Were you fooled by your job interview?
The Globe and Mail
In a job interview, you would expect the hiring manager to have a clear idea of the roles and responsibilities of the position for which she's interviewing candidates.
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Not accurately representing what you expect from candidates not only backfires on you because you hire someone who cannot live up to your expectations, but also the candidate believes the job is basically what you asked questions about in the interview.
The author quoted from a recent study on miscommunication about the job in the interview process:
"The survey, commissioned by Menlo Park, Calif.-based staffing agency Robert Half, discovered that of those people who found themselves fooled, 74 per cent said the job duties were not as described, 44 per cent said the corporate culture wasn’t as advertised"
The problem occurs after you hire someone and then 2-4-6 weeks later you tell them what you really expect.
At this point the candidate looks at you dumb-founded and mumbles something like "I thought the job was what you talked about in the interview". I didn't realize you wanted me to do X, Y, or Z. Not only can I not do those things, I don't even have the desire to do them. You should just fire me right now.
They all say that to you - right? Of course not. After recovering from their initial shock, they then try to fake it until they can find another job or they hope you'll forget about what you really need accomplished.
Wouldn't a better idea be to be transparent in the interview, and talk about the job expectations, outcomes, performance, metrics, and results. This approach tends to lead to better hiring decisions than the traditional approach of checking boxes on the job description and then crossing your fingers hoping the person will make it through the 90 day probationary period.
Barry Deutsch