The Hunt

Recently, a corporation hired Artemis Consultants to help find a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). Despite the excitement surrounding potential candidates, the hiring team struggled to get on the same page with interview questions.  Team members seemed to be looking for different things. A lack of standard evaluation questions made it difficult to measure one candidate against another. How can a hiring team reach consensus on how to best evaluate candidates? Here are some best practices to cultivate interview team unity.   

Best Practice #1: Spend Time Understanding the Position

There is often a divide between a hiring team and the people who will work daily with the new hire. In many cases, it takes hands-on research to fully understand the intricacies of a position.  A job description should go beyond experience or education requirements and include things like soft skills and company culture. To get this understanding, it is crucial that the hiring team spend time with key stakeholders who know the position.  Artemis recommends a hiring team “interview” key stakeholders before interviewing candidates to determine what it takes to perform in the position.

Best Practice #2: Develop a Blend of Interview Question Types 

There are many different types of interview questions.  Indeed describes five major categories:

• Questions that assess personality such as “tell me about yourself” or “why do you want to work for this company?” or “what makes a good company culture?”  Beyond asking questions, there are also informal opportunities to relate to get to know a candidate’s personality.
• Interview questions that demonstrate abilities such as technical skills, accomplishments, strengths, and responsibilities held in previous jobs.
• Interview questions that determine qualifications such as education level, training/certifications, previous experience, leadership, communication abilities, and problem solving ability.
• Behavioral interview questions like how does a candidate handle conflict, work with a team, and make decisions.  
• Industry knowledge questions such as how to allocate funds, issues the industry faces, and predicting future trends in the industry.

Artemis recommends that hiring teams create a standard set of evaluation questions that reflect a mix of these question types for each individual position. This approach ensures a well-rounded evaluation process tailored to the specific needs of the position.

Best Practice #3: Meet as a Hiring Team to Develop the Job Description and Interview Questions

The third step in aligning your interviewing team is to meet to discuss your research with key stakeholders and formulate the best interview questions for the specific role. This meeting is the opportunity for everyone involved in interviewing and to express an opinion on questions asked (so the interview team is united and interviews are consistent).  By the end of the meeting, the hiring team should have a standard evaluation set of questions that can be applied to all candidates.

It is worth taking time up front to ensure your team chooses the right candidate. “Like a biologist’s microscope, top-notch interview questions can provide a detailed, nuanced view of each candidate, helping you attract and retain high-quality talent for your organization (LinkedIn Talent Solutions).” Putting in this kind of up front work means less turnover in the future.

Trust an elite search firm like Artemis Consultants to provide top talent choices.  We can also  help your company’s hiring team become more cohesive to ensure the best fit for each unique position.  

-Written exclusively for Artemis Consultants by Business Content Writer Mellody Melville