New age interview tools!

Linkedin recently conducted a research on a new method of job interviews and its findings show that traditional job interviews are poor predictors of job performance. Interviewees give rehearsed answers and interviewers are biased to pick candidates they like rather than those with the most potential.

The company surveyed nearly 9,000 talent leaders and hiring managers from around the globe and identified five new interviewing techniques to help one assess and engage candidates more effectively. The example it has given in the paper about how Unilever now recruits is a learning in itself.

Unilever used to take 4-6 months to narrow its 250,000 student applications down to a few hundred hires. But with Millennials expected to be 60% of its workforce by 2020, it needed a faster process. So it ditched resumes and phone screens for an end-to-end digital process. It starts with a quick mobile-enabled application form that automatically populates from Linkedin profiles. Those who meet the standard requirements then go to a gamified assessment for fit where they play 12 brief games powered by Pymetrics. The top third scorers advance to video interviews in which they record answers using Hirevue, a platform that further narrows the pool through an algorithm. The last stage is a ‘Day in the Life Of’ Discovery Centre where candidates get a feel for what it means to work at Unilever while being assessed by the company’s leaders. Using this new technique, Unilever cut hiring time by 75%. About 80% of candidates who make it to the in-person round get offers, so teams are spending time with only the most qualified.

Or take the case of Charles Schwab’s CEO Walt Bettinger. He invites candidates to breakfast and asks restaurants to mess up their orders. He does this to find out what type of people they are and how they respond to adversity. While natural behaviors don’t predict job performance, they do add a unique candidate perspective. Restaurants are a common venue for casual setting interviews but the sky’s the limit, literally. Havas Worldwide and Jet.com interview on ferris wheels and Daimler AG takes candidates for a spin in a Mercedes.

Traditional hiring is imperfect and costly, so it’s no surprise it’s being reimagined. Soft skills tests and video interviews are largely replacing the traditional phone screen, selecting for potential rather than experience, quickly and at scale. Job tryouts are helping screen groups of candidates too, but they’re also being used after traditional interviews to assess individuals for longer periods of time. Virtual reality assessments are being used in conjunction with in-person interviews while casual interviews are typically added afterward to get another perspective before final decision-making.