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Why Traditional Interviews Don't Work  
Undoubtedly the most widely used tool or process for selecting who to hire or who to promote is the interview. The interview, however, also has the poorest record of accuracy. Seldom has a study on the predictive ability of the interview exceeded a correlation of .14 (.40 is considered a minimum statistical level for prediction, 1.0 is perfect prediction), and in at least one major study the predictive power was less than random choice. Many have shown a flip of the coin to be as accurate as an interview.

There are numerous reasons why traditional interviews cannot accurately predict job performance. First and foremost, most interviews are simply not conducted in a consistent nor systematic manner. Some studies have shown that the decisions made in the first few minutes of an interview are most likely the same as those made at the conclusion of an interview, making the "first impression" error a major factor. The interview is often based on an inadequate job analysis or on inadequate preparation, the results being a random conversation about irrelevant experiences and preferences. Even if a job analysis that accurately identifies the skills required for performance is available, traditional interviews rarely allow candidates to demonstrate job related skills. As a result only the candidate's personal opinion of his or her skills is available. Other factors such as age, attractiveness, eye contact, and unconscious non-verbals, bias/prejudice, communication skills interfere with any possibility of objective skills analysis.

Again research has shown the following:
  • The less competent an individual is within their area of experience, the more competent they believe they are, and the less able they are to recognize real competence in others. It appears that competence begets self awareness.
  • On the other hand, the more competent an individual is the less competent they believe they are and the more respect they have for competence in others. . Liars demonstrate nearly identical face-to-face interpersonal skills as do leaders. (Are you trained to tell the difference?)

So how is the unskilled, untrained interviewer going to tell the difference? If a team of psychiatrists cannot determine if a criminal is sane, well you know the rest of the story. Also interviewers, in far too many cases, are not trained to accurately observe or document skills or behavior in a legally defensible manner. Lastly, the majority of the time in too many interviews is given over to attempts on the part of the interviewer to provide an accurate view of job demands and expectations (even though it is seldom accurate on fact). While the interviewer is trying to "sell" the organization, the interviewee is trying to sell himself or herself. In this game of wits how can you possibly expect accuracy on anyone's part?

In a conversation with one senior executive he revealed his one great question, the question he used on every candidate. "Who are you?", he would ask. Wow! What a question. What in the world do you do with the answer?

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