3 must-dos during a job interview – for interviewers

3 must-dos during a job interview – for interviewers

In a time where job vacancies are high and the pool of high calibre candidates is limited, the balance of power most certainly now sits with candidates.

Candidates, in particular high calibre candidates, can now choose not only which company they’d like to work for, yet also whether to take up an interview session in the first place.

This naturally puts the pressure back on the hiring company and of course, hiring managers.

The days of simply having a job to offer to secure a candidate are long gone.

Today, candidates, especially high calibre ones, consider several factors in their decision-making process as to accepting or declining a job offer.

These factors include;

• Company culture
• Advancement and career development opportunities
• Learning and training opportunities
• Health and wellbeing support structure
• Longevity of current employees and,
• The experience of the hiring process itself

The last point in the list above is now playing an even more important role since the process of the hiring experience is the first point of engagement the candidate has with the company.

I recently wrote about ways to speed up the hiring process, without compromising quality, to ensure you secure the right candidate. [link to the previous blog on Proven Ways to Speed up your Hiring Process]

Equally important in the hiring process is the interview itself.

Too often, hiring managers just ‘wing’ the interview and in some cases, ask random questions with the aim of getting to know the candidate better.  Certainly you want to get to know the candidate, however, an interview with no structure, logic or reason is not only wasting the candidate’s time yet it does not help you to truly evaluate if this candidate is the right person for the role.

So, as a hiring manager, what must you do for the interview portion hiring process?

3 must-dos as a job interviewer

1. Clearly communicate logistics and requirements to the candidate in advance of the interview

This involves a clear and simple email outlining key details and expectations of the interview such as;

• Directions to the office/workplace – be specific especially if the location is tricky to find or parking is challenge – a stressed out candidate will not perform at his or her best if they are frazzled
• What to do when they arrive at the interview location – e.g. contact reception, call my mobile etc
• Interview prep information – including the types of questions you intend to ask – an interview is not meant to be a ‘gotcha’ session – let the candidate shine on their merits
• Who they’ll meet – names and titles
• How long the whole process is expected to take
• And finally, in the case of online interviews, while you may expect the candidate to dress appropriately, I would strongly suggest you as the interviewer also dress appropriately in respect for the candidate – i.e. dress in appropriate attire (casual business).

2. Ask the right questions

The best way to gauge whether a candidate is right for the job is to ask them questions directly related to the competencies they’ll need to succeed in the role.

This can be done in many ways.

One of the most common ways is through behavioural or situational based questions – which works on the principle of past behaviours predict future behaviours/performance.

Example – “Tell me about a time when you had to handle a stressful situation.”

Critically evaluating the quality of a candidate’s work or their experience against a clear set of competencies is really the only way to judge their viability for the job.

3. Evaluate all candidates objectively

Ask each candidate the same questions and in the same order – it’s very easy to let an organic conversation detract you from your interview process.  When that happens, the process becomes too fluid and intangible.

Rather, instead of going through each candidate one by one, start by looking at the strength of the question responses to the first question and compare how each candidate did on that specific question and then move onto the next question.

This avoids getting trapped into the Halo Effect bias, where we tend to think a candidate has the right attributes for the job simply because we had a positive overall impression of them.

By doing this, you will have built an objective profile of fit and this will help you reach a decision much faster which also has a positive flow on for the candidate.

We can help you find and secure the right candidate for your next job vacancy, contact Recruitment Australia +61 2 9634 5912.