When a Company has to be Frank

Interviews in our country are mostly one way processes. The answers should only come from the person being interviewed. And without fail, the successful interviewees either give answers by rote or toe the expected official line. That is about all that happens in an interview room. The harm to both parties is incalculable: the company inevitably suffers due to the wrong people filling its key positions and the employee, since this is the wrong job for her; either has a breakdown along the way or just feels plain cheated. Resentment on both sides is the result.

So what should be the key elements for a good interview, especially for MNCs and BPOs?

When a person is willing to lay his cards on the table and take negative feedback in the same vein as he would receive positive feedback, then we know we are dealing with someone mature, someone indeed wise. & it is not too much to expect a company to be a bit more focused and self-conscious about the services it offers. Thus, the best way to go about an interview is to prepare a very succinct power-point presentation detailing the salient points of the company’s history and markets:

Original goals of the company

Has the company moved into new areas…has the company responded to the signs of the times?

Where does the company see itself in five years?

Short talks by the President, the CEO etc.

Brief interviews of some of the team member with whom the prospective employee may be expected to work.

Finally, where the company stands vis a vis its competitions.

This whole show can be designed for and shown on a projector to a roomful of prospective candidates. This is the best that a company can do in an interview. Gone are the days when an interview was a monologue; now the company too needs to showcase itself for that last minute-before-the-interview drawing out of talents from its future human resources. The presentation needs to be done professionally and with open mind. Now we are ready to move on to the portion where you, the employer can reasonably expect a fair assessment and some honesty from the interviewee. Let none be in any unreasonable hurry — not for getting jobs, nor you be too eager to hand over your stakes to a person immature and still dependent on papa and mama.

We shall deal with the basics of what questions should be asked to the candidates. Just in case you have your next interview scheduled before I post : here is something to go by:
REJECT ANYONE WHO ONLY FINDS IMMEDIATE FAULTS WITH YOUR SETUP. UNLESS THE CANDIDATE SIMULTAENOUSLY COMES UP WITH AN ALTERNATIVE, THEN TERMINATE THE INTERVIEW AND CARRY ON. It is a sign of being grown up when we are able to posit viable alternatives to what we think is flawed. Otherwise all criticism is destructive and such fault-finders will only rake up trouble for you in the long run!