Training Managers to Be Interviewers
Employee Training: It’s not a given that hiring managers understand legal requirements that apply to the hiring process. That’s why HR professionals need to “train, train, train” managers to interview correctly.
HR professionals need to insist that managers review the job description of the position that is being filled and give managers a checklist of the things they must not ask during an interview, such as anything having to do with race or ethnicity, health or disability, marital status, pregnancy, and in some states, sexual orientation. Make sure managers ask questions that are job-related and ask all candidates the same questions, which provides a real basis for comparison.
Asking, “Do you have children?” might be twisted into evidence of a bias toward working mothers and asking “Where are you from?” could be used as evidence of national origin bias. It may be an incredible leap in logic, but it happens all the time. So keep the conversation work-related and avoid the chance of someone twisting your words around.
Also, have more than one person involved whenever possible in the interview process. This provides a check to ensure that one manager isn’t “going rogue,” and an additional witness is there in the event there is any he said/she said.
Managers usually overlook the fact that an interview is an employment test, not just a casual conversation or a contest to see who they like and get along with the most. For many jobs, the person who gives the most fun or interesting interview may not be the best qualified for the job but is often selected because she is the one who the manager most enjoyed interviewing. The problem is that, unfortunately, this can often be the person who was most like the decision-maker and can lead to results with adverse impact.
So here is today’s Daily HR tip: Train managers involved in the hiring process. Nobody should be doing any interviewing without some basic training as to what they can and cannot ask.







