Decide what your team needs before the interview, or you'll judge the iced coffee
If you haven't decided what your team needs before you interview someone, you will end up judging the iced coffee 🧊 ☕
If you've been on LI for even 5 minutes this past week, you've read about Gen Z candidates bringing iced coffee to job interviews. Half the comments call it unprofessional - the other half couldn't care less.
My question is: What was the interviewer/OP in question really assessing?
In my years in talent acquisition, I heard one sentence in intake meetings more than any other: "I'll know it when I see it." Most of the time, #hiring managers knew what they liked when they saw it. Deciding what the team actually needed was the hardest part and it rarely became part of the conversation.
There's a psychological mechanism underneath this phenomenon called "attribute substitution". When a hard question is difficult to answer, the mind replaces it with an easier one.
"Will this person do well in this role?" is hard to answer, especially if the role was never clearly defined. "Did they seem serious?" is instantly available. So the coffee answers the easy question.
Unfortunately, #AI hasn't made the hard questions any easier. In fact, probably the opposite is true. You can write a perfect job description and spend zero time on actually deciding exactly who you truly need on your team.
In my experience, first-time hiring managers are the most tempted to assign the decisions to AI, because hiring is where they feel least sure of themselves.
In addition, candidates use the same tools. CVs start to look alike and everyone looks good on paper. By the time someone sits in front of you, the interview is carrying the whole decision, and the hard question is still unanswered.
Successful hiring requires moving the thinking to the start of the process, before you even post the #job. You can set criteria questions, such as:
Can they do the job with confidence? Nobody is perfect. What you need to know is whether they can figure out the gaps on their own.
What would they add? Name the perspective your team is missing today to avoid hiring another version of yourself or the people you already have.
Are they good to work with? For me, that's someone helpful who enjoys working in a team and focuses on the solution, not the problem. Your definition may look different. What matters is that you have one before the first interview.
Will the role keep them motivated? Be honest about where this role can take someone in the next year or two. If it adds nothing to their career, they will move on to greener pastures.
Then have the conversation. Meet in person if you can and ask every candidate the same core questions.
You'll still notice the coffee. But, once you know what you're listening for, it goes back to being a coffee.
🌟Sparking Leadership # 61: a weekly series on human-centered sustainable #leadership. Reach out if you want to become the best leader you can be or follow for more sparkling content. In the meantime, lead with spark! ✨️
