May your Tribe grow - Here's How to ace conducting interviews
So, the virtual stack of resumes have landed in your inbox. Filtered and curated by the HR team. Next - In person interviews. How should you use the interim time to assess and sum up a near stranger?
How many people from your team need to be involved? Is the candidate a good fit? And lastly, the tricky questions like - What is your greatest weakness?Should you be even asking them?
As the world opens up and market improves, candidates have more options, which makes hiring a very difficult process. The air of mystery and mystique around a job or organisation has been eliminated with websites like Glassdoor and social platforms like linkedin. If your organisations interview process ticks the candidate off, they just roll their eyes and head over to the next opportunity. Your job is to assess candidates but also to convince the best ones to stay. Here’s how to make the interview process work for you — and for them.
To begin with, the Do’s and Dont’s
Do:
Lower your candidates’ stress levels by telling them in advance the kinds of questions you plan to ask
Ask behavioural and situational questions
Sell the role and the organization once you’re confident in your candidate
Don’t:
Forget to do pre-interview prep — list the attributes of an ideal candidate and use it to construct relevant questions
Involve too many other colleagues in the interviews — multiple checks are good, but too many people can delay the process.
Put too much emphasis on “cultural fit” — remember, people adapt
Prepare for the upcoming interview by evaluating the position you’re hiring for and going over the candidate’s resume and/or cover letter. Consider what needs the role will fill for the company and then compare those needs to the expected education, skills and experience requirements of your preferred candidate. Carefully organise these requirements into a list and then use them to create a structural interview
Always ask a mix of behavioural, situational and fun interview questions.
The Star Method is a common technique used when interviewing promising candidates. The STAR acronym stands for:
Situation: Describe the situation or challenge faced
Task: Describe the individual task or requirement
Action: Describe the action taken to overcome the situation or challenge
Result: Describe the result or the outcome of the action taken
Job candidates often use this method when you ask them behavioural interview questions. This category of questions asks candidates to describe a time when they used specific skills in the workplace or overcame a professional challenge. Listen for the STAR technique in candidates’ answers to make sure they’re fully addressing your question.
If the interviewee doesn’t use the STAR method when answering your questions, you can use the STAR method to create follow-up questions or to request more information to better understand a candidate’s previous experience. For example, you can ask candidates to be more specific or to describe the results of their action.
Keep the STAR method in mind when you’re coming up with interview questions to ask as well. If a question can’t be answered using the STAR method, you may want to rephrase it or choose a different question.
So, the virtual stack of resumes have landed in your inbox. Filtered and curated by the HR team. Next - In person interviews. How should you use the interim time to assess and sum up a near stranger?
How many people from your team need to be involved? Is the candidate a good fit? And lastly, the tricky questions like - What is your greatest weakness?Should you be even asking them?
As the world opens up and market improves, candidates have more options, which makes hiring a very difficult process. The air of mystery and mystique around a job or organisation has been eliminated with websites like Glassdoor and social platforms like linkedin. If your organisations interview process ticks the candidate off, they just roll their eyes and head over to the next opportunity. Your job is to assess candidates but also to convince the best ones to stay. Here’s how to make the interview process work for you — and for them.
To begin with, the Do’s and Dont’s
Do:
Lower your candidates’ stress levels by telling them in advance the kinds of questions you plan to ask
Ask behavioral and situational questions
Sell the role and the organization once you’re confident in your candidate
Don’t:
Forget to do pre-interview prep — list the attributes of an ideal candidate and use it to construct relevant questions
Involve too many other colleagues in the interviews — multiple checks are good, but too many people can belabor process
Put too much emphasis on “cultural fit” — remember, people adapt
Prepare for the upcoming interview by evaluating the position you’re hiring for and going over the candidate’s resume and/or cover letter. Consider what needs the role will fill for the company and then compare those needs to the expected education, skills and experience requirements of your preferred candidate. Carefully organise these requirements into a list and then use them to create a structural interview
Always ask a mix of behavioural, situational and fun interview questions.
