willing to give this a shot when told.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately for a long time they follow what they see their bosses doing. They believe this is the appropriate approach.
The correction, if I may call it so, needs to start from the top.
I see your point.
ReplyDeleteThe correction (as you call it) has to start at multiple levels...right from the colleges that teach the stuff.
Trainers play a critical role, as they create new multiplier effects.
Practitioners (of interviewing) only need to put themselves in the 'interviewees' shoes to see the need for change.
shish@ .. Interesting that you say capability/attitude
ReplyDeleteI believe the capability can be standardized..simply build it into the 'skills' workbook.
The right attitude however is another matter; this would be impossible without 'empathy' (building this is not so simple).
In short, the capability can be standardized and practiced. The attitude will require evolution & maturity.
anonymous@
ReplyDeleteI wont debate the reality of your insight.
However, i see large organizations investing in 'up-skilling' to enable standardize such good practices.
Run-of-the-mill training to build interviewing skills may tend to miss the woods for the trees, and merely address the transactions; whereas a mature outlook looks at these transactions as brand-building opportunities, requiring interviewers to practice grace and respect in all interactions.
Beena@ .. its a fundamental belief, and each / all of us need to practice it at every opportunity. Afterall, it does make a difference to 'that starfish' !!
ReplyDeleteARD@ ...wld be wonderful to know of your experience and learn from it too.
ReplyDeleteAm all for reinforcing 'positive' moments into our everyday lives
Dips@
ReplyDeletei really like that... 'face of the conversation' rather than Q & A.
Let usv view interviews as brand-build opportunities; also, the interviewee as a 'real-time' or 'prospective/potential' customer. Now, doesn't that give a totally new perspective to the simple transaction, huh ?!
Excellent message. Concise and powerful. As someone who interviews for a living, the fundamental aspect of simply being who you are is critical.....though much of this depends on the maturity of both parties involved. The sad truth is that in the context where multiple stakeholders / decision makers are involved (as is the case with almost all roles that we work on) each and every one comes in with a different perspective.....and institutionalizing a transparent and honest approach like this just may not work well. Food for thought, though.....and a direction we all need to work towards.
ReplyDeleteI feel like a moronic god!
ReplyDeleteDont want to sound so philosophical... but ...There is God in each of us.. Have we explored that ?
ReplyDelete