Are you as tired of seeing millennial-centric blog posts as I am? Good, I promise I won't use that word again. Either way, chances are you'll find yourself interviewing recent grads at one point or another, and it can be difficult to properly assess someone based merely on their GPA, role as Club Treasurer, and Intramural Softball Captaincy. Despite the lack of clear "real world" office experience, if you approach your phone screens and interviews correctly, you can adequately determine if someone's got what it takes to succeed in your role. Below are a few angles I've found to be effective when interviewing fresh graduates.
How Prepared Are They?
This one seems basic, but it goes a long way towards telling you how seriously they're taking their budding career. Anyone can look at your company's website or check out some tweets, but if they've put some serious thought into the open role and your organization, it will be immediately apparent. Our VP of Marketing often starts phone screens off with a direct version of this, imploring candidates to tell him everything they did to prepare for the conversation. An example of an impressive answer he received went something like this:
“I started off by researching you and your background, so that I could find a way to build rapport at the beginning of our call. I figured that was a key skill that a Sales Development Rep needs, so why not show it off? Then, I dug into your customers page. I’m wondering, is there a particular vertical that you’ve been targeting over the past year? I see that you’ve got [customer x] and [customer y], and those seem like great fits…”
Pump Your Network
We talk a great deal about employee referrals here, and that's because they work. It's no different when it comes to hiring junior candidates -- sit down with other young professionals who have worked out and actively comb their networks together. As long as your co-worker understands that they put their own reputation on the line when they recommend a friend, you'll be sure to get bright, hard working referalls. Also, because they come pre-vetted from your own teammate, they're more likely to be a culture fit.
General Wattage
If someone's experence isn't at all relevant, you may be skeptical before ever really meeting them. Understand though that in these roles, smarts and hard work can be just as much an indicator of future success as previous experience. Sure, it'd be nice to have someone who's already cold called in that entry-level sales role, but if they're clearly bright and personable, it's not too much of an inductive leap to believe they'll succeed.
Remember that you're probably not going to find someone who exactly fits the cookie cutter shape of your job description, and going for someone who's intelligent and hungry could be the key to filling the role successfully.
Dig Deep into Experience
Previous experience is more than a title. Dig in to the specific tasks your candidate performed in any previous position and see how it fits in with their prescribed responsibilities. If time spent in early jobs or college organizations gave them tools to succeed, then they DO have relevant experience.
What do you like to ask candidates who don't have rich professional backgrounds? See you in the comments!
