Expect the Unexpected in an Interview | Itziar de Ros | TEDxIESEBarcelona

00:13:21
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNuMpnxLhK8

Ringkasan

TLDRThe speaker discusses their experiences as an Admissions Director, focusing on the essence of understanding candidates beyond their resumes in interviews. They detail an incident involving a mix-up between two identical candidates, emphasizing the importance of truly knowing who is being interviewed. The speaker underscores that knowing one’s self is crucial for building trust during interviews, which are not merely about showcasing achievements. The key to a successful interview lies in understanding personal values, experiences, and how candidates handle mistakes, rather than just their professional accolades. They encourage looking beyond the surface, aiming to uncover personal stories and trustworthiness. Experiences shared in interviews can sometimes be unexpected, yet they offer insights into the person's character and potential. The talk highlights the value of genuine conversation in the interview process and the impact of personal connections on decision-making, well beyond professional affirmations.

Takeaways

  • 🤔 Interviews should go beyond checking achievements, focusing on who the candidate truly is.
  • 😅 Mistakes in interviews can reveal unexpected truths about identity and character.
  • 🔍 Asking 'Who are you?' helps uncover deeper insights about candidates.
  • 👥 Building trust is key in both personal and professional interactions.
  • 🌱 Mistakes are part of growth and learning in life.
  • 🌟 Candidates are more than their resumes; they are their thoughts and choices too.
  • 💬 Genuine conversations can uncover candidates' true potential and personal values.
  • 📚 Every interview offers a learning moment if approached with an open mind.
  • 🔑 Personal stories often hold more weight than professional accomplishments.
  • ❤️ Connectivity in interviews fosters better understanding and decision-making.

Garis waktu

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The speaker reflects on an unexpected interview incident wherein a candidate, Peter, was mistaken for another, Daniel. This incident highlights the importance of understanding who candidates truly are beyond their resumes. The speaker uses the question "Who are you?" to delve into the personal and authentic traits of candidates, suggesting that building trust is crucial in interviews. The key takeaway is that interviews are about determining if an individual is suitable to be part of one's life, focusing on personal connections rather than just achievements.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:13:21

    The speaker emphasizes the importance of authenticity and resilience in interviews, sharing how understanding a candidate's values, failures, and personal growth is crucial. They recount a story of a candidate who learned from a costly mistake, underscoring that personal growth often stems from adversity. The narrative stresses that interviews are about trust-building, both parties engaging in a meaningful exchange. The speaker highlights that genuine conversations during interviews can lead to unexpected, profound connections, encouraging interviewers to see beyond surface answers to engage with candidates as complete individuals.

Peta Pikiran

Video Tanya Jawab

  • What is the speaker's main point about interviews?

    Interviews should focus on building trust and understanding who the candidates truly are beyond their achievements.

  • Why did the speaker swap interviews with a colleague?

    The colleague knew the candidate well and wanted to avoid bias, so they asked to swap interviews.

  • What mistake occurred during one of the speaker's interviews?

    The speaker prepared for the wrong candidate due to the colleague's confusion, leading to interviewing a stranger.

  • What question does the speaker ask at the start of an interview?

    The speaker starts by asking, "Who are you?" to understand the candidate's true self.

  • What unusual response did the speaker get from the candidate about their identity?

    The candidate replied, "I have no idea," which was unexpected in an interview.

  • How does the speaker suggest candidates should view their mistakes?

    Candidates should view mistakes as learning experiences that contribute to personal growth and trust-building.

  • What does the speaker want to learn from an interview besides achievements?

    The speaker wants to learn about the candidate's values, challenges, areas for improvement, and their personal stories.

  • Why are personal stories important in interviews, according to the speaker?

    Personal stories reveal candidates' values, emotions, and allow the interviewer to connect and build trust.

  • What lesson does the speaker share from asking about a candidate's trait?

    The lesson is that how candidates express themselves and share experiences can be more revealing than the content itself.

  • What unexpected interview response did the speaker mention?

    A candidate offered their telephone number, expressing a desire to stay in touch regardless of the interview outcome.

