Avoid Boring People

Curiosity isn't just a trait; it's an essential skill for interviewers. We all have an internal sense of when we are bored and when we are engaged, and you can actually channel this into an tactical compass for becoming a better, more precise interviewer.

First, a note on relevance. The interview should center on the Target for the role. This is where your curiosity becomes constrained, aligned with the needs of the job. You don't just chase interesting tidbits—you chase the ones that matter for the role. Your curiosity then becomes the boundary, leading to tighter, more accurate data elicitation.

Contrast this with going down every intellectually stimulating rabbit hole you come across. That’s a case of curiosity running amok, and is something that intelligent interviewers often struggle with. What you have to do is be deeply curious about what is relevant to the role—and only what is relevant to the role. At that point you can basically start trusting your subconscious to alert you to when you are on the bullseye versus when the conversation is drifting.

This will mean you are jumping into the conversation a lot (that’s a good thing—most untrained interviewers jump in far too little). In order to interject this often, you need to make sure your rapport game is on point. And when you do jump in, do it with enthusiasm, as this will mitigate any potential rudeness. But this is very doable, and here is the upshot when you put this into practice: you should be aiming to never be bored when interviewing a candidate. 

If you are bored, you’re probably letting the candidate drone on about a story that isn’t particularly punchy, specific, or relevant for the role. Whenever that happens, listen to your gut and jump in at the first opportunity to ask a powerful follow-up question (or move on to the next story). Not doing so is simply misguided politeness and it’s doing both you and the candidate a disservice.

Not only will this approach make you a better interviewer, you’ll have a lot more fun as well.