From my most junior ranking to my current role as a chief executive, my feelings about job interviews have never changed. At best, they are a false environment where, more often than not, the applicant projects the person they want to be, or the person they feel the interviewer is looking for, rather than exhibiting the person they truly are.
Often this is the result of an applicant's many years spent honing their interview approach. Their interview performance has become a default setting as it worked for them in the past. This makes an interviewer's ability to penetrate the facade to identify and understand the real person essential in order to avoid making a regrettable decision for the business.
What I have learned after years of experience interviewing people, is that interviewing a job applicant is not dissimilar to interviewing a prospective housemate. You are going to spend a lot of time under the same roof as this person. Accordingly, you need a confidence that they will fit in with the other housemates, they are all they seem to be, and they are there to make an enduring commitment.
To help me with this, there are six characteristics in a conversation with a job applicant I mentally tick off in order to identify the right person for the job. These tips can be useful for the interviewer and interviewee.
1. Interesting
My test for this is not about the depth of a person's ability, but the breadth of their curiosity in life. Do they have genuine outside interests? Do they have friendships spanning different lines and backgrounds?