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- Why Most Job Interviews Are Useless (And What to Do Instead)
Why Most Job Interviews Are Useless (And What to Do Instead)
There is an old urban legend that is sometimes told during firearms courses that goes something like this:
One time there was a gunfight between some Copehagen chewing/Kühl/Suunto wearing/two fisted beard rockin’ American heroes and some bad guys in a far away land.
A bunch of Americans got shot.
In the aftermath, medical personnel in the hospital found a bunch of “spent brass” in the pockets of the Americans.
Brass is the stuff that ends up on the ground after shooting a gun.
How did this happen?
When people learn to shoot at a firing range, they have to clean up their brass at the end of the day, so they get in the habit of putting the brass in their pockets as they shoot.
It saves them time at the end of the day.
When they got in a real life gunfight, they reverted to their animal brain, and even though it was completely nuts, they picked up their brass while being shot at.
Their training formed such a pathway in their mind, they unconsciously reverted to it during stress.
An instructor I once had used the phrase “training scars” to define this phenomenon.
Habits you get during training, that are bad, that show up later in life or work.
How in heaven’s name is this related to global talent?
Managers trained to value interview charisma may do so even when it impedes their ability to hire the best candidate for the job.
The high-performing candidate on paper could be passed over for one with more "Polish" but less skill.
Let’s say I want to hire a bookkeeper.
This person is going to CRUNCH heavy numbers all day.
Analyze huge, boring sets of data.
Their job is to find the most pedantic of mistakes, buried in heaps of data.
You decide to hop on a zoom with a few of the candidates:
Candidate 1)
Perfect English, great eye contact, was an English teacher. Makes a few funny jokes, showing they know American culture well
Candidate 2)
Bad video connection, heavy accent. Was on time, but was awkward during the interview, could barely understand them.
So, who do you hire for the bookkeeping position?
I HAVE NO IDEA - and neither do you at this point.
A live interview might actually HURT your ability to assess the candidate.
My very experienced friend John Seiffer (@betterceo… you should follow him) says we hire OUTPUTs not EMPLOYEES.
Employees create outputs.
For many many global talent positions, the best interview process is to have the candidates produce OUTPUTS.
Who cares about charisma, I want OUTPUTS!
Would you believe me if I said I’ve hired many many folks globally, that I have NEVER spoken to live (even after hiring)?
Why?
I don’t want to manage them via Zoom, so why would I interview them that way? Train like you fight!
They are like a coder or graphic designer, or whatever - who cares about their English? They can be mute - I would still hire them…
Can they produce an OUTPUT? That’s what matters (for many, not all positions).
What do you do instead?
Have a graphic designer… make a graphic….
Have a bookkeeper… do some stuff in quickbooks….
Have a coder…. code something….
Does this mean live interviews lack value altogether?
Of course not.
Speaking with a candidate allows you to assess culture fit and soft skills crucial for some positions (ie a personal assistant).
But for many jobs, especially those focused on quantifiable outputs, requiring an employee's constant collaboration, availability, and time zone overlap is unnecessary.
The moral is: be wary of training scars.
The candidate who seems a poor culture "fit" could be an output superstar and your ideal employee.
The proof is in the pudding - so make sure to taste it.
Yours in Outsourcing,
Jon
P.P.S. I’ve been putting my writing through Claude+ with the prompt “If you were my enemy, how would you attack my argument?”.
It helps me tighten up my writing, but it’s feedback can be HARSH.
It also doesn’t like my poem, but I DON’T CARE MR. MEAN AI.
Poem of The Week
THE FELLER THAT YOUR MOTHER THINKS YOU ARE
While walking down a crowded street one day,I heard a little urchin to his comrade turn and say:
“Say, Jimmie, let me tell you, I’d be happy as a clamIf I only was the feller that my mother thinks I am.”
“She thinks I am a wonder and she knows her little ladWould never mix with nothing that is ugly, mean or bad.Oh, lots of times I sit and think how nice ‘twould be,gee whiz,
If a feller was the feller that his mother thinks he is.
My friends, be yours a life of pain, or undiluted joy,You still my learn a lesson from this small unlettered boy.Don’t try to be an earthly saint with eyes fixed on a star;Just try to be the feller that your mother thinks you are.