I recently talked to a client who said “Just send me your top 5 people.” Well, I can’t, and here is why: NO ONE can take the place of the hiring manager in the interview process. They know too much about the department or company, and their knowledge can not be duplicated or ignored. And yet, the people that I talk to would rather have a tooth pulled than conduct an interview. Why? Because they have never been trained. They view it, and rightly so, and a colossal waste of time because it is generally not done well. They are unprepared.
Martin Yates in his book, Hiring and Keeping the Best, calls interviewing “a dirty secret.” We expect hiring managers to put a team of people together, we hold them accountable, and then we are shocked when they aren’t successful. If you want a team to be effective, you must concentrate your efforts on an effective interview process, including training the people who will be responsible for the hiring. Otherwise, just flip a coin and call it good.