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Q&A Insight: The Impact of John Lewis Partnership’s Transparent Interview Questions
Recruitment
In the realm of recruitment, innovation is paramount. John Lewis Partnership’s recent decision to publish its interview questions has ignited significant discussion in HR circles, and for good reason—it has the potential to revolutionise traditional hiring practices.
This ground-breaking approach levels the playing field, builds trust and confidence, promotes diversity and inclusion, and enhances the candidate experience, thereby setting a new standard in the recruitment process. Below, we delve into an insightful Q&A with Neil Telfer, our Managing Director, who shares his thoughts on this interesting move by John Lewis Partnership and its broader implications.
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Levelling the Field
Q: What are your thoughts on John Lewis Partnership’s decision to publish interview questions?
A: I believe it can only be a good thing. It brings more equality to the application process for interviewees and allows JLP the opportunity to assess more role-specific qualities that can be difficult to uncover in the pressurised, and often unnatural, standard interview environment. This approach also makes sense from a high-volume recruitment perspective as it makes the preparation for interviews more time efficient for both interviewer and interviewee.
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Building Trust and Confidence
Q: How do you think this transparency affects the fairness of the recruitment process?
A: It increases the fairness of the process. Interviews are time-limited and, naturally, we all process information at different speeds so this type of transparency creates a more even playing field.
Q: How do you think openly sharing interview questions impacts the perception of the company’s integrity and honesty?
A: It clearly shows the company is trying to remove unnecessary ‘barriers to entry’ for applicants and cares about growing the diversity of their workforce. There is often a misconception that interviewers try to trip applicants up by including trick questions so by being fully transparent, with the questions, this is removed.
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Diversity and Inclusion
Q: From your perspective, how does sharing interview questions contribute to promoting diversity and inclusion?
A: It certainly helps in encouraging applicants from diverse backgrounds. How the questions are structured could be an even more important way of encouraging applicants from diverse backgrounds than just openly publishing them.
Q: Following on from that what are the potential long-term effects of a more diverse candidate pool on the organisation?
A: I think it has now been widely investigated and proven that a diverse workforce improves most businesses’ productivity and profitability, so increasing the diversity of the candidate pool for each recruitment assignment is a positive and something Telfer Partners does as standard practice.
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Setting a New Standard
Q: Do you believe John Lewis Partnership’s approach to recruitment could set a new standard for recruitment across different industries?
A: I don’t think John Lewis are the first to do this by any means, but as a high-profile brand, it has caught media attention which will help with others following suit. Recruitment practices and interviews often need to be tailored to the specific industry, function, and level of role, so it might not always be best practice, but for high-volume recruitment, it is likely that we see an increase in this approach.
Q: What potential challenges or drawbacks do you foresee for our clients in implementing a similar strategy in their recruitment process?
A: JLP is using this for high-volume recruitment where standardising questions is time-efficient, but doing this for more individual and senior-level hirings that our clients are typically focused on is less likely, in my opinion. Having said this, we have seen clients reveal questions prior to interviews on request, showing great flexibility.
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Conclusion
John Lewis Partnership’s decision to publish its interview questions marks a significant shift in recruitment practices. By embracing transparency, they are not only levelling the playing field for candidates but also setting a new standard for fairness, trust, and inclusivity in the hiring process.
Our Q&A with Neil Telfer highlights the profound impact this approach can have on the recruitment landscape. It’s clear that the future of hiring is brighter and more equitable, thanks to forward-thinking initiatives like this. As the industry evolves, embracing such innovative strategies will be crucial for attracting and retaining top talent in an increasingly competitive market.
