Written by James Lewis, Principal Consultant
Personality-Powered Interviewing ticks those boxes and more in terms of interview best-practice. But it also takes things further by leveraging the rigour of an established personality questionnaire to drive greater personalisation for the candidate and more robust insight for the employer.
This approach basically involves the interviewee completing an online Personality Questionnaire, such as Cubiks’ PAPI in advance. Once completed, an interview guide magically appears (via automation) that’s highly structured, easy to use and most importantly, tailored to each individual candidate’s unique personality.
More than just a set of questions
The Interview Guide’s simple exterior masks a complex series of theoretical and statistical algorithms, powering the alignment of established personality theory with a company’s unique set of cultural values and competencies. The Guide itself becomes a wonderful blend of genuine consideration for a candidate’s own personality, set within the context of the job and the company’s own culture.
These guides use robust data to help interviewers focus their questioning on areas that will highlight candidate ‘fit’ and capability. Conducting and responding to these interviews feels more personal, more genuine and developmental, but also more informed and powerful. And that’s simply because you have the benefit of 50 years’ worth of personality research driving the data being captured and informing the very questions being asked.
An attractive prospect
In terms of real-world application, candidates say this kind of interview reassures them that the employer is taking recruitment seriously. It’s a clear message when employers have invested in rigorous processes and staff training. Candidates also tell me that in these interviews, they felt that the company really wanted to get to know who they are, rather than just what they can and can’t do. That’s candidate attraction, right there in the middle of the interview.
At Cubiks, we’ve worked with a number of companies that had experienced the negative impact of an historic lack of consistent interview practice. Businesses in which HR Managers had been conducting their own ‘unique’ style of interviews, with some infrequent but costly recruitment mistakes. It’s a fairly common situation. The solution for many was to introduce a Personality-Powered Interview, using PAPI, which would be delivered at the final selection stages for all roles.
5 Benefits of Personality-Powered Interviewing
- Rapid global consistency – via automated and standardised Interview Guides – quick to set up and simple to use.
- Personalisation – with all candidates receiving a personalised interview experience and feedback. This helps improve their perception of the employer and increases engagement in the process.
- Saving time – for every recruiting manager, because they no longer need to write their own interview questions.
- Building confidence – greater standardisation of interview ratings reassures the organisation that they are making good judgements about people at the critical final stages of selection.
- Inclusive practice – the combination of using a tool like PAPI, that’s developed cross-culturally, alongside a globally consistent interview methodology, best-practice question design and objective rating criteria delivers a fair and accessible interview experience for all candidates.
The cherry on top of Personality-Powered Interviewing relates to the additional data this approach gathers via the psychometric tool and how this can bring further benefits after the interview. If used to its full capacity, one personality questionnaire can become a ‘Whole Solution’ and extend its influence into the development of successful recruits too. In essence, one single data capture (completing the questionnaire) can bridge the gap between Selection and Development. It is absolutely possible to use data to shape on-boarding objectives and help people hit the ground running in their new jobs.
It’s a powerful thing, having one simple approach that offers a range of benefits to the employer and the candidate simultaneously.
