| I work in a delightful complex. We have a small, | | | | manager is doing all the talking and the applicant all the |
| efficient café in the middle of our office park run by | | | | coffee drinking. Remember the 80/20 rule, when |
| a lady who has memorized the Christian name of | | | | interviewing job applicants, listen 80% and talk 20% of |
| every customer. I can't tell you how powerful this is. I | | | | the time. |
| don't care if the coffee is a bit 'burnt', or the sushi a bit | | | | The informal one-on-one café interview setting is a |
| dry. Nothing is more uplifting than the warm personal | | | | classic example of the unstructured interview - the |
| greeting she gives me when I drop by. | | | | worst kind of hiring tool. An unstructured interview |
| I make a point of not eating at my desk and getting | | | | leads to bias, snap judgements based on one's |
| out of the office for a 30 minute lunch break. These | | | | emotional evaluations - "I like this person, they seem |
| breaks are usually at our café. Inevitably I am privy | | | | very nice, articulate, well presented; they would be |
| to many conversations - the most common is a job | | | | perfect for the job." |
| interview. | | | | Remember, when conducting a job interview, this is the |
| I probably overhear a job interview once a week... and | | | | absolute best light you are going to see this person in. |
| they make me cringe. I am almost tempted to breeze | | | | It's easy to be fooled by first appearances. When it |
| on over and say, "Excuse me, but I'm an expert in this | | | | comes to an unstructured interview we tend to "rush |
| area and the way you are doing this interview is going | | | | judge" people. Most managers make up their minds to |
| to tell you diddly squat about this person's ability to | | | | hire, or not to hire, within the first five minutes. The best |
| perform successfully, here's my card, please call me | | | | and most valid interviews are conducted in a private |
| for some help." It's a temping action, but manners | | | | setting, with two (or more) interviewers who present |
| always prevail - so far! | | | | the same set of behavioural questions to each |
| What is it about cafes and job interviews? | | | | candidate. Each question represents a core |
| Is it the notion of relaxing the applicant in the hope of | | | | competency of the job. |
| gaining more predictive information? Let me tell you, a | | | | Here's an example: A key competency could be |
| general chit chat over a cup of coffee is the poorest | | | | customer service - The question - "Can you please |
| predictor of future job performance. At best it's going | | | | give me an example of the actions you took in a |
| to cost you for the coffee and an hour of wasted | | | | previous job when you were confronted with an |
| time. At worst, if you hire that person, you are probably | | | | abusive customer?" |
| going to find that very pleasant, polite, well presented | | | | Most jobs have about 6 to 8 core competencies, so a |
| individual you interviewed 6 months ago at the cafe is | | | | question for each one will do a good job and take |
| totally different today - most likely one you'd like to | | | | about an hour to get through; I believe the limit for a |
| throw a cup of coffee over!! | | | | good interview. |
| Maybe its privacy - "Let's get out of the office to | | | | Here's another tip. Immediately after the interview |
| some place quiet for a chat." There's nothing private | | | | discuss and rate each of the competencies in relation |
| about a café, I know, because I've sat at the next | | | | to the candidate's answers. This will help you recall the |
| table and heard many an individual bare their soul. | | | | most suitable candidate(s) if you are interviewing |
| In every case the interview questions we horrid - "So | | | | several people over a few days. |
| tell me about where you'd like to be in 5 years," or, | | | | There are numerous other pitfalls I've heard |
| "What are your strengths and weaknesses?" The only | | | | eavesdropping on café interviews, but suffice to |
| information you'll get from these questions are opinions. | | | | say don't do them - these unstructured interviews are |
| It's easy for applicants to give you opinions at an | | | | not only the poorest predictor of work performance, |
| interview. An effective interview seeks to get | | | | but the most expensive (cost of your time) of any tool |
| concrete examples of past behaviour (as it relates to | | | | in the selection process. No wonder employment |
| the position) because past behaviour reflects future | | | | lawyers are making a nice living and we have an |
| behaviour. | | | | overly worked employment advocacy service! |
| Another common café observation - the hiring | | | | |