Lihat lebih banyak ringkasan video

Dapatkan akses instan ke ringkasan video YouTube gratis yang didukung oleh AI!
Teks
en
Gulir Otomatis:
  • 00:00:01
    [Music]
  • 00:00:12
    [Applause]
  • 00:00:16
    so Paulo interview marathon recruiting
  • 00:00:20
    for the next MBA class we hardly had a
  • 00:00:24
    minute to breathe between one interview
  • 00:00:26
    on the other suddenly my colleague comes
  • 00:00:30
    into my office you can feel some sort of
  • 00:00:33
    anxiety on her face and she says I
  • 00:00:37
    cannot take the next interview I know
  • 00:00:40
    the candidate very well I've had many
  • 00:00:43
    interactions with him so in order to be
  • 00:00:46
    neutral can we swap interviews his name
  • 00:00:51
    is Daniel
  • 00:00:52
    I said sure no problem
  • 00:00:55
    I had to read his application quite
  • 00:00:58
    quickly as the guy was already waiting
  • 00:01:00
    for me at the lobby and then walked and
  • 00:01:03
    went to greet him so after the usual
  • 00:01:06
    chitchat before starting an interview I
  • 00:01:09
    asked my first question who is Daniel he
  • 00:01:16
    said I have no idea at that time I
  • 00:01:23
    really didn't know how to react usually
  • 00:01:26
    when you have in front of you a
  • 00:01:27
    candidate you know about him as much as
  • 00:01:30
    his applications tells you but you know
  • 00:01:33
    more or less who the other person is so
  • 00:01:36
    I found really shocking that the guy
  • 00:01:38
    that had put together his application
  • 00:01:40
    didn't know who he was so I said but how
  • 00:01:45
    come you are Daniel and he said no I'm
  • 00:01:50
    not I'm Peter
  • 00:01:54
    so at that time I started freaking out
  • 00:01:58
    I've been Admissions Director at ESA for
  • 00:02:02
    six years interviewed more than 2,000
  • 00:02:06
    candidates from 64 different countries
  • 00:02:08
    and never had a situation like this so
  • 00:02:13
    my immediate reaction was to start
  • 00:02:15
    looking at the corners of the office
  • 00:02:17
    looking for a hidden camera as I thought
  • 00:02:20
    somebody here is having a great time and
  • 00:02:22
    it's not me so to summarize the story
  • 00:02:27
    what happened is that we had two
  • 00:02:29
    candidates that were identical they
  • 00:02:33
    could have been twins so when my
  • 00:02:35
    colleague saw Peter at the lobby she
  • 00:02:38
    confused him by Daniel which led me to
  • 00:02:41
    reading the wrong file and being in
  • 00:02:43
    front of a complete stranger so what is
  • 00:02:48
    the point that I want to make why do I
  • 00:02:51
    start my interviews asking who are you
  • 00:02:55
    when you're interviewing a candidate you
  • 00:02:58
    are exposing yourself to the other you
  • 00:03:02
    are in some way opening them the door
  • 00:03:05
    into your life so it really doesn't
  • 00:03:09
    matter if you're interviewing to hire
  • 00:03:12
    somebody for your team or if you're
  • 00:03:14
    checking if a candidate is right for an
  • 00:03:17
    mba program or if you're hiring a
  • 00:03:20
    babysitter in the end the underlying
  • 00:03:24
    question is is that person eligible to
  • 00:03:28
    be part of my life do I want to go to
  • 00:03:33
    work every day and talk to this person
  • 00:03:38
    do I want this candidate to be part of
  • 00:03:41
    my alumni network do I want this
  • 00:03:46
    university student to have the keys of
  • 00:03:49
    my home and take care of my children so
  • 00:03:55
    when you tackle an interview from this
  • 00:03:57
    point of view things change completely
  • 00:04:00
    and it really doesn't matter if you are
  • 00:04:03
    the interviewer or the interviewee
  • 00:04:07
    because the interview process does not
  • 00:04:09
    become a competition of who is the
  • 00:04:12
    smartest or who has achieved the most
  • 00:04:15
    things but who is the one that can build
  • 00:04:19
    more trust so in the end who is a
  • 00:04:23
    legible to be part of your life so back
  • 00:04:29
