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  • Transcriber: Erin Gregory Reviewer: Ivana Korom

  • A traditional job interview

  • is basically a one-sided, high pressure interrogation,

  • almost guaranteed to create

  • significant psychological strain.

  • Ironically, such stressful procedures

  • can totally obscure a person's true potential

  • causing us to overlook a lot of people

  • who could be great employees.

  • We need a different way to interview and screen candidates.

  • One that will reveal hidden potential and talent.

  • [The Way We Work]

  • [Made possible with the support of Dropbox]

  • Twelve years ago, I founded CY,

  • an outsource call center

  • staffed and managed entirely by underdogs.

  • More than half of our hundreds of employees

  • are severely disabled.

  • Others come from other disadvantaged populations

  • or just suffer from anxiety,

  • low self-esteem and lack of confidence.

  • The problem I needed to solve when we started out was

  • that traditional interviewing and screening,

  • especially for entry-level positions,

  • are totally biased towards people

  • who function well under intense stress.

  • Now, if you're screening for Navy SEALS, I totally get it,

  • but the capacity to function under duress

  • is totally irrelevant if the actual job is stocking shelves

  • or folding T-shirts, unless of course it's Black Friday.

  • Clara is a classic example.

  • We met in CY's early days

  • while she was waiting for her job interview.

  • Clara was 25 years old, had cerebral palsy

  • and used a walker.

  • She seemed quite nervous,

  • but she was likable, intelligent and talkative.

  • And yet just a short while later,

  • her interviewer told me that she had totally failed,

  • that she couldn't string two words together.

  • The screening philosophy

  • of "let's pick our employees by viewing them at their worst,"

  • not only overlooks disabled people

  • but anyone whose shine is diminished under harsh pressure.

  • We developed the reverse screening process

  • to find potential.

  • And as the name implies,

  • we go about things practically the opposite way

  • traditional approaches do.

  • In a nutshell, if you want to assess a candidate's true potential,

  • see how they function at their best, not their worst,

  • which for most of us is when we're calm and relaxed,

  • not stressed and anxious.

  • So build screening procedures specifically tailored

  • to help candidates feel

  • as emotionally comfortable as possible.

  • Three examples how you can achieve that.

  • Lower anxiety and insecurity.

  • Start out by losing the whole interrogation vibe.

  • Rather, interviewers should view themselves as hosts,

  • be friendly and welcoming.

  • Choose an environment that's conducive

  • to putting a candidate at ease,

  • like making your interview room look like a living room.

  • People are most confident discussing things

  • about which they are knowledgeable and passionate.

  • So we ask candidates to fill out a short questionnaire

  • about their hobbies,

  • and we start out the interview by discussing those

  • so that candidates could bring forth their verbal skills,

  • strengths and personality.

  • Assess skills in everyday life situations

  • with which the candidates are familiar.

  • For instance, sales positions require the ability to use persuasion.

  • So ask the candidate to role play

  • how they would persuade a neighbor

  • to pay an extra maintenance fee

  • for the renovations of their lobby.

  • Looking for tough, full-throttle negotiations?

  • Ask the candidate to describe

  • how they would persuade a teenager

  • to not look at their phone during a family dinner.

  • Help them move beyond the stuck points

  • to see how they adapt and learn.

  • In the reverse screening process,

  • we offer candidates three lifelines.

  • We call it "Who Wants to Be an Employee?"

  • If the candidate asks for a hint,

  • the interviewer will model a few correct arguments

  • and ask the candidate to role play the scenario

  • to see how convincingly they absorb and convey those points.

  • Finding people's true potential makes for happier,

  • more diverse, and more successful companies and employees.

  • Remember Clara? We hired her.

  • She gradually improved

  • until she hit her targets of calls per hour,

  • and then she kept on getting better.

  • And nowadays Clara gives talks

  • about how many years ago no one, including herself,

  • believed she had any potential at all.

  • A job is so much more than a paycheck,

  • especially for marginalized populations.

  • By finding and hiring those you might otherwise overlook,

  • you will not only benefit your own company,

  • you will literally transform people's lives.

  • The opportunity to win with underdogs is all around you.

  • Make sure to grab it.

Transcriber: Erin Gregory Reviewer: Ivana Korom

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