A few weeks ago, my best friend called me shortly after a job interview. She wanted to know who should interview new hires. She has been applying for jobs and I knew she had the interview just an hour earlier. When she said this was a “new” experience - quotation marks in tact - I had a feeling something was off.
For the first time in her almost 20 year career, my friend was interviewed by a contractor. The call took less than 10 minutes. They barely asked any questions, then aggressively debated the answers offered. It sounded like major gatekeeper ego trip behavior. Implied, I hated all of it.
As someone who has been a contractor before, this set off my alarms for a few reasons. I can only speak for myself, but I always wanted to get offered a job when I did contract work for companies before starting my own. There was some jealousy when a role opened and no one suggested me. I know I would not have been a good person to interview. Whether that’s the case here or not, I still don’t think a contractor with no recruiting experience should have been doing this interview.
The Data: Is Anyone Good At Interviewing?
I have only heard of a contractor interviewing a new hire in one situation: contract recruiters. Of course, I trust an expert in hiring to do an interview. But a contractor from any other department that is not likely an expert in interviewing? All I see are legal liability red flags. I’m always willing to change my mind so I asked my network if they would trust a contractor to lead an interview. Of the 260ish people that replied, 60% were with me: contractors should not be allowed to interview candidates.
As usual, the comments are where I got a peek into some exceptions (read them all here). For example, contract executives. Often, they are hired to build teams and they need to be part of the interview process. Alternatively, niche talent that works in a hyper-specialized area where no one else on the team has the aptitude to assess candidates. Otherwise, the liability is too high to allow contractors to interview new hires unless a ton of training is provided first. But that gets expensive quickly and often skipped.
Considering the market data on interviewing, I don’t know that most employees will do a better job than contractors (even if the liability is lower). 59% of candidates report being asked inappropriate or illegal questions about their personal lives during corporate interviews. 46% of job seekers have voluntarily withdrawn their application from a company purely because of an interviewer's poor attitude, ego, or disengaged behavior (JobScore Annual Talent Trends). If I were to add a meme here, it would be one where Elmo is staring at you, because that? Wild.
Who Should Interview New Hires On Your Team
Sure, we might be able to use technology to improve the odds of selecting the right candidate when we interview. But if you don’t put the right people in the room to make the hiring decision, research suggests your odds of hiring someone who will stay are as good as a coin flip (sometimes much worse). So who should interview new hires to get better results?
While this isn’t absolute, I believe this is a minimum for a successful interview process where we hire someone who can do the job and wants to do the job for your organization.
- A recruiter. It’s their job to assess if this person can do the job and if they want to work at your company. Lately, they’re also trying to figure out if this is a fake candidate. In my dream world, this recruiter is determining what to screen for and teaching everyone else how to do that as well.
- The hiring manager. Ultimately, it’s their decision. They have to be there and it’s their job to assess potential now and in the future. Ultimately, you need the hiring manager to know by the end of the interview if they believe this person can do the job today and in 6 months.
- Aptitude interviewer. This is the person who actually knows how to do the job and knows it well enough to sniff out bullshit. They should be able to assess the candidate’s task autonomy aka can they do the work by themselves? If not, what kind of support do they need? Often, this is the most senior member of your team under the manager.
- Collaboration and team interviewer. This is the person who interviews to understand who this person worked with, how they led a team, and if they will be capable of executing the work in this context. I’d recommend picking people who work with your team all the time. Someone who does not report to the hiring manager.
Just don’t use a contractor for this interview process. Building a team is far too high-stakes to outsource to someone with an expiration date on their contract. By dividing your interview strategically and assigning roles for each person, you can create a more balanced vetting process. I mean, at a minimum? You can do better than coin flip odds for hiring the right people.
