This post is a deviation from my usual subject matter and should come with a caveat - I’m not an expert on this topic and maybe I’m the one that needs advice.
I’ve been honored to have been asked to perform quite a bit of interviews for my current employer lately and even participate in both sides of the same process for a particular internal position. I think that somewhat atypical scenario of dueling perspectives was the genesis for this post.
I’ve always taken a very informal tone as an interviewer. I do so for a few reasons.
I hope to share my best self: Easy to collaborate with and happy to be here, doing my part for the company and the team.
My goal is to disarm and de-stress an interviewee. Interviewees tend to be tense and perhaps aren’t their best selves when tense and anyway the more formal the atmosphere, in my experience, the more vanilla and canned the response.
In summary, I desperately want any interview I participate in to feel nothing like an interrogation, lest a promising prospective candidate imagine that’s the norm for the job.
I’ve walked out following an interview before, where I was genuinely exhausted and stressed. I wouldn’t even have accepted the job and I wouldn’t be remotely surprised if I subconsciously torpedoed my interview as if I had some kind of programmed mental aversion to unnecessarily stressful work environments. Did I mention I don’t provide emergency medical care? (For good reason, I’d imagine).
There’s a place for stress in our modern lives. It’s our body’s way of expressing fear, uncertainty, danger. To the extent that stress helps us identify and, within reason, avoid or mitigate such conditions, stress is meaningful and useful. Stress, well applied, should cause us to study, to work hard, but not to the point of exhaustion. It should bring out a seriousness and focus, but not paralysis and agony.
In my view, taking a naturally stressful situation and needlessly amplifying it is simply cruel. In my own observations, I’m not talking in abstractions. It’s rooted in real tears, sleeplessness, and hurt.
I’m happy to say that I think my methods get the right results. I end up with a better sense for the person behind the candidate and I convey a truer feel for our prospective working relationship.