Great interviewing is hard, but not impossible

One of the most important things we do in business is hire team members. Even if you are an individual contributor, there is a good chance you are involved in helping your manager recruit.

All too often, especially in go-to-market, we hire people who talk a great story, but don’t deliver when they join. This can be because we want people who can talk a great story. It’s one of the skills we need. But we also want real substance underneath.

1️⃣ Decide what you are interviewing for in any given interview. Is this to understand how good they are at navigating a complex sale? Are you looking for coachability? Is this interview about managing outreach or building paid ad campaigns?

2️⃣ Create a set of questions which you will ask every candidate, to ensure consistency.  Ensure that these are, in large part, experiential questions. “Please tell me about  a time when you…”. With follow-ups such as “What lesson did you learn from that?” or “Why didn’t you try X?” (I recommend avoiding questions like “how do you approach…” as this allows an academic rather than real answer.)

3️⃣ If you’re asking any “obvious” questions, e.g. “tell me about a deal you’re really proud of closing” or “what’s best the social media campaign you’ve run?”, consider following up with “that’s great, could you tell me another one?” People often prepare one, but rarely two.

4️⃣ After the interview review your notes and/or the recording (if possible, recording is really valuable), and write up your thoughts. Do not leave it for 24-hours. Do not read your colleagues thoughts on the interview before writing your own. If you rely on AI to summarise the interview, read it really carefully and make sure it reflects your personal opinion.  Make sure that your notes reflect the purpose of the interview – see :one

5️⃣ In the current world, I strongly recommend you are interviewing for familiarity with AI in the role you are hiring. Someone without familiarity with and curiosity for AI is not a strong candidate today.

Across a full set of interviews, with multiple interviews, you should cover all of the key areas, in a consistent fashion with answers that tell you how the candidate actually operates, not just how they claim to operate.

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