The Idea explores blind job interviews

Written by Hugo Chatel, on 25 July 2018

Job interviews are challenging. Finding a person who will fit with the company’s culture and work effectively with superiors, colleagues and subordinates alike isn’t easy. But how can we make sure that the candidate shows himself as he is, and that his recruitment is accepted by his future coworkers?

For Mr Galleno, CEO and founder of The Idea, the most important thing is to have a strong, efficient team that is perfectly aligned with the company's missions and values. And this is the reason why recruitment is essential to the agency’s everyday activity. It has always been obvious to the young CEO that it is necessary to involve employees in the selection of newcomers. Therefore, he decided that each candidate would have 3 interviews with 3 different people to make sure that everyone who would have to work with the new recruit has a say in the matter. This means that the candidate is interviewed by a supervisor, a person of the same level as him or her, and a person whom he or she will have to manage.

But Galleno, who likes to surprise his coworkers, had the idea of keeping the candidate in the dark. Indeed, these three interviews are conducted with each of the above-mentioned persons, but, during the whole interviews, the candidate does not know who’s who. Thus, it is impossible for him (or her) to adapt his (or her) speech according to his interviewer. As Galleno points out, if the candidate had the information, he would be tempted to adapt his speech according to the position of his interviewer, but in this case, he is more authentic and dissuaded from putting on a different mask.

At the end of these 3 interviews, the 3 interviewers meet and exchange their impressions. As for the hiring decision, all three of them make it together. If they do not agree, it is up to the person with the lowest level of hierarchy to decide. In other words, an employee cannot be imposed a manager he does not see himself working with.

Once the recruitment is completed, the candidate is entitled to one week's paid work before the beginning of his probationary period to make sure that the company suits him. Otherwise, he can leave at any time.