I admit it, a lot of the things I write and talk about are not my original stuff.
In fact, many of the ideas don’t even come from other HR experts, but from experts in other fields. I just take their stuff and put an HR spin on it to make it apply to employee recruiting, selection, engagement, and retention.
Below is one such idea that comes from Art Sobczak, a leading authority on telesales. While Art’s original idea was written to apply to selling situations, I tried it in some interviews and it works great.
Successful interviewing is simple. It doesn’t require any additional knowledge above what you now possess. You already know HOW to do it. Perhaps you already do it well. Most people don’t.
Now, be silent for two seconds.
There, you did it. That’s all I’m asking. Pause more this week. Actually, make an effort to pause at two points in the interview and any other communications process:
- Pause after you ask a question.
- Pause after you hear an answer.
Let your job applicants, staff, customers, and vendors talk more. This will ensure you don’t interrupt, (which robs you of valuable information and sends a negative message) and it:
- Encourages them to continue talking.
- Gives you more and better information.
Come see Mel Kleiman talk about how Great HR is Simple — It’s Just Not Easy at the TLNT Transform conference in Austin, TX Feb. 26-28, 2012. Click here for more information on attending this event.
This was originally published on Mel Kleiman’s Humetrics blog.