Just because a candidate seemingly blew their interview with you doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t the right person for the job. Interviewing is only one evaluation tool out of many that organizations should utilize. The problem with interviewing is that it relies heavily on the concept of pattern matching—the idea that the hiring manager can identify the potential employee’s patterns and see if they match with the organization’s mission and values. That’s in an ideal situation. Pattern matching is far from an exact science and has multiple flaws that can be exploited by savvy candidates or overlooked by uninformed hiring managers. We tend to hire people we get along with. That type of candidate can quickly integrate into the team and that seamlessness can be leveraged into business success. However, just because the hiring manager didn’t “mesh” with the candidate doesn’t mean that candidate would be a poor choice. “Sometimes, a challenging interview does not equate to a poor hire,” said Simon MacGibbon, CEO of health-monitoring company Myia. “You need to be able to look at the scope of the entirety of the candidate, including background interviews, reference checks, and work product. Basing hiring on interviewing alone puts many companies at risk of passing over candidates with valuable skill sets and different, but complementary, personalities.”