Last weekend, my 11 year old daughter Katy flew on an airplane BY HERSELF for the very first time. I was a nervous wreck! I had a hard time focusing on work…. I kept checking my phone to see if I had messages from her saying that she had landed safely. Katy, of course, was fine. In fact, she had a great time during her first solo flight and learned a valuable lesson in independence. I realized the more she can do for herself, the better equipped she will be in the future when dealing with unexpected situations.
Now you may ask what any of this has to do with interviewing. As I impatiently waited for the phone to ring, I had a realization that I need to provide my clients with the same level of independence. While I certainly adore helping each of my clients interview for their next great employee, I also realize that I need to get them better prepared to do interviewing all by themselves. Again, the more prepared they are in their businesses, the easier it is to handle unexpected personnel issues.
In the past, my typical process was to create and submit job ads, help develop job descriptions, vet interview candidates, schedule interview times, and then perform the actual interviews in front of my client. We would then do a “dash board” review in between interviews to uncover what we learned from each candidate, based on speech patterns, phrasing, and responses to my A-list candidate questions. Rarely, did I actually hand the interview process over to my client. They have certainly learned from the experience as 91% of the time, they retained the ideal employee they were seeking. But I realize that my mission with A-list Interviews is to transform the world through the interview process to create happy, healthy work environments for all. This cannot be achieved until I give my clients the gift of independence by empowering them to run effective interviews long after I am gone.
From now on, I will be including a hand over process where I will be teaching my clients how to interview by themselves through the program I have developed called “7 Steps to Amazing Employees”. I have seen this program work successfully in all walks of business so I am excited to help my clients develop their own comfort levels around the actual interview process. Now when they fly solo, I will still be a nervous wreck because I really want my clients to succeed, but I will know that I set them up for success and the world will be transformed through the interview process by hundreds of interviewers, not just me. And there is no better feeling than that!