    to the question who are you why do I
  • 00:04:33
    think this is important if you don't
  • 00:04:36
    know who you are how are we going to
  • 00:04:39
    start building that trust how will you
  • 00:04:42
    know where you want to go what you want
  • 00:04:48
    to achieve and what's more important how
  • 00:04:52
    are you going to achieve it so very
  • 00:04:58
    often when I'm asking this question the
  • 00:04:59
    type of answer that I get is hi I'm
  • 00:05:02
    Katherine I'm 29 I studied engineering I
  • 00:05:05
    started working for this company then I
  • 00:05:07
    moved to this other company where I got
  • 00:05:09
    promoted twice then I changed then I've
  • 00:05:12
    earned so many awards and then the list
  • 00:05:14
    of achievements goes on and on and on
  • 00:05:16
    and on and many times I have to stop
  • 00:05:18
    them and say hold on is that really who
  • 00:05:23
    you are let me rephrase the question
  • 00:05:27
    if I ask your mother who you are what
  • 00:05:31
    would she say and then the answer
  • 00:05:36
    changes completely they become more
  • 00:05:39
    personal they start telling you how
  • 00:05:42
    ambitious they are also that they have
  • 00:05:44
    some challenges and then they have some
  • 00:05:47
    areas of improvement that's the time
  • 00:05:51
    even when they start sharing their
  • 00:05:52
    dreams and then it's when the
  • 00:05:55
    conversation becomes interesting Iraq
  • 00:06:00
    leaders want set day by day what you
  • 00:06:04
    choose what you think and what you do is
  • 00:06:09
    what you become I really like the fact
  • 00:06:12
    that he says what we do last because we
  • 00:06:16
    tend to think that we are our
  • 00:06:18
    achievements and we
  • 00:06:20
    much more than that we are also our
  • 00:06:23
    thoughts and our choices so remember we
  • 00:06:28
    are one third our thoughts one third our
  • 00:06:32
    achievements and one third our choices
  • 00:06:36
    which leads me to my next point very
  • 00:06:40
    often in an interview we just want to
  • 00:06:43
    show the best of ourselves and this is
  • 00:06:46
    very natural don't get me wrong but also
  • 00:06:49
    as an interviewer what I want to see is
  • 00:06:52
    if I have in front of me
  • 00:06:54
    a real human being and guess what humans
  • 00:06:58
    make mistakes I know this notion can be
  • 00:07:03
    uncomfortable but it's part of how we
  • 00:07:05
    mature life is made of choices sometimes
  • 00:07:09
    we are right but sometimes we are not
  • 00:07:13
    but it's not how many times you fail but
  • 00:07:16
    also how quickly you stand up and start
  • 00:07:19
    fighting again so quite often in an
  • 00:07:23
    interview we just want to portray this
  • 00:07:26
    magnificent tree so we only want to show
  • 00:07:29
    how green our leaves are or even how
  • 00:07:32
    strong our trunk is but we forget about
  • 00:07:36
    what's underneath what's below the
  • 00:07:40
    surface and that's as an interviewer is
  • 00:07:43
    what I need to know to start building
  • 00:07:46
    that trust I want to learn about your
  • 00:07:50
    roots about your value system about your
  • 00:07:55
    achievements but also about your
  • 00:07:57
    failures because all of these is in the
  • 00:08:01
    end what makes us who we are
  • 00:08:04
    Peter Drucker once said the better a man
  • 00:08:08
    is the more mistakes will he make for
  • 00:08:11
    the more new things he will try a while
  • 00:08:16
    ago one candidate share with me this
  • 00:08:20
    experience he had to trade with some
  • 00:08:23
    commodities and he made a human mistake
  • 00:08:25
    which would have happened to any of us
  • 00:08:29
    but that mistake led him to lose
  • 00:08:33
    two million dollars two million dollars
  • 00:08:37
    that's a lot of money so he embrace his
  • 00:08:41
    mistake he went to talk to his boss and
  • 00:08:44
    told him the situation so he's both
  • 00:08:47
    getting 24 hours to fix that problem and
  • 00:08:51
