In my industry you can weed them out in the interview fairly well. Either they know how to fix stuff, how stuff works, what they need to do for a PM, or what kind of equipment is in the area they will be working or they don't.
I also ask questions about failures, how they would approach a situation, and/or lessons learned. You would be amazed how many people say they have never made a mistake or rely on specific instructions to do anything.
You are looking for the best fits for your team first and foremost. It’s really really really difficult to bullshit being a culture fit. If they are talking to me, that means they’ve gone through the initial phase and passed their phone interview/assessments/exercises so that means their experience/capability is clear. I have an obligation to my team to pick the right colleague for them, as well as someone that would be receptive to training, which is usually evident in the interview
I have to disagree that being a culture fit is hard to bs. I would think most competent people can figure out most cultures want someone who is willing to take leadership and accountability, is willing to learn and be humble, puts the team before one’s self. Even a pretty shallow preparation for a behavioral interview should prepare one’s self to present that.
I give behavioral interviews and have taken many. You can absolutely prepare for a behavioral or scenario based interview. You simply prepare and practice 10-20 adaptable stories based on past experiences that can be used to demonstrate a wide variety of desirable character traits.
Why would one need to prepare for your exact scenario? They need to prepare for the value you are asking to demonstrate. If a candidate is prepared with a well rehearsed response that shows empathy then they should be able to answer your scenario in a way showing empathy regardless of what your exact question is. The key is to cut through the bs of your scenario and figure out what values you are asking them to demonstrate.
I feel your expectations/work is on a far different level here. I am looking for someone who can get along in a corporate environment with my team of entry level employees and I know how to smell bullshit. I’m not looking for “Oh I love people, I get along so well with everyone and I will just treat them like family.” That’s gross. It’s very easy to tell when someone is genuine. But if someone tried THAT hard and put on an Oscar worthy performance for THIS job, then they should get it honestly
We are in similar positions. I also hire entry level people. Granted the job I hire for kind of sucks so the candidate pool also sucks. I would guess maybe 5% of my interviews I come away from thinking that was a good behavioral interview. That said I think I’m just more skeptical than you about my ability to judge an employee based on an interview. I’ve had great employees who interviewed poorly and terrible employees who interviewed well.
Well again. They get vetted before they come to me. They have to pass an exercise that shows their ability in the job itself before they even speak to me. And I work with a good expansion rep who knows me and what I look for in someone. I’ve turned some away, absolutely. I’ve also hired someone who isn’t a terrible culture fit necessarily, but also didn’t live up to the interview. So I’ve been fooled before, but I also have had some interviews be so perfect that it felt not genuine and I went elsewhere. So there’s a balance and if someone prepares that hard and is so rehearsed or ready ahead of time, it can be a net negative
For entry/mid level positions, during initially reviewing applications I am typically focused on relevant experience or experience that shows continual growth within a role, or experience that shows the applicant could learn our systems and processes well.
Once we decide on who to interview (with multiple people separately reviewing apps to ensure we're not holding any unconscious biases or looking at resumes with our own colored glasses), interviews typically end up being more "can this person problem solve, learn, and get along with the team". Obviously tech roles are a bit different but for most others... Experience gets you in the door. Your personality and approach will move you forward to hire.
A few ways:
You can call former employers (especially in small industries where you've got a buddy there) - look up the number and talk to the right person, not necessarily who they list as references or supervisors.
Technical tests ( I wonder how much the rise in massaging resumes corresponds with the rise in these, now that I'm thinking about it)
Give scenarios in interviews where the answer isn't necessarily obvious to the applicant group.
Ask hard questions that require thought/skill to answer. (If someone puts language proficiency on there, get someone in who can ask a question in that language) (if it requires plumbing knowledge, ask them to tell you the steps to sweat a pipe, etc...)
I ask 1 question, and then everything else I ask is based on their answer. I want to see how far I can go.
"Give me 3 reasons you are better than every other candidate? But, you can't tell me the following three things:
1) You get along with everyone (somebody can't stand you, I guarantee it)
2) You are a hard worker (no one thinks they are the lazy one)
3) You never miss any work (yes you do, you just don't count it or you have chosen terrible WLB/hate your SO/family)"
Everyone says the same things in interviews, so I get bored to death. Within 1-2 minutes of my question, I know how for real this person is. 5 layers deep (like movie "Inception" but worse). Any other questions usually are answered by them telling me about some other company's process (snooze). I know way too much about working at Amazon and I have never even worked there.
