The Hiring Manager Capability Gap: Why Training Alone Won't Fix It

You know the pattern. One manager brings in solid people every time. Another burns through three bad hires. Same company, same budget, completely different results.

Someone pipes up: "We should send them to interviewing training."

Sure. Except here's the thing, almost 60% of first-time managers never received any training when transitioning to their first leadership role (Centre for Creative Leadership/Gallup), and most have never been formally trained on how to recruit.

So yes, they need training. But if you think a half-day workshop fixes this, we need to talk.

People Forget. Fast.

Cost of a bad hire

Do any of these sound familiar?

The Solution

What you can do right now in your business

Here's how I can help

---

People Forget. Fast.

Remember that interviewing course your managers took? They don't.

Within 24 hours, people forget 70% of new information - a phenomenon known as the 'forgetting curve'

Your hiring manager learned structured interviewing on Tuesday. By Friday, they're back to winging it because there's fires to fight, no template, nobody's checking, and someone just hired their mate's referral after a coffee chat, so why can’t I.

The gap between "I learned this" and "I do this consistently" is real. And expensive.

What Inconsistent Hiring Actually Costs

We have all read about the cost of a bad hire.

Nearly half of new hires fail within 18 months. Managers spend 17% of their time, 7 hours a week, managing people who shouldn't be there. Bad hires tank productivity, kill morale, and make good people look elsewhere.

Only 15% of leaders feel confident about their hiring decisions when they make the offer (SmartRecruiters). That means 60% have doubts about the person they just hired. That’s scary!

What Bad Interviewing Actually Looks Like

Here's what happens when every manager does interviews their own way:

One manager asks about strengths and weaknesses. Another goes deep on technical scenarios. The third just has a chat about culture fit. Same role, completely different conversations.

Or worse, what I see constantly, the candidate gets asked the same questions at the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd interview. They're just repeating themselves to each person they meet.

The biggest issue? Your managers ask surface-level questions and get surface-level answers. "Tell me about a time you showed leadership" gets you a rehearsed story, not real insight. They don't know how to probe deeper or ask the right open questions, so they settle for whatever the candidate offers up.

Candidates walk out confused or unimpressed. They have no idea what you're actually looking for. They see straight through it, no consistency, no real process, just whoever clicks with the interviewer wins.

72% of new hires say their actual role is different from what was presented in interviews (Brandon Hall Group). That's not the job description failing, that's the interview failing. Managers don't ask the right questions, don't dig into the real work, don't paint an accurate picture.

Every inconsistent interview is money walking out the door and your employer brand taking a hit.

What Actually Works (And Why Most Companies Miss It)

The research is clear. Structured interviews are up to twice as effective at predicting job performance than unstructured ones.

But here's what most people get wrong: they think "structured interviewing" means asking the same questions from a script. It doesn't.

Google figured this out. When they researched what actually improved hiring outcomes, they didn't just write better questions. They built a system, interview guides, scorecards, calibration meetings, clear accountability baked in.

The results? Interviewers saved 40 minutes per interview. Candidates were 35% happier, even the ones who got rejected. And hiring decisions got faster and more accurate.

Structure matters.

But structure without skill is just theatre. You can have the perfect questions, but if your hiring manager doesn't know how to probe deeper, when to ask open questions versus closed ones, or how to spot a rehearsed answer versus real insight, none of it works.

That's why training alone fails.

You need both: the structure and the capability.

Here's what a system that actually sticks looks like:

#1 Standard Process

Everyone follows the same steps. Intake meetings. Structured guides. Job-relevant questions. No "I'll just wing it."

#2 Interview Panels That Actually Work

Each interviewer has a clear role, different questions, different focus areas. No repetition. Notes are shared between panel members so you're building a complete picture, not hearing the same rehearsed story three times.

#3 Tools That Make It Easy

Scorecards. Question banks. Evaluation rubrics. Make doing it right easier than doing it wrong.

#4 Just-in-Time Capability Building

Don't train managers six months before they hire. Coach them while they're actually hiring: build the interview structure together for the specific role, teach them how to probe and ask the right questions, debrief after the first few interviews while it's fresh.

#5 Clear Accountability

Who owns what. When decisions happen. Hiring performance tracked in manager reviews.

#6 Feedback Loops

Post-hire check-ins with new employees. Calibration sessions between interviewers. Candidate surveys, even for those who didn't get the role. Track what's working. Every hire becomes a learning opportunity.

When these work together, companies see 40% faster hiring, 70% better quality, and way fewer expensive mistakes (Brandon Hall Group).

The question isn't whether structured interviews work. It's whether you're building the full system, or just hoping training will fix everything.

Here's What I Do Differently

I don't do generic training that gets forgotten in a week.

Instead, I offer on-demand interview coaching - right when your hiring manager is about to start recruiting for a real role.

Here's how it works:

Your hiring manager needs to fill a position. We work together on that specific hire:

We build the interview structure together. Not generic questions pulled from the internet, questions designed specifically for this role that get to the heart of what actually matters for success in the job.

I teach them how to interview properly. How to probe deeper. When to use open questions. When to use closed questions. How to spot a rehearsed answer. What follow-up questions actually reveal insight. How to sell the role authentically without overselling it.

They learn by doing. I coach them through their first few interviews, then we debrief immediately while it's fresh: What worked? What didn't? What did you miss? What would you do differently next time?

The muscle memory builds because they're applying it to a hire they need to get right today, not role-playing scenarios in a training room they'll forget by next week.

Why this works:

• It's time-effective because we're working on a hire they need to make anyway.

• It's cost-effective a fraction of the cost compared to one bad hire at $17,000 - $240,000.

• The skills stick because they're learning in the moment, with real stakes, on real candidate, not trying to remember theory from months ago.

  
  

Want to stop the cycle of inconsistent interviews and build interviewing capability that actually lasts?

Let's talk about your next hire.