Interviewing Candidates? Here’s a Tactic to Try

Sarah Hanawald

Association of Academic Leaders Members: Explore all of our resources on hiring in the knowledge center of your member portal. 

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​I’m going to share an interview tactic that might come as a surprise to some Academic Leaders. Tell candidates up front what you’re going to be asking them during interviews.

​​In a competency-based approach to recruiting and hiring, we’re trying to ascertain the ability of a candidate to excel in the role for which we are recruiting. This means we need to have some initial conversations that help us learn about a candidate’s capabilities quickly. When you give interviewees some advance information about what you’ll be asking, you power up that step. 

Let’s start with why. When you share questions in advance, you bring your organization’s priorities to the forefront, allowing a candidate to determine whether they find those a good match for their goals. The candidate can explain the alignment to you during that first conversation. And if the candidate doesn’t have an appropriate answer to a question that was shared in advance, that’s illuminating too.

Another compelling reason for sharing questions in advance is that you stop privileging extroverted fast processors during the interview times. During our webinar last week, Amber Stockham, SPHR, NBOA’s Director of Human Resources Programs, pointed out that schools lose when the interview process is not in synch with the actual expectations of the role. 

Finally, offering the questions in advance helps individuals who may not be as experienced in interviewing prepare–whether it’s because they are early career or have been in their current role for many years. Just because someone needs time to prepare doesn’t mean they aren’t a great candidate.

Of course, every answer is going to lead to opportunities to elaborate, for the interviewer and the candidate. Don’t worry that providing the interview questions in advance will lead you to a scripted experience. Instead, see it as an opportunity to bring out your curiosity and flex your empathy muscles and you take the interview to the next level with probing follow-up questions that will be more individualized.