"That person takes very tough interview",
"It’s very difficult to pass his/her interview"
How many times have you heard these comments at the water-cooler? Most times such behavior is applauded and indirectly encouraged. It indeed is not right !
Most interviewers love to ask tough questions, even the ones, which are not related to the day-to-day job profile. Worse, they don’t look for the ‘approach towards the solution’, but the exact answer, that too in that 5-10 minutes time frame.
The time/efforts spent in screening and other interview processes goes waste with such behavior, with the position still standing open to fill up.
Hiring a bad candidate is a loss, but trust me, rejecting a good one is a greater loss.
This problem is further aggravated with fear what if the hired candidate turns out bad later. Interviewers don't want to be pointed out for selecting the wrong candidate, thus pushing rejection rates higher.
I am not asking to take easier interviews, or hire people without due diligence. But please ask yourself “is the question I am asking even related to the work a person would be doing”. (remember those popular multi-threading questions). Or am I interviewing to ‘hire’ the person.
Plus, as an interviewer, have courage to take a stand on your choice. If the candidate turns out bad later, that's Ok. That can happen with anyone. (Company’s continuous appraisal process would take care of that)
An organization, once popular for their very long tough interview process, found that it hardly made any difference. People who scored high in interviews turned out to be mediocre performers and vice-a-versa.
So, evaluate rationally. And if things go wrong, take responsibility, learn and move on.
