American Idol Interviewing

January 16, 2007 · Filed Under Recruiting in the 21st Century 

Like many of you I am sure, I watched the first episode of American Idol. Of course, being the HR nerd I am, I began to think about if I could do this sort of interviewing style for jobs that I have open. I think the reason this is so attractive to people in my profession is that sometimes we die to give honest feedback to a candidate who needed just another step or two or someone who was way underqualified. I’d love to be able to say “that was awful” at the end of a bad interview. Of course, there are several reasons why judging singing is different than evaluating a candidate:

  1. Candidates typically have a skill set that you can’t spot within 10-15 seconds of them opening their mouths and then confirm over the next minute and dismiss them abruptly
  2. There are a few more consequences to choosing the wrong person or missing out on someone that was good because of your trigger fingered decisions
  3. As you’ve seen on the show, people are in denial about their deficiencies. Even under the most honest conditions, the people who are often the worst will never be convinced of this or improve

That being said, there are some things we can learn from American Idol that does apply to the interview process:

  1. Interviewers often have a hidden bias where they make snap decisions about a person before they even open their mouth. We aren’t interviewing pretty faces to be put on stage though so we must be aware of this bias.
  2. Cut the interview short if it isn’t going well. You’ve seen people being cutoff before and some legal guys will probably shake their head in disagreement. If you have the awareness to make the following judgment during the interview, pull the plug and both of you get on with your lives with less time wasted: If the interview went perfectly from this point forward, I would still not hire this person based on past questions. If the answer is yes, you can probably find something to fill the extra 15-45 minutes.
  3. Be honest with the candidate. As indicated above, many will not take your suggestions to heart but the few that you do connect with will often come back better equipped or refer people that they know because of your candor.

On second thought though, if you are going to be as honest as Simon Cowell, you may want to consult your legal department first. On the other hand, you probably shouldn’t tell your legal department about this post at all. If they hear I have suggested you subject your interviewees to a round of American Idol auditions, you may be “voted off” as they say in the biz.

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One Response to “American Idol Interviewing”

  1. Bev Fuentes on January 20th, 2007 12:35 pm

    Very interesting comments about American Idol style recruiting…and I agree with you. There is a difference between interviewing job candidates and singers. As an HR/OD and career consultant (and former corporate HRD), I have interviewed plenty of people in my time.

    Having watched my daughter, along with thousands of other kids, try out for American Idol a few years back( she did not make it past round one), another thought comes to mind - the screening process. You refer to the interviews we see with the three star judges. What most don’t see is the first day of try outs before the smaller group is interviewed by Simon, Randy and Paula.

    During the first day of auditions, hopefuls are taken in groups of four to one of dozens of cubicles in a large room. They are asked by an AI staffer, who is not necessarily trained in music, to step forward and sing. They get about five seconds to sing and are then told they will move forward or that they can go home. I can tell you hundreds of great singers do not make it past this point, as evidenced by Clay Aiken who faced the same fate the first time he tried out, or a guy on TV last week who made it through after three tries.

    This process reminds me of the thousands of resumes we see, and initial screening interviews done by internal and external recruiters. They also make snap judgements. Many good people are passed over because the recruiter doesn’t ike what they see or the person’s resume doesn’t hit the mark. This is why I urge those I coach to try to get past the screeners through networking to someone who will actually talk to them. As you know this is often called informational interviewing. It gives the candidate a chance to show their stuff a bit more. They then might be referred to the hiring manager. I know this does’t always work, but it can give folks a better chance of making it to the Randy, Paula and Simon’s of the world.

    One thing is clear - those who are determined to keep trying usually do succeed.

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