Interviewing...a necessary evil?

I was confidently scared as I prepped for my first job interview. I was 16 and was interviewing to be a summer receptionist. I knew I could do the work, but could I sell myself to a principal of a new Jr. High school?

I put on my best dress and paid extra attention to my make-up and hair.  I planned my time so that I arrived 10 minutes early and brought my references with me just in case he asked for them.  My knees were shaking as I opened the glass double doors and I swallowed hard.  The head secretary greeted me and took me down a long hallway to an office.  She opened the door to introduce me.  I thought a meeting was just getting out, what I realized very quickly was that the meeting was just getting started.

Six people were sitting in a semi-circle in front of me.  They each introduced themselves and then started asking me questions.  I felt like I was being fed to the lions.  I had prepared for a one on one interview.  Here I was faced with a panel of people all older and wiser than I was. Terrified doesn't even begin to describe what I was feeling. The interview seemed to go on forever. The internal conversation was almost bad enough to drown out the next question. "I wish my clothes were more stylish." "Why did I say THAT?!?"  "What if they think I can't do this job?"

Flash forward several years, this time I am on the other side of the table.  Remembering that first awful interview I prep all my candidates.  I let them know how many people will be in the interview, the entire interview process and how long they can expect to wait until they hear something from me.

I still hate the interview process.  Two or more people sitting in a room, with their best face forward dancing around qualifications and political correctness, trying not to come across as desperate.  Is there a better way?

This is the digital age.  I can talk to old friends and find new ones without ever meeting face-to-face.  I can tell you how well a store is doing in the customer returns and customer service departments without ever walking into the store. The internet is a wonderful tool, but it still only shows a persona not the person.
 
 One company I worked for narrowed down the resumes to the most likely candidates and then asked the other people in the department if any of them had ever worked or heard of the candidates.  That seemed to work well.  As I recall, a couple of high candidates were thrown out of the mix when others in the company had worked with them and not had a very good experience.

In the end the top two candidates came in for a short salary negotiation and a walk through of the department.  That was one of the shortest interview processes I have ever been involved with and the people that were hired loved the company and were a good fit.   Isn't that what the interview is supposed to do anyway?

Oh...and if you are wondering I did get the receptionist job.  It was a great job with some really great people.