Interviewology by Anna Papalia

Author:Anna Papalia
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-12-18T00:00:00+00:00

How to Interview with a Challenger Hiring Manager

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There is a bias toward Challengers as hiring managers because they are natural questioners, so there is a belief that their style makes them great interviewers. It can also make them hard to interview with.

I worked with a Challenger once who told me that if a candidate doesn’t answer the behavioral questions in a particular way, he would not pass them on to the next round. Since Challengers prioritize the truth, they bristle at stories or answers that are not based around work. They want the answers to be a certain way, which is incredibly unfair to candidates, because how is a candidate supposed to know what the “right” answer is? It’s not possible.

Challenger hiring managers are intense. They believe that an interview is the time to get to the bottom of a person’s qualifications. Often the interview may feel like a cross-examination or interrogation. I went to a superday interview (an all day interview event) for an organization that was recruiting a bunch of interns. Often these begin with a breakfast, a little networking with partners, and then each candidate was sent off to meet with hiring managers one by one until lunch. When I walked in, I noticed a hiring manager engaging in small talk with a prospective intern: “What do you do for fun?” The intern said he loved to play tennis and go to the beach. Instead of having the conversation become a back-and-forth, the hiring manager didn’t reciprocate by offering what they did for fun, instead just asking another question: “Where do you go to the beach?” The candidate answered, and so the one-sided conversation went. When a Challenger is getting their needs met, they are getting all their questions answered, but this style doesn’t lead to a connection or intimacy. It feels to the candidate like they were just interrogated.

Know that Challengers’ questioning technique is not a reflection of you, but how they conduct every interview. Don’t let the many questions overwhelm you; if you have practiced sufficiently and developed your self-awareness, these questions should be easy—they are about you!

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