Favorite Candidate Interview Preparation - Part 2

Submitted by mauzenne on Mon, 12/21/2009 - 01:30.
in

This cast concludes our conversation on how to increase the chances that you will get to hire your favorite candidate when he or she has to interview elsewhere in the organization.

  1. Your Boss is RIGHT To Pass Judgment
  2. Brief Your Candidate On Your Boss
  3. Describe What Your Boss's Interview Will Be Like
  4. Provide Feedback on How Your Candidate Did With You
  5. Practice Interviewing With Your Candidate
  6. Don't Forget to Review QUESTIONS As Well As Answers
  7. Require Thank You Notes, Follow Up, and Communication


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refbruce's picture
Submitted by refbruce on Mon, 12/28/2009 - 15:52.

What about when boss interview is on the same trip?

BLUF: When there's only one interview trip (typically 1-2 days) for a candidate, that trip will include time with me and with my boss.  How much "favorite candidate" prep should there be for such a trip?

More details: The typical process for all but one hiring decisions I've been involved with has been a single trip, where the candidate interview with the hiring manager and his/her boss.  In my current situation, anyone who comes in for an interview for anything more than a student internship will interview with me (as the group leader) and with my boss (a director).  A candidate coming on-site for an interview (in my group at least) will have been through multiple phone interviews and at least one written response interview, but the on-site is hardly pro-forma.  

My conclusion, based on thinking about this cast, is that you're recommending that any candidate I bring in for an on-site interview should be prepped for the interview with my boss, based on as much of this process as is possible.  That leaves open the case that my boss may really like the candidate, but my team rejects the candidate, but I think that's a much more manageable case than the reverse situation.  Agreed?  Other thoughts/insights?

An extension, which I don't think you mentioned, is prepping for interviews with my peers.  I did this with a recent candidate, and it really worked well.  That opening was for a position requiring a lot of cross-organizational work.  In that case, the candidate interviewed with two of my peers, as well as my boss, and I did something like this favorite candidate preparation before the person came on-site.  Comments?

calangst's picture
Submitted by calangst on Sun, 02/28/2010 - 05:34.

Boss involved in firing decisions as well?

This 'cast was helpful.  Clearly lots of reasons to have a boss be involved in hiring (perhaps their most important role).  It made me wonder, however, assuming that all of the coaching, late stage coaching, documentation, etc has been done and reviewed with the boss, does the boss have any further role in firing when a manager's direct is not able to do the job?