Eddy’s HR Mavericks Encyclopedia
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Meticulous Interviewing
The goal of any interview is to find the most qualified candidate in the most efficient way possible. How is meticulous interviewing any different? Here's how meticulous interviewing is the marriage of efficiency and effectiveness.
What Is Meticulous Interviewing?
Meticulous interviewing is a multi-step interviewing program adapted by a company. It entails multiple rounds of interviews with different interviewers and questions. This is done to:
- Comprehensively cover different topics while eliminating pressure from time constraints associated with covering multiple areas of questioning in a single session (in order to open it up to conversation opportunities).
- Get multiple different perspectives on a candidate's first impression and character.
Round topics may include work experience and education, team dynamics, ethics, personality, personal development, short- and long-term goals, etc.
How Meticulous Interviewing Differs from Traditional Approaches
Meticulous interviewing differs from traditional interviews with the addition of interview rounds and the type of interview questions, which focus more on behavioral and competency-based questions. These are more targeted, situationally specific questions with the goal of starting a dialogue with the candidate rather than getting a simple answer.
- Multiple Rounds
- Typically with different members of management heading each interview
- With different topics/lines of questioning for each round
- Increasing in the number of knockout questions as they progress
- Stricter requirements
- Contains qualifications that might be considered negotiable in traditional interviewing as non-disputable requirements (i.e., certain leadership traits)
- Focuses more on character
- The goal being to ask questions that get the interviewee talking so the interviewer can get a good impression of the character and personality of a candidate
- Has a more direct focus on more abstract traits rather than measurable qualifications (i.e., desire and ability to learn)
Why Is Meticulous Interviewing Important?
The aim is to cut down on turnover by being more selective and thorough during the interviewing process. With this being said, meticulous interviewing can:
- Narrow down the hiring pool. If you're looking for higher-quality applicants, meticulous interviewing is a sure-fire way to cut down on unqualified applicants quickly.
- Hire the best fit for the job. Being more meticulous means really digging into the candidates and being selective based on more information. This increases the quality of your hires.
- Explores more specific candidate qualities. Using these methods, which can be more invasive than traditional interviews, you can touch more on preferred qualities you want to see in a role.
- Help interviewers gain a deeper understanding of applicants. The method of questioning aims to gather a more thorough understanding of the candidate by creating conversation as opposed to traditional question-and-answer interviews.
Tips for Conducting Meticulous Interviewing
It's important to understand the approach meticulous interviewing methods take. The process contains the same steps one would take during traditional interviewing but at a different angle. Here are some characteristics of meticulous interviewing.
Tip 1: Include Knockout Questions and Preferences
Certain factors will disqualify an applicant; certain qualities are preferred but aren't deal-breakers. Outline and use both in your interview process. As you interview candidates and gather data, you'll be able to measure how well someone fits the position based on how many preferred qualifications they possess. This differs from a traditional stance only in the number of knockout questions used and the strictness of the preferences and qualifications.
Tip 2: Examine Their Past Behavior
The future can be a reflection of the past. Look for any concerning patterns surrounding past jobs. If any red flags arise, include clarifying questions in the interview. This is something commonly done in traditional interviewing with the intention of understanding the reasons behind job changes and employment gaps. In meticulous interviewing, however, the focus is more on abstract character traits you’d see in a long-term quality employee, such as transparency, personal responsibility, accountability and personal growth.
Tip 3: Ask Follow-Up Questions
Asking uncomfortable questions that put candidates on the spot has the potential to yield transparent and insightful answers and tests how they respond to pressure. As the goal is to create dialogue, don't hesitate to ask clarifying follow-up questions. Sometimes how candidates respond to your request for additional information tells you more about how they respond to stress or work with others. From a meticulous interviewing angle, follow-ups focus more on opening up dialogue than receiving a direct answer. Therefore, the questions might look different than ones asked in traditional interviewing. For example, rather than asking how much experience they have in [industry], you might ask what their primary takeaway was from their time in [industry] or to describe a certain scenario they might have encountered.
Tip 4: Analyze Their Personality
Asking personality-led questions as a part of the hiring process can tell you a lot about a candidate. This includes their organizational style, how they work with a team, what their common response to stress is, strengths and areas of development, etc. These qualities might not be deal-breakers, but can certainly help you evaluate where a candidate might fit best or potential areas of conflict to avoid. This is not new, but meticulous interviewing might take this one step further by dedicating one round to a personality interview. These typically revolve around a personality evaluation that dictates the best questions to ask.
