If you carry out a quick search you’ll find plenty of advice for candidates on how to ace an interview, but carrying out a good quality interview from an employer’s perspective is equally important and so here are our top tips for interviewing.
Understand the role
Yes that sounds blindingly obvious but if you don’t understand the role you are recruiting for then your interview will be of a low quality and it is highly likely that you won’t recruit the best candidate for the job. If you’ve got a job description then read it through, know what is required to be successful in the role and what the expectations are for the person filling that role and then you will understand it and improve your interviewing.
Prepare your interview questions
Making them up as you go along and winging it is not the right approach to interview questions. First of all, you’re not going to give candidates the best opportunity to sell themselves and secondly, it doesn’t look professional and doesn’t create the right impression with candidates. Ultimately interviews are a two-way process with each party testing the other out to see if they’d be a good match. If you create a poor impression with candidates, then even if you make them a job offer, they may well decline it and go elsewhere. Prepare a list of questions that relate to the job description and the requirements of the role so that you can understand how suitable and competent candidates are. You may want to use some closed questions to confirm some basic information but ideally the majority of your questions should be open and should give candidates the chance to talk and share their experiences with you. Using a prepared list of questions also means that you can compare candidates more easily as they are all being asked the same thing. That’s not to say that you won’t ask supplementary follow-up questions to some candidates at times to probe an answer or gather more detailed information but having a clear set of questions will ultimately make your life as an interviewer easier.
Structure and details
Having a clear structure for your interviews and paying attention to the details will ensure that the process runs smoothly and everyone involved then gets the most out of it. Some simple things to have in place which are surprisingly overlooked at times include, booking a meeting room to hold the interviews somewhere quiet, arranging for someone to greet candidates, making sure any equipment you need is available and in working order and having a glass of water available for candidates. If you are holding interviews remotely has everyone involved been sent the right link for Zoom or Teams, is the room where you are sitting free from background noise and distraction and do you have a back-up plan if the technology fails? In terms of structuring the interview again there are some essential steps to follow. Don’t just jump straight into questions, put the candidate at ease, do some introductions, tell them a bit about the role and the team and then ease into a basic question or two about their application or CV and what they know about your business and why they applied for the role. If there’s more than one interviewer then agree who is asking which questions, who is taking notes and also who will wrap up at the end and ask the candidate if they have any questions. Make sure to finish by confirming the next steps as that will manage candidates’ expectations about when they are likely to hear from you and if there is going to be a further stage to the selection process.
Gather information
At its very heart interviewing is an exercise in gathering information. As an article on the website Chron. explains, “A job interview enables a company to learn more about an applicant, while the candidate has the opportunity to become familiar with the demands of a given position. The importance of the interview process allows both parties to exchange information, ask interview questions and evaluate the potential for establishing a professional working relationship”. If you have got your questions right then the candidates should do the majority of the talking and that will allow you to get as much information as you need from them about their suitability. It is vital that you create an environment where candidates feel comfortable speaking so when you have asked a question allow them some thinking time rather than jumping in or trying to lead them into an answer. Silence isn’t a bad thing. You should also display active listening skills so that the candidate knows that you are engaged with what they are saying and that will also encourage them to provide further details. Actively listening also helps you to manage the interview if the candidate is drifting into irrelevance or not answering your questions. Sometimes you can also gather information from what a candidate isn’t saying. Make sure that you observe their body language and pay attention to other non-verbal cues. By the same token be conscious of your own body language and try to keep it positive and engaged. You can also gather information from a candidate’s CV or application form, so it is important to read it through and have it to hand during the interview. The CV or application form can help you to form a picture of each candidate before the interview and you may also have some specific questions based on what they have written which can further add to your understanding of their experience, skills and capabilities.
Overall interviewing should be a positive experience for all concerned and by following our top tips you will get the most out of it and hire the best possible candidate for your business.
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Why not also check out our blog on a similar topic The Recruitment Cycle.
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