Why Traditional Interviews Are Failing

The reality is that many people simply do not know how to conduct an effective interview. 

That may sound harsh, but most hiring managers are busy, have never received interview training, and often do not know what questions they should be asking. This is more common than you may think.

As a result, interviews can become rushed, unprepared and more focused on ticking boxes rather than understanding the person sitting in front of them. Which leads to bad hires, not all the time but often this does result in hiring based on skills or simply filling a position.

When preparing to hire someone, we should first think about what we want to achieve from our next hire. Doing this helps create a more effective interview process. When I talk about what we want from our next hire I am referring to the person doing the role, what do we want the person to be doing, who will fit in with our culture and thrive in our business.

Hiring should not always be based solely on:

• the CV
• existing skills and experience
• generic interview questions related to the role

Instead, we should be looking beyond the CV and focusing on the person behind the experience, the person is doing the job so let’s find out how they will do the job and how they will fit in with the current team.

What Questions Should We Be Asking?

Interviews should focus more on understanding how a person thinks, reacts, communicates, and performs in real situations. This is the best way to hire successfully and not just looking at someone’s CV, which is why some interviews are failing.

These are the interview techniques we should be incorporating into our interviews:

• behavioural questions
• practical assessments
• situational assessments

These approaches will help employers gain a deeper understanding of:

• how a candidate handles pressure
• how they solve problems
• how they work with others
• how they adapt to challenges

Ultimately, it moves the interview away from rehearsed and generic answers and towards genuine insight into who the person really is.

Outdated Interview Questions

Many traditional interview questions no longer provide meaningful insight because we are not using the right questions for the desired outcome.

Examples include:

• where do you want to be in 5 years?
• what are your strengths and weaknesses?
• why should we hire you?

Better Alternatives

Instead of asking predictable questions, employers should ask questions that encourage reflection and real examples.

For example:

• how do you see your career evolving?
• tell me about a time you solved a difficult problem under pressure
• what accomplishment are you most proud of and why?

These questions create more natural conversations and help us get a better understanding of the person.

Questions that provide a detailed answer can give us more of an understanding of who the person is, that’s what we want out of a good interview

An effective interview is not just about filling a vacancy.

It is about finding the right person, creating a positive candidate experience, and making long-term hiring decisions that benefit both the business and the employee

A poor interview process can have a significant impact on a business, not just financially, but operationally and culturally too.

Impact of a bad hire

• cost- adverts/re-advertising
• time- screening CV’s, onboarding, training, hiring managers time
• high turnover- company culture, reputation, team morale
• missed talent opportunity- readvertising for the role, missed high quality candidates

Recruitment is changing, and interviews need to change with it

The most successful hiring decisions happen when businesses look beyond qualifications and focus on the person behind the experience.

By asking better questions, creating more meaningful conversations, and understanding what we truly need from a hire, we can improve:

• hiring quality
• staff retention
• team culture
• long-term business success

An interview should never feel like a box-ticking exercise.

It should be an opportunity to understand whether both the candidate and the business are the right fit for each other, the alignment.

Because better interviews lead to better hires.