Don’t Be a Lazy and Lousy Interviewer w/ Bridget Gleason [Episode 474]

A great interview or a terrible interview in sales hinges on a few key strategies and tactics.

Bridget Gleason is VP of Sales for Logz.io and my regular partner on Front Line Fridays.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Hiring — Bridget interviews a lot of reps who list great successes on their resumes and LinkedIn profiles. Success at one company does not mean success at another. Bridget is befuddled by how badly they test on discovery calls!

Bridget is not listening to their audition as a customer. Maybe the rep builds a rapport that leads to connections, even without having a great approach.

 The New York Times ran an article recently on the utter uselessness of job interviews as predictors of future success. Andy had a client who hired only by GPA, and he hired very smart and talented people. Bridget wishes Andy had told her!

Always give a professional assessment, and come up with a way to test for knowledge relevant to the job. Be skeptical of your own ability to judge by an interview. Facts on resumes must be validated. Factor in past record, such as GPA.

“Trust, but verify!” Interviews are not places for trust. Bridget puts herself in the place of a candidate. How should she prepare for an interview, if the interview doesn’t matter?

Treat an interview as a discovery call. Ask as many questions as you need. (Let the interviewer ask all their questions.) The NYT article says if managers asked each candidate the same questions, it would improve reliability.

In cases where several people interview one candidate, should they each ask the same 5-10 questions? The manager should not treat the interview as an opportunity to sell their own company. That defeats the intent of the interview.

Separate your own emotions as an interviewer, from the interview process. Bridget wants to explore this topic more deeply. Her mindset and practices have been challenged!

Hiring is difficult. The GPA method isn’t as far out as Andy once thought. It worked as well as any other method. Andy discusses variance and risk. Bridget may try it.

Bridget is on her way to an interview, and will let Andy know how it goes!

The Sales Enablement Podcast with Andy Paul was formerly Accelerate! with Andy Paul.