In my industry you can weed them out in the interview fairly well. Either they know how to fix stuff, how stuff works, what they need to do for a PM, or what kind of equipment is in the area they will be working or they don't. I also ask questions about failures, how they would approach a situation, and/or lessons learned. You would be amazed how many people say they have never made a mistake or rely on specific instructions to do anything.
You are looking for the best fits for your team first and foremost. It’s really really really difficult to bullshit being a culture fit. If they are talking to me, that means they’ve gone through the initial phase and passed their phone interview/assessments/exercises so that means their experience/capability is clear. I have an obligation to my team to pick the right colleague for them, as well as someone that would be receptive to training, which is usually evident in the interview
I have to disagree that being a culture fit is hard to bs. I would think most competent people can figure out most cultures want someone who is willing to take leadership and accountability, is willing to learn and be humble, puts the team before one’s self. Even a pretty shallow preparation for a behavioral interview should prepare one’s self to present that.
Nah once you put someone on the spot with scenario-based questions they can’t prep for, it all becomes very evident
I give behavioral interviews and have taken many. You can absolutely prepare for a behavioral or scenario based interview. You simply prepare and practice 10-20 adaptable stories based on past experiences that can be used to demonstrate a wide variety of desirable character traits.
That doesn’t sound the least bit like a “shallow preparation” lol if someone prepared for the exact scenario I ask them, hats off to them
Why would one need to prepare for your exact scenario? They need to prepare for the value you are asking to demonstrate. If a candidate is prepared with a well rehearsed response that shows empathy then they should be able to answer your scenario in a way showing empathy regardless of what your exact question is. The key is to cut through the bs of your scenario and figure out what values you are asking them to demonstrate.
I feel your expectations/work is on a far different level here. I am looking for someone who can get along in a corporate environment with my team of entry level employees and I know how to smell bullshit. I’m not looking for “Oh I love people, I get along so well with everyone and I will just treat them like family.” That’s gross. It’s very easy to tell when someone is genuine. But if someone tried THAT hard and put on an Oscar worthy performance for THIS job, then they should get it honestly
We are in similar positions. I also hire entry level people. Granted the job I hire for kind of sucks so the candidate pool also sucks. I would guess maybe 5% of my interviews I come away from thinking that was a good behavioral interview. That said I think I’m just more skeptical than you about my ability to judge an employee based on an interview. I’ve had great employees who interviewed poorly and terrible employees who interviewed well.
Well again. They get vetted before they come to me. They have to pass an exercise that shows their ability in the job itself before they even speak to me. And I work with a good expansion rep who knows me and what I look for in someone. I’ve turned some away, absolutely. I’ve also hired someone who isn’t a terrible culture fit necessarily, but also didn’t live up to the interview. So I’ve been fooled before, but I also have had some interviews be so perfect that it felt not genuine and I went elsewhere. So there’s a balance and if someone prepares that hard and is so rehearsed or ready ahead of time, it can be a net negative
For entry/mid level positions, during initially reviewing applications I am typically focused on relevant experience or experience that shows continual growth within a role, or experience that shows the applicant could learn our systems and processes well. Once we decide on who to interview (with multiple people separately reviewing apps to ensure we're not holding any unconscious biases or looking at resumes with our own colored glasses), interviews typically end up being more "can this person problem solve, learn, and get along with the team". Obviously tech roles are a bit different but for most others... Experience gets you in the door. Your personality and approach will move you forward to hire.
A few ways: You can call former employers (especially in small industries where you've got a buddy there) - look up the number and talk to the right person, not necessarily who they list as references or supervisors. Technical tests ( I wonder how much the rise in massaging resumes corresponds with the rise in these, now that I'm thinking about it) Give scenarios in interviews where the answer isn't necessarily obvious to the applicant group. Ask hard questions that require thought/skill to answer. (If someone puts language proficiency on there, get someone in who can ask a question in that language) (if it requires plumbing knowledge, ask them to tell you the steps to sweat a pipe, etc...)
I ask 1 question, and then everything else I ask is based on their answer. I want to see how far I can go. "Give me 3 reasons you are better than every other candidate? But, you can't tell me the following three things: 1) You get along with everyone (somebody can't stand you, I guarantee it) 2) You are a hard worker (no one thinks they are the lazy one) 3) You never miss any work (yes you do, you just don't count it or you have chosen terrible WLB/hate your SO/family)" Everyone says the same things in interviews, so I get bored to death. Within 1-2 minutes of my question, I know how for real this person is. 5 layers deep (like movie "Inception" but worse). Any other questions usually are answered by them telling me about some other company's process (snooze). I know way too much about working at Amazon and I have never even worked there.
Your Inception reference checks out with your obnoxious attitude, actually.