How we can use the hiring process to bring out the best in people The Way We Work a TED series
Transcriber: TED Translators Admin
Reviewer: Ivana Korom
A traditional job interview
is basically a one-sided,
high pressure interrogation,
almost guaranteed to create
significant psychological strain.
Ironically, such stressful procedures
can totally obscure
a person’s true potential
causing us to overlook a lot of people
who could be great employees.
We need a different way
to interview and screen candidates.
One that will reveal
hidden potential and talent.
[The Way We Work]
[Made possible with
the support of Dropbox]
Twelve years ago, I founded CY,
an outsource call center
staffed and managed entirely by underdogs.
More than half
of our hundreds of employees
are severely disabled.
Others come from other
disadvantaged populations
or just suffer from anxiety,
low self-esteem and lack of confidence.
The problem I needed to solve
when we started out was
that traditional
interviewing and screening,
especially for entry-level positions,
are totally biased towards people
who function well under intense stress.
Now, if you’re screening
for Navy SEALS, I totally get it,
but the capacity to function under duress
is totally irrelevant
if the actual job is stocking shelves
or folding T-shirts,
unless of course it’s Black Friday.
Clara is a classic example.
We met in CY’s early days
while she was waiting
for her job interview.
Clara was 25 years old,
had cerebral palsy
and used a walker.
She seemed quite nervous,
but she was likable,
intelligent and talkative.
And yet just a short while later,
her interviewer told me
that she had totally failed,
that she couldn’t string
two words together.
The screening philosophy
of “let’s pick our employees
by viewing them at their worst,”
not only overlooks disabled people
but anyone whose shine
is diminished under harsh pressure.
We developed the reverse screening process
to find potential.
And as the name implies,
we go about things
practically the opposite way
traditional approaches do.
In a nutshell, if you want to assess
a candidate’s true potential,
see how they function
at their best, not their worst,
which for most of us
is when we’re calm and relaxed,
not stressed and anxious.
So build screening procedures
specifically tailored
to help candidates feel
as emotionally comfortable as possible.
Three examples how you can achieve that.
Lower anxiety and insecurity.
Start out by losing
the whole interrogation vibe.
Rather, interviewers should
view themselves as hosts,
be friendly and welcoming.
Choose an environment that’s conducive
to putting a candidate at ease,
like making your interview room
look like a living room.
People are most confident
discussing things
about which they are
knowledgeable and passionate.
So we ask candidates
to fill out a short questionnaire
about their hobbies,
and we start out the interview
by discussing those
so that candidates could bring forth
their verbal skills,
strengths and personality.
Assess skills in everyday life situations
with which the candidates are familiar.
For instance, sales positions
require the ability to use persuasion.
So ask the candidate to role play
how they would persuade a neighbor
to pay an extra maintenance fee
for the renovations of their lobby.
Looking for tough,
full-throttle negotiations?
Ask the candidate to describe
how they would persuade a teenager
to not look at their phone
during a family dinner.
Help them move beyond the stuck points
to see how they adapt and learn.
In the reverse screening process,
we offer candidates three lifelines.
We call it “Who Wants to Be an Employee?”
If the candidate asks for a hint,
the interviewer will model
a few correct arguments
and ask the candidate
to role play the scenario
to see how convincingly
they absorb and convey those points.
Finding people’s true potential
makes for happier,
more diverse, and more successful
companies and employees.
Remember Clara? We hired her.
She gradually improved
until she hit her targets
of calls per hour,
and then she kept on getting better.
And nowadays Clara gives talks
about how many years ago
no one, including herself,
believed she had any potential at all.
A job is so much more than a paycheck,
especially for marginalized populations.
By finding and hiring
those you might otherwise overlook,
you will not only
benefit your own company,
you will literally
transform people’s lives.
The opportunity to win
with underdogs is all around you.
Make sure to grab it.