Peak-performing companies know to use staffing agencies in order to make great hiring decisions for their businesses and for each individual role.Staffing agencies outdistance their competition by understanding how to select and source the right talent. Even though agencies use massive databases of existing, pre-qualified talent, they still believe the interview to be the most impact aspect of the hiring process.

Why Do We Interview?

Staffing agencies identify the personality types and traits that reinforce their business proposition and culture largely by studying the characteristics of high performers. Peak-performing staffing firms focus on who they hire, not just “what” people do. High-performing staffing and recruiting specialists build the tools and systems to help their clients and candidates to assess and attract the right type of person for each particular job.The mysterious element referred to as candidate “cultural fit” is one of the main reasons why we use the interviewing process. Through strategic interviewing, we hope to see beyond those things listed on a candidate’s resume or social media profile.Cultural fit is a simple but profound concept that managers at all levels should understand. Unlike the traditional performance management process (which focuses on goal-setting and appraisal), the science of cultural fit forces the organization to understand success drivers at an individual level. Staffing agencies identify these drivers by studying the characteristics of high-performers. They then use this information to better hire, develop, and coach to fit.

How Interviews Help

When applied across an organization, the use of interviewing in finding cultural fit helps leaders to create a strong and enduring company culture—one which attracts the right people and encourages people to find the best roles where they can add the most value. Engagement levels go up, and the organization becomes more agile and customer-focused as a by-product.Staffing agencies are charged with hiring responsibilities to seek ways to better standardize the interview process, predict the likelihood of a candidate’s success, and eliminate bias from the process. Too often today, interviews are unstructured, and rely on the skills and perhaps even the whims of a moody hiring manager. The conversation may focus on irrelevant questions (such as “What do you want to do five years from now?”) rather than probing into the candidate’s potential to fulfill the tasks at hand. Further, evaluating the quality of interviews may be better done by a third-party staffing agency, as internal rating or hiring scores are often inconsistent or based on non-job-related factors.

Solutions For You

We address interviewing with our clients, often including tips for better interviewing, clear warnings about off-limits discussion areas or questions, and guidelines for productive pre-hire conversations.