Interviewer Training - Identifying the Right People

1. Interview Process

Establish hiring criteria
Align on hiring criteria
Resume analysis
Opening small talk
Competency assessment
Values assessment
Verifying authenticity
Motivation assessment
Attracting strong candidates
Closing the interview
Filling out the interview evaluation form
Assisting with onboarding follow-up

2. Before the Interview

2.1 Establish Hiring Criteria

Evaluate candidates with a unified assessment standard

The iceberg model: above the waterline is the present (knowledge, skills), below the waterline is the future (values, social role, self-confidence, personality, motivation).

Decide based on the current state of the team and its staffing mix whether to choose present high performance or future high performance.

what

Present high performance:

Knowledge: knowing a lot in this domain
Performance: doing well in this domain

Future high performance:

Values - Stance: organizational interests before personal interests, long-term interests before short-term interests
Self-confidence - Drive: willing to explore the unknown, treating failure as an experience rather than an outcome
Person - Adaptability: adjusting one’s own style, the speed of switching styles
Motivation - Priority: whether it is needed, whether it is liked

2.2 Align on Hiring Criteria

Align on the channels for obtaining valid resumes
Align on the keywords for resume screening

2.3 Interview Division of Labor

First interview: can do the work
Second interview: can be developed

2.4 Resume Analysis

Gap periods

Reason for the leave, what they planned to do

Job-hopping value-add periods

Which tier jumping to which tier, difficulty of a career change, whether value was added

Acceleration

The stages where their rank jumped

Self-assessment

Breadth of vision, level

3. During the Interview

3.1 Opening

Reviewing background materials
Greeting and self-introduction
Opening remarks
Taking notes
Atmosphere

3.2 Competency Assessment

Professional skills:

Product knowledge
R&D knowledge
Research and analysis
Communication and influence
Problem solving
Goal orientation

Following the BEI behavioral interview method, find the key events through GA questioning, and use the START behavioral event interview method to ask complete, in-depth questions.

3.3 The START Questioning Method

START for the event

Situation: when it happened, who was involved
Task: what the task was, what the goal was
Action: what happened
Result: what the result was, and how to improve if done again

START for the person

Situation: what role you played
Task: what your goal and task were
Action: what you did and what role you played
Result: how you compared with others, what you learned

3.4 START Pitfalls

Vagueness

Lacking specific, detailed description

Theory

Theory without practice

Opinion

Expressing only opinions and judgments rather than facts, examples

Incompleteness

Missing the person-related START, or containing only part of it

3.5 Authenticity Verification

Reference for key events

Require a background-check reference to confirm the authenticity of key information

Number verification

Quickly ask 5 questions about numbers, then confirm again 15 minutes later

3.6 Values Assessment

3.7 Motivation Assessment

3.8 Attracting Candidates

Company competitiveness:

Industry advantages
Company advantages
Product advantages
Technology advantages

Role competitiveness:

Role advantages
Skill development
Career development
Job development

3.8 Closing the Interview

Give the candidate time to ask questions

Give the applicant respect and attention to their needs

Effective responses

Objective, accurate, humble

Neutral stance

Do not give the interview conclusion directly; thank them for attending

4. After the Interview

4.1 Evaluation Feedback

What was good, what was not, and the interview conclusion.

4.2 Assisting Onboarding

Follow up closely before onboarding

5. Interview Etiquette and Pitfalls

5.1 Interview Etiquette

Interview duration > 15 minutes
Do not check your phone frequently
Smile, be amiable
Dress formally, neat and presentable
Listen attentively, sit up straight
Use polite language, respect the other person

5.2 Interview Taboos

Giving the interview conclusion to their face
Promising salary and benefits
Being late
Asking sensitive questions directly

5.3 Common Mistakes

Primacy effect, first impression
Central tendency effect, lacking a competency model or the below-the-waterline part
Halo effect, judging the whole by one point, overgeneralizing from a part
“Like me” bias

6. Common Interview Challenges

How to judge the real ability of a candidate from another domain

Introduce their recent work
Focus on one key piece of that work
Describe the standard for doing this work well (the anchor point)
Step four: give a recent example + START questioning (benchmarked against the good standard)
Step five: rate themselves

How to judge whether a candidate from another domain can succeed in the new domain

Did they discover the patterns of how things are done in their original domain
Did they distill a personal methodology
Why they chose this direction rather than another
Step four: have you tried applying your own method? How well did it work?

How to draw out a quiet candidate

Choose open-ended questions
Switch the communication format, use pen and paper
Let them tell a story

When faced with a candidate who will not stop talking, how to interrupt them

Repeat their last sentence
Proactively summarize the content
Ask what the result was
Offer water and wait for them to take the cup