excellent employee is a bad interviewer & vice versa

[Anonymous]

Fed arena here - I have a colleague who is a perfect fit for an internal promotion. Problem is, he’s not the best interviewer. The program we run would take a massive hit without this person. Another candidate looks ok on paper, but has a terrible hallway rep and isn’t the brightest bulb. That being said, the latter candidate is an excellent interviewer with all the polish and bs shine. This person always sucks up and plays the favors game, but they aren’t reliable at all. The program would fail if to is person were to be selected.

What I am worried about is the other interview panel members will be wowed by the person’s interview performance without thinking of the long term repercussions. Ever have this happen? Ever have an amazingly good employee lose out or get stuck in their careers because they aren’t the best interviewer?

[Anonymous]

If the other feds on the panel know the person and/or trust your input, it won’t matter and the poor interviewer will get the job. Reach out to panel members behind closed doors to boost the person up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the other feds on the panel know the person and/or trust your input, it won’t matter and the poor interviewer will get the job. Reach out to panel members behind closed doors to boost the person up.

Agree with this. It’s the only way. And make sure you explain how the candidate who interviews well would make THEIR lives harder.

[Anonymous]

Ugh, I've tanked in interviews where I know I would have been a great fit. Sometimes people are off their game. Learning from this, I find that when I interview people, if I can make the time as relaxing and as informal as possible, the real candidate will show through.

[Anonymous]

I have been the poor interviewer so it’s nice you are trying to be helpful. I tanked a fed interview earlier this year. I know I would have been fantastic. I had all the right experience. It was literally as though the job description was written with me in mind which is crazy since we all know how weirdly long yet vague those descriptions can be. However, the interviewers threw me off my game. It was virtual and they just fired off one question after another without any response (verbal or non-verbal). Not even an uh-huh, head nod or smile which made me flustered. The questions were also multi-part and I lost track of what exactly was being asked. I think about that lost opportunity a lot and it makes me feel like I’m doomed to never get a govt job. I had a pretty good interview for my current job that was low-key with friendly faces and landed the role. Unfortunately it’s not a good role for me as I’m underemployed. I dread interviews!

[Anonymous]

Do you know a colleague not on the panel who is a great interviewer and would be willing to practice interview the candidate?

If so, you could suggest the candidate do interview prep with that person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the other feds on the panel know the person and/or trust your input, it won’t matter and the poor interviewer will get the job. Reach out to panel members behind closed doors to boost the person up.

Agree with this. It’s the only way. And make sure you explain how the candidate who interviews well would make THEIR lives harder.

Ooo, you smart!

[Anonymous]

I am really awful at interviews but am a great worker. For my current fed job, unbeknownst to me until later, one of my references reached out to someone on the panel and put in a good word for me. I'm forever grateful.

[Anonymous]

Interviewee.

The interviewer is the one screening and questioning them

[Anonymous]

Make sure the interview panel is armed with the deep questions about the role and knows exactly what job skills/background they need to evaluate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been the poor interviewer so it’s nice you are trying to be helpful. I tanked a fed interview earlier this year. I know I would have been fantastic. I had all the right experience. It was literally as though the job description was written with me in mind which is crazy since we all know how weirdly long yet vague those descriptions can be. However, the interviewers threw me off my game. It was virtual and they just fired off one question after another without any response (verbal or non-verbal). Not even an uh-huh, head nod or smile which made me flustered. The questions were also multi-part and I lost track of what exactly was being asked. I think about that lost opportunity a lot and it makes me feel like I’m doomed to never get a govt job. I had a pretty good interview for my current job that was low-key with friendly faces and landed the role. Unfortunately it’s not a good role for me as I’m underemployed. I dread interviews!

I think this is a real issue. I'm not sure OP can do some of the things suggested here, like changing the questions to be more detailed. In some agencies, there is a standardized list that must be used, and the panel is supposed to assign points based on the answers. So, in a situation like yours, it is a problem because if the question has 4 parts and you only answer 2, you are losing points. The process is supposed to be fair to everyone and the Hiring Manager isn't supposed to be able to convince the rest of the panel to hire someone based on factors outside the resume materials and their notes from the interview and references. In theory this makes sense because everyone should have their shot and they shouldn't be placing a posting with a person already in mind. But unfortunately, that does mean a nervous interviewee, who can totally do the job, like this PP or the candidate OP is describing, could lose out.

I do like the idea of asking another colleague, not on the panel, to do interview prep. It is important to help the candidate focus on clearly articulating how they can do the job, with examples, and the importance of answering all questions in full, even if that means writing them down, or asking them to repeat. If the candidate has a disability like ADHD or hard of hearing, they may be able to request accommodation of having the questions being typed up in chat, so they can read them during the interview.

[Anonymous]

My office always has the interview panel meet after to discuss the ratings. At this point, we speak honestly about which people may be good at interviews but maybe not the right person for the job. We have always agreed on the right person.

[Anonymous]

Are you on the panel? You can have the conversation based on the person’s experience in their resume and any application statement and anything you experienced personally (not secondhand) to say “I think this person is the best fit for the program because they have successfully done x, y, z and will need less time to bring up to speed.” Do not convey second hand information about the other person’s hall file. If your fellow panelists are smart they’ve already unofficially checked into that.

[Anonymous]

Why can’t you coach the person on interviewing? Not the questions, but since most fed interviews are behavioral, how to approach and practice with them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t you coach the person on interviewing? Not the questions, but since most fed interviews are behavioral, how to approach and practice with them?

This, pull your candidate aside and prep them. Ex: Larlo/Larla, if asked about ABC give extensive details about XYZ. When talking about XYZ explain how you go about planning/executing/project flow/objectives of XYZ and how it pertains to ABC.

Get them talking without providing direct questions so they get familiar with talking about it. You can also suggest common threads between current position and position for which they are interviewing.