Dos and Don’ts of interviewing

I have an interview or two scheduled in my calendar every single week. I have talked to Product Managers of all levels, and from all corners of the world. Even though I have done hundreds of them, I am always a bit anxious before I jump on an interview call.

Will I make the candidate feel comfortable?

Will I manage the conversation well? Will we have time to cover all my topics?

Will I be able to identify my own biases?

Interviewing is a serious business. We want to hire the best talent for our organization but it’s equally important to make sure that we find the right role for the candidates. I have spoken to many amazing candidates who I had to turn down, because they were not the right fit for the role. Oftentimes my “no” meant “yes” for a different position. I am always happy to see how these candidates thrive in the roles they never expected to be in.

As an interviewer you should realise that candidates entrust their future career with you. Your decision may impact people’s professional careers. Isn’t it huge?

Throughout the years of interviewing I have coined a few rules to help me run a successful interview. What do I mean by a successful interview? An interview which gives me confidence to make the right call for the company and for the person I talk to. These tips will help both interviewer and the interviewee get the most out of the conversation.

Create psychological safety but don’t do it through chit-chat

I want candidates to feel comfortable throughout the interview. I’ve been in many myself and I know every interview is stressful. We want to be our best selves when we meet new people, and it’s no different for interviewees. But it’s very difficult when under stress.

Many times have I fallen into a trap of using chit-chat to start the conversation. Talking about the weather, complaining about time zones and, obviously, the pandemic. It seems to be a good idea, but hardly ever is. You lose precious time and you don’t learn anything about each other.

There are better ways to create psychological safety for candidates. With this checklist you can set a great context for the conversation in just 3 minutes.

• Smile. Make sure this is the very first thing you do. Smile, say “hi” and thank the person for taking the call.
• Introduce yourself. Explain your role and share some additional context e.g. what is your team no 1 objective.
• Explain the structure of the interview e.g. “We have an hour for this call. I will focus on leadership aspect of PM craft. I have roughly 6–7 questions to cover.” This helps the person understand what to expect. By sharing this heads-on you set the expectation on how much time the candidate has for each question.
• Ask if the person is ready to start or if they need any additional clarification. This is how you empower the person to make a decision to go ahead.

This is a great start. The person knows who you are, what to expect and they had a chance to ask clarifying questions. You are ready to go!

Set a structure for your interview but stay flexible. Don’t make it an interrogation.

I have an interview template for every stage of PM interview process. I review my template before an interview to adjust it to a specific role. Thanks to the template, I do not have to start from scratch and it’s the mater of minutes to have the right structure ready before the call.

Regardless of how well-structured the recruitment process is in your company, make sure you come prepared to every single interview. Prepare the questions you want to ask and have these questions in front of your eyes during the conversation. It sounds obvious, but I have seen too many interviewers free-styling. Don’t do it.

Your structure will help you cover all the topics. It will also let you stay consistent across many candidates that you interview for a given role.

Even though you have a list of questions, it does not mean that you turn your interview into an interrogation. The structure sets a framework but you should feel free to jump between topics based on what you hear from the candidate.

If you ask them about the project they consider most impactful, and the candidate mentions success metrics, follow up with “metrics” questions even if “metrics” come much later on your list. Conversation with flow more naturally.

Ask candidates for specific examples and their lessons learned.

I know there are various approaches to it, but behavioural questions work best for me. We can learn so much about the candidate based on how they acted in specific situations. I also pay attention if candidates spontaneously share their lessons learned. It’s a great sign if they do, but if they don’t, make sure you ask them. Regardless of the level, an ability to learn based on your experience is a foundation for growth.

Take detail notes and mark your “wow” and yellow/red flags moments. Jot down your observations and emotions as well as what the candidate says.

Don’t assume you will remember what you have heard in the interview. You will not. In most cases you cannot make a “hire” / “no hire” decision right after the interview. You either have to jump on the next call or you want to spend more time analysing what you have heard and seen.

Without your detail notes you will not be able to clearly articulate the “why” behind your decision.

When I take notes I always clearly mark (e.g. with exclamation mark) the moments when I thought that the response was great or when I saw a warning sign. I have learned from experience that if I don’t mark impressions and emotions, the notes turn into words without much meaning.

Let me know what is your experience as an interviewer or if you find these tips helpful.

Photo by Michal Czyz on Unsplash