In this week’s Scaling Stories podcast we spoke to Jody Atkins, the Vice President of Talent Acquisition at NextRoll, the marketing technology company whose machine learning platform helps companies target their ideal customers.

In order to create an equitable experience for candidates, Jody has been an advocate for “competency based interviewing”. Before even looking at a CV, Jody will sit down with the hiring manager and ask: “What are the top competencies that this person needs to be successful in their position?”

Rather than simply choosing which names should be on the interview panel, Jody and team will first and foremost reflect on the skill-set required to properly assess each candidate – from stakeholder management to conflict resolution.

Then they decide on “the most unbiased and even way that we can ask questions”, and produce a prep sheet for each interviewer with examples of what a “great answer looks like…so that everyone who is walking through the door has the same experience and the same chance”.

Jody also extols the virtues of using data in order to build trust with senior leaders and find the right people. That means using tools like LinkedIn Talent Insights to identify a small pool of A-listers, then “really look at the competencies” of successful past hires. “What do we interview for? And are those really the traits that make those people successful?”

Jody adds: “What we were able to do is find consistencies of those soft [skills]. You know – tenacity, resilience, ability to learn initiative. Those are all things that were important that aren’t on a resume.”

Moving forward, a priority for Jody and her team is to focus on internal mobility, with the rollout of a new “role shadowing” program where employees can experience a day in the life of a skilled colleague.