5 Reasons Why the Interview Process Has Become Broken

If you’re a talent leader or a Hiring Manager, you’ve probably set up a thoughtful, structured interview process. But, how do you actually know if that’s the case? What you see as being thoughtful and structured might actually be prompting a negative candidate experience or you might be hiring candidates just to hire them rather than finding the right person for the role. This leads us to the fact that the interview process is the most important part of hiring, but it has become broken for various reasons. Here’s 5 reasons why…

1.) We’re still interviewing the same way we have for decades

Why this matters: You could be losing out on top talent because your process appears “dated” The majority of organizations are still interviewing the same way they have for years…sifting through stacks of resumes and relying on poorly-taken notes to evaluate candidates. The job interview process, just like all other business processes, should evolve with the times, and there are numerous tools and technologies available to make the lives of hiring professionals easier.

How to fix this: Many of these tools, such as applicant tracking systems (ATS), video interviewing platforms, and interview intelligence software are designed to assist and improve the interview process, not make it more tedious. Do your research and ensure you have an up-to-date recruiting tech stack.

2.) Interview experiences are inconsistent across candidates

Why this matters: There’s no clarity into who the right person for the role isUnstructured interviews which lack defined questions are often unreliable for predicting job success, and you could be missing out on the most qualified candidates due to inconsistent questioning. On top of that, a clear structure where you’re able to compare the candidate’s answers to the skills required makes it much easier to avoid bias because every interview is comparable.

How to fix it: Create an interview guide for every role. The guide should include what each stage entails for the candidate…from the initial phone screen to the number of interviews required along with what skills-based questions you’re going to ask.

3.) Interviewers are never trained on how to interview effectively

Why this matters: Candidates are having a poor experience

Chances are, your current hiring process is ruining your employer brand. In fact, according to HCI, 72% of job seekers report sharing their negative candidate experiences online. The interview process is the first impression a candidate has of your organization. If an interviewer shows up to an interview unprepared, the candidate will know and will not get as good of an experience as they are getting with the other roles they’re interviewing for (remember you are competing for talent)!

How to fix this: One of the biggest things interviewers can do to be better at interviewing is to ensure they don’t just wing it. Study the candidate beforehand, know what questions you’re going to ask, be prepared to answer the candidate’s questions, and give the candidate enough time to sell themselves (the candidate should do 2/3rds of the talking). Being a good interviewer can even positively affect the attitudes and job performance of employees!

4.) Interviewer feedback is filled with bias

Why this matters: Diverse candidates are getting lost in the process, and you aren’t meeting your diversity goals

A common hiring challenge today is that our teams are generally not as diverse as they ought to be. Bias, both conscious and unconscious, in the interview process makes it difficult to build high-performing, diverse teams. According to McKinsey, companies found in the top quartile for ethnic and racial diversity in management were 35% more likely to have financial returns about their industry mean. A wide range of perspectives leads to more innovative, revenue-driving solutions.

How to fix this: We’ve said it numerous times, but standardizing interviews is key. Structured interviews where each candidate is asked the same set of questions minimizes bias by allowing the interviewer to focus on the skills that are most relevant to the role. It’s also important to pull in various members of the team that are diverse in terms of age, gender, background, and seniority level. A diverse interview panel is far less likely to experience bias than a single person or a team of like-minded individuals.


5.) We truly have no idea what is happening within interviews

Why this matters: You’re relying on hazy memory to compare and select the right candidate

Can you imagine thousands of interviews being conducted within your organization, but you have no idea what’s going on within them? You’re sending untrained interviewers who are often unprepared into candidate interviews, and this is ruining your brand. This is why recording interviews and learning from them is so imperative to delivering a seamless candidate experience.

How to fix this: We’ve said it once, and we’ll say it again…record your interviews! Quite frankly, who really can remember what someone said in an interview that occurred two weeks ago? When needing to make a hiring decision, you will almost certainly rely on your own bias rather than what the candidate actually said, and you’ll be crossing your fingers that you’ve hired the right person in the end. 

Bring Interview Intelligence Into Your Hiring Process

What can you do to mitigate how broken the interview process has become? The solution is…interview intelligence! Here’s how an interview intelligence platform, like Pillar, would help with the 5 issues above:

1.) Interview intelligence is the newest trend in the HR tech world and is solving the problems that continue to plague even the best-run talent acquisition teams…needing to hire faster, losing candidates to competitors, and struggling to meet DEI goals.

2.) With interview guides, you can select the skills and questions you’d like each interviewer to focus on so every candidate has the same experience. Structured, skills-based interviewing = more successful and more confident hiring decisions.

3.) Once interview guides are built, interviewers receive live question recommendations so they always know what question comes next. After the interview, interviewers are then served with analytics on how they can become a “pro interviewer”, ensuring each interview is better than the last.

4.) Getting feedback from interviewers is like pulling teeth, and when feedback is provided days after the interview, that’s when bias starts to creep in. With live, in-interview reactions, feedback is generated instantaneously.

5.) Every interview is recorded and transcribed. This way, you can focus on the candidate rather than taking notes. AI-generated, skills-based highlight reels also give you the ability to go back and review all your interviews at a later time before you’re ready to make a hiring decision.

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