Forties People

Hiring the wrong candidate can be one of the most expensive mistakes you as an employer can make. During what is being dubbed the ‘credit crunch’, you can’t afford additional, unforeseen and unnecessary costs, so it’s vital that your interview techniques give you the best possible chance of hiring the right person, first time.

A good employment agency will take you through the entire recruitment process in order to circumvent the traditional pitfalls employers suffer when opting not to use an agency. They will select the right candidates; pre-interview them on your behalf in full consultation with your HR department or senior management, and help you develop your interview approach and technique. They will also assist you with the actual selection process once the interview stage is complete to determine whether your choices can integrate successfully into your company.

This is simply a guide. Interview techniques vary from person to person and from company to company, and they can be structured and altered to suit any position. In fact, we encourage you to develop your own interviewing style; it will benefit in the long run.

In addition, this is based around the traditional one-on-one, office environment interview. If you need advice on panel/board interviews, telephone interviews, group, second or follow-up interviews, please contact us and we’ll be glad to help.

Before…

• Have your questions, or at least the basis of what you want to ask, prepared in advance • Have an informal, relaxed seating arrangement
• Be aware of what you can and cannot legally ask an interviewee
• Don’t start the ‘interview’ right away. Identify some common ground from the CV or pre-interview phone call and chat informally on your way to the interview location.

During…

• Outline the role on a micro level and the company on a macro level and explain where the job fits in the corporate structure.
• Ask open-ended questions, which allow the candidate to express themselves e.g. “I’m interested in hearing about…”, rather than close-ended questions that can be answered with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ – “Can you work under pressure?” for example.
• Re-evaluate your ‘first impression’ after 20-30 minutes and compare them with your original thoughts.
• Make notes of things that stand out as the candidate is talking. It helps with the evaluation process.
• Try and use the 80-20 principle – listen for 80% of the time and talk for 20%.
• Talk about real-time work scenarios and not just hypothetical issues. Accuracy will increase and you will get a much better understanding of the candidate’s decision-making ability.
• As the interview draws to a close, invite questions from the candidate. They can reveal a lot about a person’s character and can help good candidates demonstrate their worth.

After…

• Inform the candidate of the next stage in the process e.g. if and when the second round of interviews is likely to take place, if any testing is required, when you hope to have the position filled etc.
• Based on your evaluations of each of the candidates you’ve seen, you’ll be in a position to make the right choice.

Speak to the specialists at Forties People for further information. Click here to contact us.