    recover the money and he did but when he
  • 00:08:56
    was sharing with me that example I could
  • 00:08:58
    really sense how much he suffered how
  • 00:09:02
    much he struggled but also how much he
  • 00:09:06
    learned and I'm sure that if that
  • 00:09:10
    situation comes again he will never make
  • 00:09:12
    that mistake again so when you're having
  • 00:09:15
    this type of conversations what you have
  • 00:09:17
    in front of you is a much more mature
  • 00:09:20
    person and it's only then when you
  • 00:09:23
    connect so remember an interview is
  • 00:09:28
    about building trust and that's the role
  • 00:09:33
    for both the interviewer and the
  • 00:09:35
    interviewee because it becomes a game of
  • 00:09:39
    give and take so we want to learn your
  • 00:09:44
    stories what you felt how you reacted
  • 00:09:48
    but it's not so much what you say but
  • 00:09:53
    also how you say it quite often I ask
  • 00:09:58
    this question to candidates and I say
  • 00:10:00
    tell me what is your main trait and the
  • 00:10:05
    answer sometimes is I'm a highly
  • 00:10:08
    motivated individual so come on many
  • 00:10:12
    times I'm tempted to say really and
  • 00:10:15
    highly motivated I don't believe that
  • 00:10:18
    but once I ask a candidate to share with
  • 00:10:23
    me an experience where she had to
  • 00:10:25
    communicate bad news she was a
  • 00:10:29
    consultant so in my mind I thought that
  • 00:10:32
    she was going to share with me a
  • 00:10:34
    situation where maybe she had to tell
  • 00:10:36
    the client that there was going to be a
  • 00:10:37
    major delay in the project or maybe that
  • 00:10:40
    it had to restructure much more than
  • 00:10:42
    what was previously scoped but then her
  • 00:10:46
    facial
  • 00:10:47
    rushon change completely I could really
  • 00:10:51
    tell that she was having a very hard
  • 00:10:54
    time sharing with me that experience and
  • 00:10:56
    she was also on the verge of tears so
  • 00:11:02
    what happened is that her boyfriend had
  • 00:11:05
    had a car accident a few weeks back and
  • 00:11:06
    she was the one having to break the news
  • 00:11:09
    to his parents Wow it took me a while to
  • 00:11:14
    recover from this so quite often as an
  • 00:11:19
    interviewer I need to keep reminding
  • 00:11:21
    myself that I'm dealing with people with
  • 00:11:25
    their lives when your job is to make
  • 00:11:28
    hundreds of interviews every year it's
  • 00:11:32
    very easy to get into interview mode
  • 00:11:34
    press play and go through the same set
  • 00:11:37
    of questions over and over again and
  • 00:11:40
    that's very dangerous because you lose
  • 00:11:43
    connection but you also miss a great
  • 00:11:47
    opportunity to be amazed by people and
  • 00:11:49
    learn from them and many times during
  • 00:11:54
    interviews you also need to be ready to
  • 00:11:57
    expect the unexpected
  • 00:12:00
    a few weeks back I asked the candidate
  • 00:12:04
    what would you like me to take away from
  • 00:12:06
    this interview the candidate said my
  • 00:12:12
    telephone number actually is not what
  • 00:12:17
    you're thinking she came from a
  • 00:12:20
    completely different background and also
  • 00:12:23
    culture than mine and she explained I've
  • 00:12:26
    really enjoyed this conversation and
  • 00:12:29
    despite the outcome I would love to stay
  • 00:12:32
    in touch so in the end this is what it's
  • 00:12:37
    all about not just doing interviews but
  • 00:12:42
    having great conversations conversations
  • 00:12:46
    that lead you to connect with the other
  • 00:12:50
    to get to know who they really are and
  • 00:12:53
    in the end open them the door into your
  • 00:12:58
    life
  • 00:13:00
    thank you
  • 00:13:01
    [Applause]
  • 00:13:07
    [Music]
Tags
  • interviews
  • trust
  • personal values
  • mistakes
  • candidate identity
  • connections
  • professional achievements
  • self-awareness
  • communication
  • personal stories