Ending A Bad Interview - Part 2

Submitted by mauzenne on Sun, 12/25/2011 - 16:53.
in

This guidance concludes our discussion on when and how to end an interview with a candidate you won't hire.

Even though many of us do plenty of work to screen candidates, there are still times where the candidate fails to meet our standards. You wouldn't be a good interviewer if you said yes to everyone. And, to be clear, there's no way to be so good at screening that the interview is just a formality. (Too many managers think this.)

But what do we do when a candidate clearly has failed in the first part of an interview? What do we do when we KNOW – not think, not are pretty sure about, but KNOW – that someone will NOT get hired?

Here's what.


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Lenrui001's picture
Submitted by Lenrui001 on Mon, 10/15/2012 - 10:42.

In a job interview, an

In a job interview, an employer evaluates a potential employee to establish how suitable he or she is to serve within the company. As an interviewer, it is your job to select the best candidates in your list. So, declining an applicant is part of the job. You just have to be honest to the applicant if he or she doesn't meet the requirements. - TexasLending.com

efredlund's picture
Submitted by efredlund on Fri, 04/19/2013 - 12:41.

Please put us out of our misery

As an interviewer, when a candidate is struggling in an interview and you have decided that you would never hire this person, please end the interview.

When it comes to performing poorly as an interviewee, I feel I'm a subject matter expert.  I would guess that 99% of the time, when you're interviewing someone that is doing so poorly that you have already decided 10 minutes in that you aren't going to hire them, they know it too.  

Just because someone interviews poorly, doesn't mean they're stupid.  Maybe we didn't take enough time to prepare, maybe we're sick, maybe we're too nervous, maybe we're just having a bad day.  Trust me, 99% of the time if you end a bad interview the interviewee may be surprised that you had the guts and professionalism to do the right thing, but we won't be surprised that you've already made your decision.  Frankly, when you let the interview go for the full time allotted, we're surprised that you don't have anything better to do with your time.  

Look at it from our point of view, as the interviewee whose struggling in the interview.  We know we screwed up, we know we won't get the offer, but it would be unprofessional and presumptuous for us as the interviewees to end the interview.  It's your job as an interviewer to make your decision.  Just as it would be wildly inappropriate for the interviewee to end the interview half way through by saying "Look we both know I'm perfect for the job, so why don't we just cut to chase and start negotiating salary", it would be inappropriate for the interviewee to say "Look, I'm going to stop right here.  It's obvious I'm not going to get an offer, thank you for your time".

Alternatively, let's assume for the moment that you are such a good interviewer, or that the interviewee is so clueless, that you know you've made your decision well before the interviewee does.  If you end the bad interview early, you give the interviewee valuable information.  They learn that something they did (or didn't do) up to the point you ended the interview dropped them out of the running.  They don't have to try to mentally review an entire hour (most of which will be a blur to them) to figure out what they could have done better.

I would guess that most interviewers don't end bad interviews because they are afraid of conflict.  But as I've said 99% of interviewees who are having a bad interview already know they won't get an offer.  They're not going to push back when you end the interview, they're going to be grateful that you're putting them out of their misery.  The remaining 1% who are surprised aren't likely to push back.  You are the interviewer, you are the one in control.  At worst, 1% of the time the interviewee may think to themselves that you "weren't fair", or made a snap decision.  Why should you care what a candidate that you know you won't hire thinks?

Please end bad interviews as soon as you've made your decision.  It's effective, it saves everyone's time, and the interviewee will thank you for it.