For those seeking a job, the rigorous application and interview process can be harrowing. But spare some sympathy for the hiring managers.
Sifting through resumes and coaxing out revealing insights in interviews is its own exhausting grind. And what’s at stake is a company’s most important asset: its talent.
More than 80 of LinkedIn’s Influencers — thought leaders and experts across industries who write original content for LinkedIn — had lots to say about the topic in “How I Hire."
Building a great team is arguably the most important thing to get right when running a company or department, and also one of the toughest.
The interview process can also be painful: We quizzed 43 Influencers on their hiring habits, and a full quarter of those we surveyed have gone so far as to fake some type of emergency to end a bad interview.
Most Influencers have achieved extraordinary success not only on the strength of their own skills, but their talent at evaluating and attracting the best people to fill open roles.
Below are a few key takeaways:
Go with your gut — or ignore it
A strong majority of the Influencers we surveyed say that instinct is more important than data for hiring decisions. But there’s a vocal minority that disagrees, arguing that following your gut can lead you astray.
Level the playing field
As attractive as trusting your instincts might seem, many managers instead rest their hiring decisions on diagnostics that compare different candidates according to the same criteria. Depending on the role, those criteria vary widely.
It’s not about getting the answer right
Good interviewers ask lots of smart questions. But again and again, we heard Influencers say that specific responses were less important than other factors like the quality of the conversation and the way candidates thought about questions.
In other words, don’t fret if you don’t have the perfect response to an interview query. Your questioner might be testing you for something else entirely.
Hire teams, not individuals
Many Influencers made the point, in different ways, that it’s as important, if not more, to hire a team that works well together than it is to hire a bunch of great individuals.
Know what you’re looking for — and name it
For many, the hiring process is built around identifying very specific traits. Influencers don’t just hire for broadly defined character traits like cooperation or persistence.
Many have been building teams for so long that they’ve given names to the unique skill sets or combinations of traits that the perfect hire must posses.
Keep in mind what you don’t want
How do Influencers get so good at hiring? By learning from their mistakes. Nearly all of the Influencers we surveyed said at some point they’ve regretted a hiring decision they made.
From that, many have taken lessons about how to screen out candidates who won’t work out.