I do love a good fable; it’s a good story mixed with a good lesson — total win-win. As we all know, the lesson we learned from the tortoise and the hare is that slow and steady wins the race.
Nearly universally true in life — at least in my experience. But what about when it comes to interviewing and hiring?
On the one hand, there is the Zappos approach http://ebn.benefitnews.com/news/zappos-hiring-practices-shrm-soft-skills-recruitment-2723282-1.html to screening, interviewing and hiring candidates — an initial phone interview, culture questionnaires, lengthy interview process (one component of which lasts a full day) and even an informal happy hour interview thrown in at the end.
On the other, is the MediConnect Global approach. Although the medical recordkeeping firm screens potential hires with pre-interview tests to gauge their skills, IQ and personality, a candidate’s formal interview lasts one minute http://lifeinc.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/10/11620200-want-a-job-you-have-60-seconds-to-convince-me?lite. Yes, one minute. Each candidate has 60 seconds to sell MediConnect’s hiring managers on why they are the best person for the job. It’s like speed-dating, but professional.
I admit that both approaches appeal to me as a hiring manager. Quite frankly, I despise the lengthy sit-down interview process — listening to candidates give canned answers like finalists in the Miss America pageant, then parading them around like in a 4H show to meet other colleagues, only to hear them give the same canned answers. If I’m going to spend hours evaluating someone, culture questionnaires and happy hours sound much more my speed. I also like to cut through the clutter, so giving people a minute to convince me why I should hire them sounds — in a word — awesome.
What do you think? I know that most companies’ interviewing/hiring practices fall somewhere in between Zappos and MediConnect. But if you had to pick one, which would you prefer? Which do you think would yield the best hires? Share your thoughts in the comments.
I do love a good fable; it’s a good story mixed with a good lesson — total win-win. As we all know, the lesson we learned from the tortoise and the hare is that slow and steady wins the race.
Nearly universally true in life — at least in my experience. But what about when it comes to interviewing and hiring?
On the one hand, there is the Zappos approach to screening, interviewing and hiring candidates — an initial phone interview, culture questionnaires, lengthy interview process (one component of which lasts a full day) and even an informal happy hour interview thrown in at the end.
On the other, is the MediConnect Global approach. Although the medical recordkeeping firm screens potential hires with pre-interview tests to gauge their skills, IQ and personality, a candidate’s formal interview lasts one minute. Yes, one minute. Each candidate has 60 seconds to sell MediConnect’s hiring managers on why they are the best person for the job. It’s like speed-dating, but professional.
I admit that both approaches appeal to me as a hiring manager. Quite frankly, I despise the lengthy sit-down interview process — listening to candidates give canned answers like finalists in the Miss America pageant, then parading them around like in a 4H show to meet other colleagues, only to hear them give the same canned answers. If I’m going to spend hours evaluating someone, culture questionnaires and happy hours sound much more my speed. I also prefer to cut through the clutter, so giving people a minute to convince me why I should hire them sounds — in a word — awesome.
What do you think? I know that most companies’ interviewing/hiring practices fall somewhere in between Zappos and MediConnect. And that with either approach, there's still the occasional bad apple. But if you had to pick one, which would you prefer? Which do you think would yield the best hires? Share your thoughts in the comments.