Examples of Meticulous Interview Questions
The idea is not to ask traditional interview questions that may be too open or too closed to answer properly. Rather, meticulous interview questions aim to activate the parts of the brain responsible for memory recall and foresight. This means avoiding open-ended questions such as “Describe a time you felt stressed on the job” and yes/no questions such as “Do you enjoy working with others?” to ask questions that center on a specific hypothetical or past situation. Here are some example questions from four typical focal areas of meticulous interviews.
Team Dynamics
Instead of asking, Do you work well with others? try asking:
- If you encountered an employee participating in illegal activities or activities that violate company policy, how would you navigate that situation?
- Describe a time you were assigned a specific task as a part of a team. What strategies did you use to come to an agreement and complete the task efficiently?
Accountability and Self Management
Instead of asking, How well are you able to self-manage? try asking:
- Have you ever had a task get lost in the shuffle? How did you rectify the situation?
- What methods or tools do you use to block out time for specific tasks?
- If you have an important deadline, what do you do to make sure you remember the date and have adequate time to complete the task?
- Last time you scheduled an important appointment, how did you remember the details of when and where it was as well as what to bring or prepare?
Adaptability
Instead of asking, How well do you adapt to change on the job? try asking:
- Describe an instance where you were put in an uncomfortable position on the job. How did you navigate that situation?
- Have you ever had a disagreement with a coworker? What methods did you use to defuse and reconcile?
- If you were required to work different hours or at a different location last minute, what strategies would you use to keep your quality of work from changing?
Areas of Improvement
Instead of asking, How would you rate your self-awareness? try asking:
- What is one thing you are hoping to learn or improve on in your time in this role?
- When it comes to [skill], how would you rate your confidence and describe your experience?
- What area of development are you most excited about improving upon currently?
Topics
Kayla Farber
Kayla is the Chief Innovation Officer at Hero Culture, where the passion is to create company cultures of retention using the power of personality.
Frequently asked questions
Other Related Terms
Eddy’s HR Mavericks Encyclopedia
Meticulous Interviewing
The goal of any interview is to find the most qualified candidate in the most efficient way possible. How is meticulous interviewing any different? Here's how meticulous interviewing is the marriage of efficiency and effectiveness.
What Is Meticulous Interviewing?
Meticulous interviewing is a multi-step interviewing program adapted by a company. It entails multiple rounds of interviews with different interviewers and questions. This is done to:
- Comprehensively cover different topics while eliminating pressure from time constraints associated with covering multiple areas of questioning in a single session (in order to open it up to conversation opportunities).
- Get multiple different perspectives on a candidate's first impression and character.
Round topics may include work experience and education, team dynamics, ethics, personality, personal development, short- and long-term goals, etc.
How Meticulous Interviewing Differs from Traditional Approaches
Meticulous interviewing differs from traditional interviews with the addition of interview rounds and the type of interview questions, which focus more on behavioral and competency-based questions. These are more targeted, situationally specific questions with the goal of starting a dialogue with the candidate rather than getting a simple answer.
- Multiple Rounds
- Typically with different members of management heading each interview
- With different topics/lines of questioning for each round
- Increasing in the number of knockout questions as they progress
- Stricter requirements
- Contains qualifications that might be considered negotiable in traditional interviewing as non-disputable requirements (i.e., certain leadership traits)
- Focuses more on character
- The goal being to ask questions that get the interviewee talking so the interviewer can get a good impression of the character and personality of a candidate
- Has a more direct focus on more abstract traits rather than measurable qualifications (i.e., desire and ability to learn)
Why Is Meticulous Interviewing Important?
The aim is to cut down on turnover by being more selective and thorough during the interviewing process. With this being said, meticulous interviewing can:
- Narrow down the hiring pool. If you're looking for higher-quality applicants, meticulous interviewing is a sure-fire way to cut down on unqualified applicants quickly.
- Hire the best fit for the job. Being more meticulous means really digging into the candidates and being selective based on more information. This increases the quality of your hires.
- Explores more specific candidate qualities. Using these methods, which can be more invasive than traditional interviews, you can touch more on preferred qualities you want to see in a role.
