In part I (read it here) , we discussed that your hiring managers often need a lot of our assistance in defining the responsibilities and requirements for a position. They truly can get lost, and sharing our perspective and knowledge by asking the right questions gets them (and us) to the finish line of a fast and successful hire.

Now let’s talk about the second area—actually more like an elephant in the room—about where HMs often need our assistance. Long interview processes, wanting lots of people to interview the candidates, not able to give you useful (or timely) feedback about your candidates, hesitation to make an offer, etc., are hints that your HM may need a gentle interview intervention.

It’s my experience that a) hiring managers don’t want to be TOLD how to interview and b) they typically believe they do good interviews.

Since we won’t make any headway by hitting this issue head on, one way to start the interview question conversation is during your strategy call to launch the search. One question that can be useful and enlightening to ask your HM is “What 2-3 questions would you like me to ask the candidates so you know we’ve got someone you should interview?”

If your HM doesn’t have these (well, that’s a major hint that interviewing isn’t their strong point!), you can suggest at least a couple that you think are important based on what you’ve learned about the position. Word them appropriately, using behavioral interviewing concepts.

Be sure to explain the reasons you would ask the question the way you did. (Kind of like conducting a mini undercover interviewing workshop!)

And now for the part most people overlook. Good interviewing requires two skills: creating appropriate questions and assessing the answers.

Ask your HM what constitutes a great answer to the questions you’re going to ask. This is another useful way to get critical insight into how your HM hears the candidates’ answers. If they can articulate a complete, substantive response to your question, we can move on.

If they seem to be happy with an incomplete or vague response, you get to do some gentle coaching. At this point I would say something like, “Would it also be important for the candidate to say ….”

In a recent launch meeting, we determined the candidate needed to have managed a billing system rewrite project using AMDOC Revenue Management System. (You don’t even need to know what what that is when you ask the question the right way. However, as part of your prep for the search strategy call, you may want to do a quick google search of the term so you have a  bit of an understanding–can make you feel and sound more confident.)

For those with inquiring minds: “The AMDOC Revenue Management System lets service providers consolidate their business support systems, services and processes across all lines of business. It supports creating, managing, and collecting all sources of revenue to enable service providers to define and launch services in real time through any channel.”

So the HM wanted to ask something like “Are you familiar with the AMDOC Revenue Management System?”

Since it was a requirement that the candidate have this experience, the HM should understand that every candidate the recruiter presented would be able to say “Sure, I am very familiar with that system.”

This example reveals the hiring manager is probably asking vague, maybe even leading and certainly fairly useless questions. It’s going to be difficult to make a good hiring decision based on the answers he would be getting. 

So the recruiter suggested she ask: “Would you tell me about a time you led a billing system project using AMDOC? What did you do, who else was involved, what did you do when problems arose, and what were the results?”

If the hiring manager likes that (or something similar) ask them what would be a good answer. What kind of answer would they most want to hear? What answer would help them see this is a great candidate?

When you ask these questions, you also learn something new the HM is thinking. This new information can help you identify the perfect candidate.

Recognize you probably cannot turn your hiring manager into an interview ninja in just one conversation, but capitalize on every opportunity you have to do this gentle coaching.

You’ll love the results!

Check out my new training: How to Leverage A.I. Tools & Your ATS to Become a Trusted Advisor

You’ll find more techniques to successfully meet and manage the challenges we all, as recruiters, face—and build a reputation as a consultative recruiter at the same time.

P. S. The course is 15 quick modules you can do sitting on your couch. Wear anything you like–it’s just you and me!