What is Peer Interviewing?
Peer interviewing is the practice of having your job candidates and current employees meet one-on-one to talk story and get to know each other better. This process helps candidates learn what it’s really like to work with your company, as well as giving your existing employees a feel for whether or not the candidate would be a good fit with your culture. Your employees have a unique perspective on what it’s really like to work at your company and the feedback they can provide about whether or not a potential candidate would be a good fit is valuable information for your hiring manager.

Not only is peer interviewing a smart strategy for helping to identify candidate fit, it also helps to give your workers a sense of ownership in your company and build stronger teams. Employees who have a hand in making a hiring decision tend to have a vested interest in the new employee’s success and will do what they can to make sure the employee acclimates to their new role and team.

How to Get Started with Peer Interviewing

1. Determine which employees will participate
   Peer interviewing doesn’t mean a candidate needs to meet with your entire staff or even with an entire department. Instead, choose just three or four employees who are performing well, happy in their role, and capable of accurately conveying your company brand.
2. Provide training to the employees who will participate
   Interviews are a two-way street and candidates will make a judgment about whether or not they want to work with your company based at least partly on their interview experience. With that in mind, take time to properly train your staff on company interviewing practices—cover topics like how to make a good first impression and more importantly, what types of questions must legally be avoided.
3. Develop an evaluation method
   Ensure you have an easy-to-use interview evaluation method that your peer interviewers can use to help you compare candidates—consider using a numerical rating scale to simplify the process. After the interview, take time to sit down with your employee to discuss his/her impressions and complete the evaluation while everything is still top of mind.

Interviews are an important part of selecting the best candidates for your open roles; although utilizing your employees in this process is not something that every company takes advantage of, it’s a smart strategy for helping to hire and retain to talent.

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