Interview Strategies for Every Leader:

Every time I’ve recruited for a high-growth startup, or a 3000+ company trying to stop the bleeding that is backfill-hiring, leaders are drowning. 

Your time is precious, and everyone is asking you for more. 

Sound familiar? 

When it comes to interviewing, you’re on interview panels constantly: for your own hires, and for cross-functional decisions. 

There’s never enough time in the day to get your day-to-day activities and meetings completed. 

Here’s a strategy, broken down in two different ways of execution, to fix your interview-fatigue problem. 

Option #1: Team Effort
One day for everyone - 2x per month 

Result: Offer decisions made same-day.

Time Commitment: 1-2 days monthly (roughly 4 hours per dedicated day).

Here’s why it works: You’re able to plan ahead, along with the rest of the team. This can be done via zoom or in-office (or a combo). 

Make sure to: Pick a day that makes sense around team travel and common customer visits. Pro Tip: Avoid Mondays and Fridays (holidays, PTO, and customer fires tend to occur on these days).

Outcome: Candidates love it. They know exactly what to expect. Same-day decisions (as long as the recruiting team is teeing up enough strong talent around these days*). 

How it works: The recruiter screens candidates, and lays out expectations on the spot. A conversation might go like this: 

“Next step will be to meet with the hiring manager, and then if you both see alignment with the role, we’ll have you come into the office (or a blocked zoom meeting) for 2-3 hours. The next interview day is on DATE. Would you mind tentatively blocking out DAY and TIME so that we can ensure your interview process is efficient? You can expect to have a decision made same-day”. 

How to execute: 

• Decide on the interview panel cadence - will the candidate meet everyone individually for 30 minutes? Will they meet in pairs, etc? 

• Decide how long the total interviews will last (how many candidates can you realistically see each day - you’re playing a game of musical chairs. Be strategic). 

• Map out what the candidate will need to prepare for the day - presentation, proof of work, etc.

• Decide on location.

• If the candidate is going to be on zoom, assign ONE zoom room to the candidate, not the interviewers. This is very important for candidate experience and to ensure a smooth process. 

  • Interviewers will use the candidate’s assigned zoom room, and they will enter the room at the time of their interview. 

  • Decide on a break time for the candidate - make sure to give them 5-10 minutes in between interviews, or one longer break in the middle to give them time to breathe, prep, get water, etc. 

• If the candidate is visiting the office, decide who is going to greet the candidate, give them a tour, and if they need to sign an NDA, ensure that happens upon arrival. 

  • Decide on ONE room that will be reserved every Interview Day. Make sure it offers the capabilities necessary for the candidate’s needs - presentation, whiteboard, etc. 

  • Make sure to leave time in between one candidate’s exit time and another candidate’s arrival time if they’re interviewing for the same role. It’s a small world - for candidate confidentiality, ensure there’s no chance of them overlapping visits. 

Option #2: Your Personal Commitment
One day for you...every week.  

Result: 8+ interviews per month (2+ per blocked day).

Time Commitment: 2-3 hours per week.

Here’s why it works: You know you need to be prepared to make interviews work during a set block of hours every week. You plan your internal meetings and customer meetings around it. If you can’t, you’re able to give the recruiter enough runway to find an alternative time. 

Make sure to: Have the recruiter set expectations with candidates several days ahead, and block their calendars out tentatively for a meeting with you. 

Pro Tip: If you’re doing this with one interviewer, try to do it with everyone. Get consecutive or same-day (different time slot) availability for faster decisions.

Outcome: You have time to prepare and make sound decisions. When you don’t have interviews, you have extra time on your calendar to get things done you didn’t find time to that week. 

How to execute: 

• Choose weekly or bi-weekly days. The more time, the better, in high-growth hiring phases. As your team grows, ensure all recruiters know about your preference. 

• If only one recruiter supports you and your calendar, that recruiter will need to relay your availability to the scheduling team so you’re not getting invited to extra interviews, unless necessary. 

• Block out your calendar so that it’s “busy” and send an invite to all relevant parties: recruiter, scheduling coordinator, etc: My Interview Block - Please Schedule

This one is pretty simple since it’s only your calendar. Stick to these, and if your recruiter is screening the right candidates, you’ll have a steady flow of people to interview. 

For best results: do this weekly during high-volume hiring, or to set an alternate 1-hour block for extenuating circumstances. 

For instance, your interview day is Thursday, the recruiter screens someone on Thursday and really wants to move them forward. You may make an exception to meet them on Friday or Monday. 

These blocks are ideal to keep you sane - but your recruiter most likely doesn’t support just you. They support 5-15 hiring managers (that’s the range I’ve become accustomed to in my career). 

Be mindful, communicate, and work together. 

These practices make life easier, give you some time back, and enable you to execute a strong candidate engagement process, and make timely hiring decisions…as long as everyone is on the same page. 

Drop a comment if you’re going to try this out.  Looking forward to hearing how these plans work for you! 

PS:  Make sure candidates are approved and feedback is given promptly for either of these scenarios to work. Block out time 2-3 days per week to dedicate to resume review (for candidates sent to you by your recruiter).

That’s all for this week! 

Happy Hunting
Ashley S

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