Assessing Intern Candidate "Fit"

July 2010

In my last commentary, I talked about the things you should assess in choosing a college intern to hire. As a refresher, those were:

1. CAN … can they do the job?

2. WILL … will they actually do the work?

3. FIT … do they fit with the rest of your organization?

This commentary focuses on #3, assessing the fit of any candidate.

by Brenda Wells, Ph.D., CPCU, AAI

It is my opinion that how the existing staff perceive the candidate is the single best indicator of how well the candidate will fit. After screening out all the candidates who cannot or will not do the work, it's time to let their future coworkers assess the fit issue. If members of the staff feel good about the candidate, or have a strong preference for one over another, that's a pretty good sign.

Having been in academia over 20 years now, I have seen a few different "fit" evaluation processes. At one university, the colleagues were asked to actually vote on acceptability or unacceptability of candidates. Literally, a paper ballot was used, and anonymous voting was conducted. This type of system is probably a little too formal for an internship, but it is worth mentioning only because if you are going to use it, I strongly recommend that you encourage employees to approve or disapprove each candidate separately, rather than only choosing their favorite one. You may find that all the candidates are a good fit, which broadens your options if your first choice has already been hired by the time you make them an offer.

A more informal version of this is to just solicit informal opinions from the staff. "What did you think of the candidates? Were there any you had problems with?" The problem with this method is the squeaky wheel often gets the most attention. Whoever is going to solicit and summarize this input needs to be able to listen objectively and hear what colleagues have to say.

Several years ago, I witnessed an outstanding candidate for a university position literally get torpedoed by one person who took an instant dislike to her. He systematically went around to other staff members expressing his "concerns" about her ability to be successful. Those who wanted to hire her watched as one man slowly changed the group's opinion from positive to questionable.

There's two ways to look at this, I suppose. Maybe he did her a favor by getting her out of the candidate pool? The other is that he colored everyone's perceptions with what was an immediate impression, and he ultimately cost that school a very good professor.

My point is this: Be careful who collects and reports feedback! It should be someone who listens and reports information as objectively as is possible.

Another method that I absolutely do not favor is having staff members spend time entertaining the candidate, answering questions, and talking about the organization, and then making the decision without getting their input.

If you're going to interrupt my workday and ask me to spend time with a candidate, I will feel a lot better about the process if you at least give me some channel for providing some input into the hiring decision. If you don't plan on actually soliciting or using the input from staff members, just make the hiring decision on your own to begin with. The result is about the same.

A Lesson, Perhaps?

A colleague of mine once interviewed for an endowed chair position at a university. She was, by all accounts, the perfect fit for the job. After the interview, though, she was brushed off and told to wait, and eventually after months, the school came back and said they "decided to continue the search" or "promote from within."

Now if this had only happened to one person I know, I wouldn't mention it. But I have seen it happen on at least three separate occasions in my career. And here's the warning I want to share.

There are few, if any, secrets. In all three of those cases, the candidate was ultimately told by someone in the organization, or by a third party, what went wrong. Also, in two of those three cases, the candidate was told before the institution gave him closure on the process.

Yes, that's right. Twice that I am sure of, there was an insider calling the candidate and saying, "You screwed up big time …" or "So-and-so just doesn't like you … s/he has a problem with men/women, and you rubbed 'em the wrong way." That may not happen with an intern, but it is safest to assume that it will. If there is a "fit" issue, accept it for what it is, and make the right decision without delay.

What ultimately happens when you don't practice fair and honest communication is you develop a bad reputation with the better candidates. In the three cases that I know of in academia, perceptions of the actual schools were seriously altered, and not in a good way.

Fit Happens in Mysterious Ways

I found out about "fitting" in a most unusual way. For my present job, my initial interview was over lunch at a buffet-style restaurant. I went to grab some dessert. My future boss said he would pass on that, so while I was gone he took a phone call.

As I walked back to the table, I was incredibly nervous. I thought it had been a good interview so far, and the job description seemed to really fit my skill set. My mind was racing, wondering if I had impressed him and if I had a reasonable shot at the job. I was wondering, "Would I like living in that town? What about the climate? I wonder if …." And that's when my foot hit some water that was spilled on the floor. I have never been physically graceful under the best of circumstances, but give me some slick-soled dress shoes, water, and a concrete floor, and I'm just a disaster waiting to happen. I literally went airborne.

As I flew into the air, I saw a plate of key lime pie leave my hand and go hurdling toward my prospective boss. I crashed onto the concrete floor on my hands and knees with such force I felt it in every bone of my body. I was blinded by the pain. I sprang off the floor into my chair as fast as I could, assuming a very nonchalant, relaxed pose. "Fall? Someone fell? Who?"

I was relieved that the pie went on the floor and not the boss. But he still looked completely terrified and told his caller that he had to go immediately. I said "Oh nooooo, take your time. Finish your call! I'm absolutely fine." All the while I was wondering whether it's possible to fracture every bone in your body at once, and if I had a broken bone, whether I should head to the hospital.

When he got off the phone, I looked at him, smiled really big, and said:

"I don't suppose I'll be getting any points for grace and poise in today's competition?"

We both broke up laughing, and then he said the most comforting words I could have hoped to hear:

"You're going to fit in with our group just fine."

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