"I was sure you'd crashed the car", my mom told me later that day.
She had been sitting in the waiting room while I was out with the driving examiner. When I came back from the test my face was so pale and stricken, she was convinced I was about to tell her I'd wrecked the car.
I failed the test.
Spectacularly.
Failure was not in my sixteen-year-old vocabulary. I was confident I'd pass the test with flying colors. My mom isn't around to ask anymore, but I'm certain she was confident too. She, and others, had spent countless hours with me as I practiced. I knew what I was doing and I was prepared. So, what happened?
I learned to drive on a car with a manual transmission, also referred to as driving a stick shift. At the time I was learning to drive, cars with manual transmission were far more prevalent than today, but most of my peers learned with automatic transmissions. If you haven't driven a stick shift before, it involves shifting gears depending on the speed you are going lower gears for slower speeds and higher gears for faster speeds. This is an oversimplification of the difference between driving a car with a manual vs an automatic transmission, but is sufficient for the purposes of the blog post.
After a quick visual inspection of the car, my examiner and I got in the car. I fastened my seatbelt, took a deep breath and pulled out of the parking lot. As I pulled up to the first stop sign, I was feeling good about how it was going. It was when I started to cross the intersection that things fell apart. Coming to a stop, I'd been in third gear. I knew I had to shift down to first gear, so I'd be ready to go again. I'd forgotten to downshift. The examiner tossed me a reassuring smile and told me not to worry.
You're probably wondering what's the big deal. Things would have been fine if I'd only missed the one downshift. I managed to forget at every stop for the entire route. Every. Single. Stop. I can't remember a single time my nerves got to me so badly before or since. I couldn't fathom what had just happened and I was absolutely mortified. I'd just let down everyone who was expecting me to return home a licensed driver, my friends, my family, myself.
There are few things in the work environment that are more nerve-wracking than being an interview candidate. The first time I sat on the interviewer side of the table was an eye-opening experience. There's a lot at stake for the hiring manager/team as well. Time and energy spent interviewing and selecting candidates, effort to bring the new hire up to speed with the project and workload piling up while the job is vacant, not to mention the headaches that arise when you hire a candidate that doesn't work out.
As leaders, it behooves us to encounter the candidate as their most true and natural selves as possible. Interviewing is like going on a first date, there will always be some nerves - if candidate's nerves are reduced to a flutter, we're setting everyone up for the most successful* interview possible. If the candidate is operating with amped up nerves the whole time, there's the potential to have everyone wasting their time.
Here are some techniques I use to reduce a candidate's stress and anxiety during an interview:
- Unless the candidate's name is something along the lines of Jane Smith, greet the candidate with the best attempt at pronunciation and then ask if you pronounced their name correctly. As someone who lived much of their life with a non-vanilla last name, I can attest to the fact that this small action is much appreciated.
- Find a way to break the ice. If the interview is on Friday or Monday, I find that asking about the weekend is an effective way to ease the nerves and it provides insight into who the candidate is as a person - perhaps they love to travel, or maybe they are family focused or they are an adrenaline junkie. It's possible that you were also excited about the latest movie premier or that one of your team members recently took a heliskiing trip to Alaska. These are invaluable opportunities for connection.
- Offer restroom breaks for multi-panel or long interviews. Nobody's operating at their best if all they can think about is how much they need to pee, wondering when they'll get a break.
- Reserve time for the candidate to ask questions. I like to set that stage by acknowledging that this is a big decision for them and I want to ensure they have an opportunity to get their questions answered. I also encourage them to reach out after the interview if additional questions occur to them afterward.
* I define success here as an interview in which both parties walk away with a reliable read on each other to make a well-informed decision.
What techniques do you use to set your candidates at ease? What can you add to your repertoire?
I'd love to hear from you. Please comment below or send me a note via the Connect section of the home page.
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