Practice Interview Grading

I gave a colleague a practice interview today. They asked me before we began to at the end say what I would have graded them and if I would recommend they be hired or not.

I thought for a second and told my colleague I would not. Here’s what I said:

“If I tell you you did great, you won’t hear the constructive criticism, and no matter how good you are, you can be better. If I tell you you did terribly, you will be sad, and will have a hard time hearing the feedback. However this interview is going to go, I want to give you the ability to become better, which means that I am not going to give you a score at the end, only feedback on how to improve.”

The interaction made me realize how often we are seeking to meet a bar or obtain approval and want to know if we are approved of or not, when we should be asking is how we can be better.