Five Resolutions

Happy New Year! Here are five resolutions you can make to improve your interviewing and hiring game in 2024:

1. Sharpen Role Definitions: Commit to putting down—in writing—a Target that outlines measurable, time-bound results for each role. Pair them with sharp, differentiated competencies that clearly define how you want someone to work on your team. If you’ve already done this, consider doing a quick review of your current Targets: 1) Are all of them still up-to-date? 2) Have you made any recent mishires in the last 6 months? If so, could the current Target be improved to further emphasize what you really need for success in that role?
2. Invest in Sourcing: You and your team can commit to a manageable time-block each week to continuously nurture relationships with high performers in your network. 2nd-degree connections from the high performers you know are the richest source of talent for your company. It’s helpful if you grease the groove on this ahead of your need for a particular role or person. (That way you’re not reaching out to someone for the first time in 5 years when you realize they may be a good source of referrals.) If you run the company, make sure the incentives adequately reward people for contributing to great interviewing and hiring outcomes.
3. Tighten your Interviewing: Dial up your curiosity, and dial down the following common mistakes: 1) Long, rambling questions; 2) Closed-ended questions, 3) “Front Door” questions that reveal what you’re looking for, and 4) Talking about yourself during the main portion of the interview (save that for a tight intro up-front and for when you’re answering their questions at the end).
4. Run a great “Candidate Roundtable”: If you’re not already doing it, insist that you and your teammates commit to making decisions in the most accurate and bias-minimizing way possible. Each person should form independent ratings across the various Facets of the Target (that they’ve been assigned) and those ratings should be backed by data from the interview. Then, everyone brings their ratings + data to a group discussion. Go one by one on each Facet, reviewing the evidence and debating it as appropriate. Then—and only then—do you open it up to a more holistic decision on whether or not to hire the candidate.
5. Customize your Selling. If you’ve got a less-than-stellar close rate (the percentage of candidates that say “yes” to an offer), do the following this year. Write down all candidates’ questions during interviews. These are how candidates subtly convey their fears or concerns that they may have about joining. Also: look at why they left their previous jobs and what motivated them to take on new jobs. This information is 10x more important than their answer to “So why do you want to work for our company?” That is just a sales pitch. The other data are the implicit motivators that are really at play. Take it seriously and customize your sales pitch to emphasize the parts of your company that align with the candidate’s revealed preferences.

Some of these resolutions you can make single-handedly. Some require team buy-in. Do them all as part of a coherent process upgrade and your hiring results will dramatically improve.