Rethink Your Interview Strategy

If you’re a seasoned hiring manager, you’ve no doubt conducted dozens—if not hundreds—of interviews. But if you’ve been using the same approach for a while, it may be time to reassess your strategy. Hiring practices continue to evolve, and ensuring your process reflects best practices is key to attracting and assessing top talent. Here are some methods worth retiring:

Large Panel Interviews While it may seem efficient to bring everyone into the room at once, large panel interviews can overwhelm candidates and tend to favor more extroverted personality types. They also make it difficult for any one panelist to build meaningful rapport. Consider a series of shorter, individual conversations instead. They allow for deeper engagement and more thoughtful dialogue.

Pop Quizzes Unexpected tests or assignments can come off as unfair and may increase candidate anxiety. If evaluating a task is part of your hiring process, be transparent. Let candidates know in advance what will be expected, so they can prepare and put their best foot forward.

Overreliance on Résumé Recaps Spending the bulk of the interview walking through a candidate’s résumé often leads to surface-level discussions. Most of this information is already available on paper. Use interview time to dig deeper—ask about motivations, challenges, and learning moments behind their experiences. This allows for more meaningful insight into how the candidate thinks and operates.

Oddball Brain Teaser Questions These once-popular questions were thought to reveal how creative and quick-thinking a candidate might be. In reality, studies have shown they have little correlation with job performance. Instead, present a realistic, role-related scenario and ask candidates how they would approach it. This offers far better insight into their practical problem-solving skills.

Unstructured Interviews with No Clear Criteria Casual conversations may feel natural, but without a clear framework for evaluation, they can lead to inconsistent and biased decision-making. Ensure each interview has defined criteria aligned to the competencies and values needed for the role. A structured approach improves fairness and helps you make more informed, objective decisions.

The worst interviews leave hiring managers with little useful information and candidates feeling stressed or disengaged. The best ones allow for open, thoughtful conversation and result in both parties feeling informed, respected, and excited about the possibility of working together.

If you need assistance in updating your talent acquisition strategy, we can help! Get in touch with Paul, Brent, Troy, or Tara, or call us at 519-673-3463 or 416-847-0036.