Why Interview Training is so Critical in Today’s Hiring Market with Adam Stonehocker of Gemini

If hiring right is so critical to the organization, why is interviewing the one action that is entirely left up to chance? It has been my experience that virtually zero small companies invest in training their people how to interview.

This was the experience of an extremely successful executive, Jeff. Who at the C-level had only attended a one hour session of interview training in his whole career…. 10 years ago.

It is assumed that most leaders already know how to interview but the truth is that they don't. Most of us know how to talk skills and look for likable traits. But the process is riddled with bias and assumptions. Missing the evidence that is so critical in hiring the strongest person for the role.

Our guest today: Adam Stonehocker,  Head of Sales at Gemini

Adam is the head of Sales at Gemini, a data visualization company that helps executives make key decisions involving their most important asset, their people. He has led sales teams for Peek, Google, Twitter, Pandora Radio,  and AdRoll, EBay. 

Adam has hired over 500 salespeople throughout his career and trained his leaders to interview with purpose.

Today we discuss:

• Why you need to invest in training your people how to interview
• How to train your people to interview effectively

There is a belief that there is no right way to interview and in the end it all comes down to “trusting your gut” and pulling the trigger... So wrong in every way!

Why don't companies invest in interview training?

• Attrition was 20% per month with poor hiring
• Team only hit 85% of goal for the year
• Culture was terrible
  • Top performers said “your hiring anyone who can breathe”

Why is this important to the company?

• Without recognition & change top performers would have left
• Interview team has no idea how to identify the right people, 
• You have to get the right people on the bus
• Upper management not happy
• Costs a lot of money when you have a leaky bucket

Rick’s Nuggets

• Every company should prioritize training everyone who interviews for the company
• Systems put in place maximize productivity & efficiency of your employees

How do we solve the problem?

• Identifying core values & culture that you want to hire for
  • Make sure everyone is on the same page
  • Hiring managers, recruiters, 
  •  
• Structuring the Interview guide
  • Gauging the competencies in the interview guide
  • Coachable: Role play exercise to implement feedback from prior interviewer
  •  
• Training 
  • Values we’re looking for 
  • Interview guide gauges those values or competencies
  • Role playing with each other
  • Using the interview guide as a script
  • Feedback loop and discussion from the group
  • Reps/future managers take part in calibration and interviews
• Quarterly calibration
  • Continually updating the interview guide
  • Have your needs changed? 
  • Are there questions that aren’t pulling the right competency
  • Problem questions that most people stumble on?
  • Feel of the interview, is it intense or laid back and fun? Your interview feel should match your culture

Rick’s Nuggets

• Write behavioral questions that uncover evidence to support your company values
• Write follow up questions for deeper digging
• Assign to each team member
• Role play
• Practice makes proficient
• How did that work?

Key Takeaways :

• Define your values/culture
• • Everyone on the same page, looking for the right types of talent
  • Only then can you ABR (Always Be Recruiting)
• Structure your interview guide to gauge value competencies
• Set up quarterly calibrations to refine interview guide, interview skills,
  • This is where your team continually sharpens the saw, 
  • Feedback loop on interview process

Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamstonehocker/

Websites: https://gogemini.com/

 

This show is proudly sponsored by Criteria Crop: https://www.criteriacorp.com/