How Adaptive Interviewing Can Help You Find Your Perfect Hire

If you’re struggling to find the right talent for the open positions within your organization, you aren’t alone. According to a study conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management earlier in the year, more than three-fourths of HR professionals had difficulty recruiting for full-time positions at the time of the survey.

Some of those struggles could be credited to skill gaps, with issues in finding and retaining talent with the right skills for a role. Unfortunately, ignoring these skill gaps isn’t an option in most high-need professions, and hiring the wrong person for a role can be costly. A 2023 Business News Daily article reported that hiring the wrong employee can cost you about $17,000 on average, including costs associated with onboarding, training, disruptions, and turnover.

It’s crucial to take all necessary steps to avoid poor talent evaluation, beginning with the interview process. Fortunately, adaptive interviewing techniques can be beneficial. By mastering adaptive interviewing, you’ll have a versatile array of tools and strategies tailored to the specific needs of each role and candidate, ensuring you find the perfect fit for your open role.  

Understanding Adaptive Interviewing

But what exactly is adaptive interviewing?

Think of it as the opposite of the old-school mode of interviewing that some managers may be more inclined to use. That traditional method often incorporated rigid, carefully structured interviews that used a set list of questions and didn’t allow room for anything else.

That’s what adaptive interviewing isn’t. Adaptive interviewing is dynamic. It changes, evolves, and adapts to the specific role you’re interviewing for and the specific candidate. It changes in style and form to best match the role and competencies you need.

By intentionally varying interview styles, hiring managers can create a more comprehensive assessment of candidates. The adaptive interviewing method ensures a thorough evaluation and increases the likelihood of identifying the best cultural and technical fit for your team. 

As Owen Luddy, Head of Talent Acquisition at Arootah, noted, “The ability to adapt our interview strategies is no longer a luxury; it’s a necessity. By embracing adaptive interviewing techniques, we not only refine our talent evaluation process but also ensure we’re aligning the right candidates with the roles that best suit their unique skills and potential.”

Exploring Different Interview Styles

There are several different interviewing styles that you can use as you adapt your interviews to better fit the roles you’re hiring for and who you’re interviewing. Here are a few interview styles to consider.

Panel Interviews

In a panel interview, multiple people interview your candidate at the same time. Ideally, the panel would be made up of people serving different roles and representing different departments. This way, they can offer diverse perspectives, asking questions and providing commentary that no one person could do alone. This diverse perspective allows the panel to uncover insights and provide information that might not emerge in a one-on-one interview.

When choosing a panel to sit in on an interview, pick individuals who can focus on various aspects of the interviewee, such as cultural fit, technical skills, and potential synergy with the existing team.

Group Interviews

Group interviews are distinct from panel interviews. In a group interview, the candidate interacts not with potential superiors but with prospective teammates and peers. Observing the candidate in this setting allows you to assess essential skills and attributes, such as communication abilities, group dynamics, and individuality.

Round Interviews

Round interviews are structured in multiple stages, each concentrating on a different aspect of the candidate and their suitability for the role. It’s important to ensure that these rounds don’t become repetitive, merely involving different interviewers from your organization.

Maintaining structure and focus is essential. For instance, round interviews can be organized into three stages: the first round assessing technical skills, the second evaluating cultural fit, and the third examining leadership potential.

Behavioral Interviews

This type of interview focuses primarily on real-life examples. By asking for real examples and focusing on the candidate’s experiences, you can understand their behaviors and what motivates them. You’ll be able to evaluate their problem-solving abilities, adaptability, and interpersonal skills.

Remote Interviews

Lastly, don’t forget about the benefits of remote interviews if you’ve only been relying on in-person interviews so far. Remote interviews can significantly broaden your candidate pool, allowing you to evaluate individuals from across the globe and individuals who may have conflicts that prevent an in-person meeting.

Interview Best Practices

However you begin to adapt your interviewing processes for current labor needs, be sure to always incorporate best practices. Here are some to consider.

• Customize your interview questions to align with the specific competencies required for the role.
• Maintain consistency in evaluation criteria across different interview styles to ensure a fair assessment.
• Foster an interview environment where candidates feel comfortable expressing themselves, encouraging authenticity and openness.

The Bottom Line

Adaptive interviewing can help you find the perfect talent for your open roles. By experimenting with and refining your interviewing techniques, you can address the diverse needs of different roles within your organization, leading to improved hiring outcomes. 

Register for our upcoming “Talent Acquisition Mastery” webinar on November 19 to learn more.