- Help interviewers gain a deeper understanding of applicants. The method of questioning aims to gather a more thorough understanding of the candidate by creating conversation as opposed to traditional question-and-answer interviews.
Tips for Conducting Meticulous Interviewing
It's important to understand the approach meticulous interviewing methods take. The process contains the same steps one would take during traditional interviewing but at a different angle. Here are some characteristics of meticulous interviewing.
Tip 1: Include Knockout Questions and Preferences
Certain factors will disqualify an applicant; certain qualities are preferred but aren't deal-breakers. Outline and use both in your interview process. As you interview candidates and gather data, you'll be able to measure how well someone fits the position based on how many preferred qualifications they possess. This differs from a traditional stance only in the number of knockout questions used and the strictness of the preferences and qualifications.
Tip 2: Examine Their Past Behavior
The future can be a reflection of the past. Look for any concerning patterns surrounding past jobs. If any red flags arise, include clarifying questions in the interview. This is something commonly done in traditional interviewing with the intention of understanding the reasons behind job changes and employment gaps. In meticulous interviewing, however, the focus is more on abstract character traits you’d see in a long-term quality employee, such as transparency, personal responsibility, accountability and personal growth.
Tip 3: Ask Follow-Up Questions
Asking uncomfortable questions that put candidates on the spot has the potential to yield transparent and insightful answers and tests how they respond to pressure. As the goal is to create dialogue, don't hesitate to ask clarifying follow-up questions. Sometimes how candidates respond to your request for additional information tells you more about how they respond to stress or work with others. From a meticulous interviewing angle, follow-ups focus more on opening up dialogue than receiving a direct answer. Therefore, the questions might look different than ones asked in traditional interviewing. For example, rather than asking how much experience they have in [industry], you might ask what their primary takeaway was from their time in [industry] or to describe a certain scenario they might have encountered.
Tip 4: Analyze Their Personality
Asking personality-led questions as a part of the hiring process can tell you a lot about a candidate. This includes their organizational style, how they work with a team, what their common response to stress is, strengths and areas of development, etc. These qualities might not be deal-breakers, but can certainly help you evaluate where a candidate might fit best or potential areas of conflict to avoid. This is not new, but meticulous interviewing might take this one step further by dedicating one round to a personality interview. These typically revolve around a personality evaluation that dictates the best questions to ask.
Examples of Meticulous Interview Questions
The idea is not to ask traditional interview questions that may be too open or too closed to answer properly. Rather, meticulous interview questions aim to activate the parts of the brain responsible for memory recall and foresight. This means avoiding open-ended questions such as “Describe a time you felt stressed on the job” and yes/no questions such as “Do you enjoy working with others?” to ask questions that center on a specific hypothetical or past situation. Here are some example questions from four typical focal areas of meticulous interviews.
Team Dynamics
Instead of asking, Do you work well with others? try asking:
- If you encountered an employee participating in illegal activities or activities that violate company policy, how would you navigate that situation?
- Describe a time you were assigned a specific task as a part of a team. What strategies did you use to come to an agreement and complete the task efficiently?
Accountability and Self Management
Instead of asking, How well are you able to self-manage? try asking:
- Have you ever had a task get lost in the shuffle? How did you rectify the situation?
- What methods or tools do you use to block out time for specific tasks?
- If you have an important deadline, what do you do to make sure you remember the date and have adequate time to complete the task?
- Last time you scheduled an important appointment, how did you remember the details of when and where it was as well as what to bring or prepare?
Adaptability
Instead of asking, How well do you adapt to change on the job? try asking:
- Describe an instance where you were put in an uncomfortable position on the job. How did you navigate that situation?
- Have you ever had a disagreement with a coworker? What methods did you use to defuse and reconcile?
- If you were required to work different hours or at a different location last minute, what strategies would you use to keep your quality of work from changing?
Areas of Improvement
Instead of asking, How would you rate your self-awareness? try asking:
- What is one thing you are hoping to learn or improve on in your time in this role?
- When it comes to [skill], how would you rate your confidence and describe your experience?
- What area of development are you most excited about improving upon currently?
Topics
Kayla Farber
Kayla is the Chief Innovation Officer at Hero Culture, where the passion is to create company cultures of retention using the power of personality.
Frequently asked questions
Other Related Terms
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