Preparing to interview a job candidate is an important first step in the hiring process. Making sure you are prepared and familiar with the job and candidate can be crucial in selecting the right person. It is always difficult to carve out preparation time but doing so can have a significant impact on the final outcome of the interview process.
Steps to Preparing for the Interview:
- Spend time reviewing the job description and specific skills that are required to perform the job being interviewed for.
- Take time to think about the person vacating the job and what characteristics they had that helped with performance management or took away from achieving employee goals.
- Study the candidate’s application and resume so you can ask specific questions about work history and job skills.
- If the person will be answering the telephone, a phone interview might be appropriate to test how well the candidate demonstrates good customer service skills on the phone.
- Select interview questions that are appropriate for the level and job of the candidate. You will obviously ask a manager different questions than you would an entry level employee.
- Set an agenda. Use an interview guide to help keep you focused. Tell the candidate what to expect so there are no surprises.
Some things to remember as you interview a candidate.
- Be aware that how an applicant responds and behaves in an interview does not necessarily translate into the kind of behavior you would be looking for on the job.
- Don’t focus too much on what the candidate knows but seek out specific accomplishments and how they added value to a prior employer.
- Someone with good people skills may have the potential to talk too much.
- In the same way, someone who is detail oriented could have difficulty seeing the big picture.
- Be realistic and understand that most candidates stretch the truth or exaggerate at least a little bit, so you should filter answers accordingly.
- Interviews are uncomfortable, so do your best to make the candidate feel welcomed and relaxed. The more comfortable they are, the more likely they will be to let their guard down and have an honest conversation. This is what you are striving for.
- Remember skills can be taught but personality and social style cannot.
- Start with the beginning of their work history and go through their current position. Try to find out why they left other jobs.
- Look for how long they stayed with an organization. Job hopping every couple of years is an indication of instability and that you may lose them after a short period of time. What you’re looking for is patterns of behavior.
Other Things to Think About.
- Past behavior is the best predictor of future success.
- If the candidate has problems with a former boss, they may have the same issues with the current boss. Most people don’t change.
- Ask for copies of former performance appraisals.
- No matter how well you like a candidate, don’t forget to do reference checks. You’d be surprised what you can learn.
- Stay away from crossing the legal line by not asking questions about race, religion, sexual orientation, physical disabilities or marital status.
Interviewing Mistakes
- Hiring someone who is like you. Often this is done un-conscientiously.
- Not probing and drilling down on answers.
- Asking hypothetical questions. This allows for the candidate to give answers that may not necessarily reflect their typical approach to problem solving.
- Asking leading questions. These can take a candidate down a road that they would not have otherwise gone.
- Hiring on first impression. If you make up your mind early in the interview that you like the person, you will be less likely to probe and give the interview the full focus that it deserves.
- Hiring on gut feeling. Our gut feelings are sometimes accurate but often they are wrong. Make sure hiring decisions are based on objective data obtained from the interview process.
Interviewing job candidates is a developed skill. Taking the necessary time to prepare for an interview is the best way to practice and develop that skill.
photo by: alex