The STAR method is a common technique used when interviewing promising candidates. The STAR acronym stands for:
Situation: Describe the situation or challenge faced
Task: Describe the individual task or requirement
Action: Describe the action taken to overcome the situation or challenge
Result: Describe the result or the outcome of the action taken
Job candidates often use this method when you ask them behavioural interview questions. This category of questions asks candidates to describe a time when they used specific skills in the workplace or overcame a professional challenge. Listen for the STAR technique in candidates’ answers to make sure they’re fully addressing your question.
If the interviewee doesn’t use the STAR method when answering your questions, you can use the STAR method to create follow-up questions or to request more information to better understand a candidate’s previous experience. For example, you can ask candidates to be more specific or to describe the results of their actions.
Keep the STAR method in mind when you’re coming up with interview questions to ask as well. If a question can’t be answered using the STAR method, you may want to rephrase it or choose a different question.
Put the applicant at ease. Make eye contact and establish rapport by finding a shared topic to talk about before you get down to the hard questions. Review the resumé and phone screen notes beforehand so you have some personal info to draw on.
Ask open-ended questions. Prepare questions in advance and ask the same basic questions of all interviewees so you can compare answers later. Be prepared to improvise based on different responses. You can run through some “what-if” responses you might expect and note how you would follow up on each scenario. If your application is shy and gives answers that are too general, dig for more detail. Sample questions include, “Why did you leave your last position?” “What do see yourself doing in five years?” “What management style helps you do your best work?” “What’s the most important factor in your work environment for you to be successful?” “When you work on a team, which role are you most comfortable with?”
Listen more, talk less. The interview is mostly about the applicant, so listen attentively. Pay attention to non-verbal cues such as posture, alertness, dress, and personal grooming. Note if they have done their homework about your company. Leave time in the end for the candidate to ask you questions. You can provide insights about the company, your management style, and even “sell” the position.
Take notes. It’s tough to keep candidate responses straight when you’re doing multiple interviews. So take good notes in an organized fashion so you can easily review them at a later date. Consider having another person in the room, if only as a note-taker.
Understand what you can’t ask. Keep your questions focused on the job, work environment and only peripherally involved with an applicant’s personal life. You want to avoid a discrimination lawsuit, so steer clear of questions centred on age, race, gender, country or national origin, religion, disability, and marital or family status.
Put the applicant at ease. Make eye contact and establish rapport by finding a shared topic to talk about before you get down to the hard questions. Review the resumé and phone screen notes beforehand so you have some personal info to draw on.
Ask open-ended questions. Prepare questions in advance and ask the same basic questions of all interviewees so you can compare answers later. Be prepared to improvise based on different responses. You can run through some “what-if” responses you might expect and note how you would follow up to each scenario. If your application is shy and gives answers that are too general, dig for more detail. Sample questions include, “Why did you leave your last position?” “What do see yourself doing in five years?” “What management style helps you do your best work?” “What’s the most important factor in your work environment for you to be successful?” “When you work on a team, which role are you most comfortable with?”
Listen more, talk less. The interview is mostly about the applicant, so listen attentively. Pay attention to non-verbal cues such as posture, alertness, dress, and personal grooming. Note if they have done their homework about your company. Leave time in the end for the candidate to ask you questions. You can provide insights about the company, your management style, and even “sell” the position.
Take notes. It’s tough to keep candidate responses straight when you’re doing multiple interviews. So take good notes in an organized fashion so you can easily review them at a later date. Consider having another person in the room, if only as a note-taker.
Understand what you can’t ask. Keep your questions focused on the job, work environment and only peripherally involved with an applicant’s personal life. You want to avoid a discrimination lawsuit, so steer clear of questions centred on age, race, gender, country or national origin, religion, disability, and marital or family status.
