I have mentioned Penelope Trunk here before. I find myself reading her blog Brazen Careerist because it is witty, intelligent, fun and full of many useful nuggets of information that I carry with me every day. Her latest blog post called 3 specific ways to improve your social skills is exceptional and resonated with the recruiting strategist and selection methodology expert in me. Read the post, it is exceptional, but I wanted to quickly bullet her 3 specifics and talk a bit about their recruiting and selection implications.
- Count how many times you interrupt someone. Most recruiters are notoriously
bad at listening. They are talkers and really can't help themselves when they get engaged with a prospect or candidate. They talk over, under and around the talent and never really stop and listen. All too often the recruiting call is about the recruiter, their firm, their client and the search they are working on when it really should be about the talent you called, their goals, their interests, if they are positioned to consider a new opportunity, the decision making criteria they will use to make a change etc. So many recruiters are so busy with their pitch they continually interrupt the person they are engaged with and miss vital information and competitive intelligence they need to make decisions and make better placements. When it comes to interviewing and selection these same recruiters and HR professionals also let their own agenda and desire to get every question out that they aren't listening to what the candidate is saying. What the candidates says, especially after moments of awkward silence, can be incredibly telling and useful. When conducting a behavioral interview this is especially true. What the candidates says they did, how they did it and most importantly WHY they did it matter. Listen, stop interrupting and you will be a better recruiter and a better interviewer. - Learn to read very specific types of language. Recruiters love to sugar coat and paint a pretty picture of the role they are trying to find talent for. When asked direct questions that are uncomfortable the "spin" machine often kicks in and they begin searching for a response that will resonate with the candidate rather then just being direct and telling it like it is. The same rules can apply when interviewing a candidate as well. I have often employed the technique Penelope experienced with the sales guy. One way to tell if someone is "lying" or being creative with their answer is to pay attention to the direction their eyes before they respond. A very useful tool in interrogation and a useful tool in selection interviewing. The non verbal cues you give off as a recruiter to a candidate are incredibly telling. We spend time in our training curriculum on what we call the physiology of recruiting; what we are doing and saying with non verbal behavior. Picking up on physiology of candidates in an interview setting can give you an advantage in decision making.
- Stop thinking your situation is special. It's not. Rules are useful to everyone. Awesome point made by Penelope here. So many recruiting professional I run into over complicate what they do. Social convention is thrown out the door in favor of complex recruiting schemes, elaborate recruiting call scripts, extravagant interview / selection tools etc. Recruiting isn't rocket science. Starting a conversation with someone isn't that complicated, especially on the phone, and too many recruiters complicate the simple. Engaging with a talented candidate doesn't have to be so hard. Continuing and maintaining that relationship isn't complicated either. Establish a set of rules for communicating with the candidate (when, where, how) so that you form a sort of interaction contract or SLA (service level agreement). This set of rules will guide your interaction and provide for a more meaningful and transparent relationship. The same holds true for your hiring leaders or clients. Candidates and clients alike love transparency. Give it to them in spades!
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