The Irreplaceable Value of Interviews

“I’ve learned more about our company and our competition during interviewing than I have in a long time.”

– Chris Powers

We talk about “always be hiring”, which doesn’t mean we have a job open and hire them tomorrow. It just means if you see people that would be a great fit, continue to build that relationship over a couple years in a way that if one day job does open up, it’s quick. It’s almost like you’ve been recruiting them for two years.

The thing I think I realized the most is if you are recruiting, by nature, interviews make people want to talk about not only their biggest successes, but their failures. Then, when they’re talking about their successes, they’ll talk to you about how they executed that success. You learn a ton about, “Wow! I can’t believe they do it that way. This is how we do it”, or, “Wow! We really actually do, do a good job at this.”

I’ve learned more about our company and our competition just in interviewing than I have in a long time. People are going to bring their best, and then in the worst, you’re learning how did they overcome a mistake that we might make. Even better yet, how can we avoid making that mistake? These interviews force the conversation to that point where it’s just this learning machine. It’s like getting to hear a ton of case studies in a very rapid-fire way. And they’re real. They’re not just made up case studies, they’re real life experiences, and we can compare them to what we know.