What are Candidates Not Telling You in Interviews?

What don't candidates tell you? You know the answer. Ask yourself a question—

If you were interviewing for your big career break and your future boss inquired about a difficult ethical choice you made, would you be ready and able to reveal yourself in a complex answer? Could you do it clearly and confidently?

By the same token, what are the chances that, when you interview a key prospective hire, you might miss an adverse pattern of behavior, the kind that shows up over time? (Do you know questions that might clue you in?) Could that "mistake" come back to haunt you, your team, your company, your shareholders?

The point is this: you need to know issues that make a difference in long-term contribution to your team but you cannot know them from one or two interviews (and, often, not even by comparing notes with colleagues).

The fact is: Knowledge really is power. Include in your recruiting process a third-party dimension to get the sustained interaction, trust-building and time-tested interview methodologies that bring potential issues to light. Confidentially, without embarrassing anyone. Whether you ultimately decide that an issue is minor or major… can you afford not to know about it?