Headline, November 11 2021/ ''' " MARATHON - JOB - INTERVIEWS " '''

''' " MARATHON - JOB -

 INTERVIEWS " '''

Some companies are asking candidates to attend multiple interviews. But too many rounds could be a red flag – and even drive candidates away.

Every jobseeker welcomes an invitation to a second interview, because it signals a company’s interest. A third interview might feel even more positive, or even be the precursor to an offer. But what happens when the process drags on to a fourth, fifth or sixth round – and it’s not even clear how close you are to the ‘final’ interview?

That’s a question Mike Conley, 49, grappled with earlier this year. The software engineering manager, based in Indiana, US, had been seeking a new role after losing his job during the pandemic. Five companies told him they had to delay hiring because of Covid-19 – but only after he’d done the final round of interviews. Another three invited him for several rounds of interviews until it was time to make an offer, at which point they decided to promote internally. Then, he made it through three rounds of interviews for a director-level position at a company he really liked, only to receive an email to co-ordinate six more rounds.

“When I responded to the internal HR, I even asked, ‘Are these the final rounds?’,” he says. “The answer I got back was: ‘We don’t know yet’.”

That’s when Conley made the tough decision to pull out. He shared his experience in a LinkedIn post that’s touched a nerve with fellow job-seekers, who’ve viewed it 2.6 million times as of this writing. Conley says he’s received about 4,000 public comments of support, and “four times that in private comments” from those who feared being tracked by current or prospective employers. 

“So many people told me that, when they found out it was going to be six or seven interviews, they pulled out, so it was a bigger thing than I ever thought it was,” he says. Of course, Conley never expected his post would go viral, “but I thought that for people who had been on similar paths, it was good to put it out there and let them know that they’re not alone”. 

In fact, the internet is awash with similar stories jobseekers who’ve become frustrated with companies – particularly in the tech, finance and energy sectors – turning the interview process into a marathon. That poses the question: how many rounds of interviews should it take for an employer to reasonably assess a candidate before the process veers into excess? And how long should candidates stick it out if there’s no clear information on exactly how many hoops they’ll have to jump through to stay in the running for a role?

The importance of streamlined hiring

Trial and error is bad and costly for companies who are hiring, so they often compensate by making the recruitment process more and more forensic. This means conducting multiple interviews to gather valuable information to help them more clearly determine which candidate has the most potential.

In the best-case scenario, this is a great investment for all involved: it ensures that the candidate won’t struggle in the job, and that the company won’t have to repeat the process all over again.

Companies tend to build in several interviews and assessments to check credentials, determine job capabilities, get additional opinions and learn about a candidate’s personality. Jenny Ho, who runs the Singapore-based recruiting agency International Workplace Consulting, says the number of required interviews should always be in line with the level of the position. “Preferably, it’s three to four rounds, maximum,” she says. “For positions below director level, it’s a maximum of three; preferably two.”

A streamlined hiring process gives a company an edge in a competitive employment market. Google, for example, recently examined its past interview data and determined that four interviews was enough to make a hiring decision with 86% confidence, noting that there was a diminishing return on interviewer feedback thereafter. Previously, candidates applying for a job at Google could be subjected to more than a dozen interviews. The number of people involved in the process has also been reduced, because Google found that four interviewers could make the same hiring decisions that a larger number of interviewers had in the past.

Ho says the key people who should be involved in the hiring process include the person who would be the employee’s direct manager, their supervisor and human resources. If it’s a C-suite position, it may include other C-suite executives and, possibly, some tenured employees. Yet, it’s important not to get too many people involved.

“There is this concept that there must be a better candidate out there, so [companies] get more interviewers involved and, sometimes, they just end up more confused,” Ho says, noting that too many interviewers can create a lack of focus in the questioning as well as unease for the candidate. 

The Honor and Serving of the Latest Global Operational Research on Opportunities, continues. The World Students Society thanks author Mark Johanson [BBC].

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