When BDO came to us, we wanted to honour their culture of empowerment. Their People Proposition values: Strengths, Skills and Personality. An interviewer’s job is to explore all three and build the fullest picture of the candidate they can.
Of course there are tools for that; most interviews are underpinned by carefully planned selection criteria and questioning models can offer a clear and useful structure (we favour the SARA model). Importantly however, an interview is still a conversation. It needs to be both spontaneous and structured. The interviewer is trying listen and assess at the same time. The interviewee is trying to balance getting it right while being real. Stick too carefully to ‘the script’ and both parties may miss an opportunity to really perform in the moment. Improvise too wildly and Talent risks being lost in the hinterland of ‘never-hired’ (or worse still ‘needs to be fired’).
At Bi-Jingo, we’re committed to your best performance in all your work-place conversations. The interview is a candidates’ first experience of a particular work-place, and its conversational style. First impressions count, on both sides of the table. Talent is the fuel for success and a good interview opens the door to both.
As you know by now, we are all about Rehearsal and Rehearsal is about making structure feel real. It hones the ability to respond in the moment and is a repeated commitment to individual performance. Sound like an approach that would transfer well to the interview room? We certainly think so.
Our Interview Rehearsal gurus worked with BDO to hone an interview technique that would offer both clarity of structure and criteria and the freedom to absorb and respond to each individual candidate’s potential.
Then we sent in our Actors to be interviewed – a lot. Our small group Skills Pods mean that participants get plenty of one to one practice. They hone an interview structure that works for them, allowing them to respond in the moment, while questioning and listening with greater accuracy.
Our programme is now part of the regular training curriculum at BDO.