I keep up with interview trends and recently downloaded REINVENTING THE INTERVIEW – 5 new ways to screen candidates from LinkedIn Talent Solutions.
Reinventing the interview starts with a negative view of interviews, but I know that competency-based interviews and assessment centres have much stronger validity. To do a competency interview well you need to go deeper than the rehearsed answer.
The article recognises that we can be seduced by the charismatic interviewee and give more weight to those with charm than the more hesitant speaker. Also, unless someone actually does the job we don’t know how good they will be, especially when they talk well, it can lead to disappointment when they talk the talk …
The article – Reinventing the interview – writes about recent innovations. Interestingly I was using many of these well over 20 years go.
JOB AUDITION
We used to get people to do some of the job, and a well designed assessment centre will include activity to assess e.g. leadership and team working skills. Now some companies are going for week, and longer try outs. E.g. Automattic and Weebly.
MEETING IN CASUAL SETTINGS
A couple of my team would meet informally with potential employees before the formal interview process. Apparently jet.com will interview people on a ferris wheel!
VIDEO INTERVIEWS
I’m involved in quite a lot of these but not sure these are great for the candidate. This is where you are asked questions online, not necessarily talking with a real person, instead your answers are captured by the software.
SOFT SKILLS ASSESSMENT
Citi now use Koru7, not heard of this but they see it as a good way to assess soft skills.
LinkedIn is keen to get companies to use a LinkedIn profile instead of a CV/Resume and to follow this with a soft skills assessment, video interview and a job try out. Watch out and you may find this happening the next time you apply for a job.
Reinventing the interview: LinkedIn is also helping you, as a candidate – not rolled out everywhere yet but you can get some feedback as you create your CV – if you want to. More interestingly you can see how well you match for a job before you apply. The new feature is called How You Match.
LinkedIn members can now see how their experience matches the job requirements, which helps them self-select into roles where they’d be a good fit.
Sounds helpful as we can see how closely we match before pressing apply/send and if there are gaps it gives us a nudge to bring sections up to date and add the detail we may have missed.
You get to see the key skills/function/industry/education etc with a tick against where you match. It makes it easier for the employer too making it easy for them to see the candidates that closest match. The employer doesn’t need to do anything, the requirements are taken from the job description.
Using LinkedIn – key reminders
Use key words in your 120-character headline – this is the most important part of your profile as they order who appears first in search results.
Connect like a tart! – don’t be too coy about connecting and follow LinkedIn’s advice to only connect with the people you know. Be open to connecting with most people who approach you and be proactive yourself.
Personalise the connection – don’t send the default message, you come across as lazy, make sure you go beyond the generic.
Have a great photo – make sure your head fills most of the space and be happy with the photo.
