Whether you’re an old hand at interviewing or new to the other side of the table, here are a few things that will help the hiring process go smoothly.
Let’s start at the beginning, with your job spec. Yes, you can be specific (it’s in the name, after all), but if the specification is too narrow you’re potentially excluding a lot of good candidates. You could give your job spec to a colleague to review, to make sure there’s nothing missing.
TIP: Think about skills as well as qualifications when you are identifying your ‘essentials’ and ‘desirables’ and keep your ‘essentials’ to the bare minimum.
Once you’ve got your interviews lined up, do your candidate research. If anything stands out in their CV or LinkedIn, write it down and ask them to expand on it at the interview. It will give the candidate a sense that you want to get to know them and that you consider them a potential employee.
TIP: Using the old standard ‘Tell me about yourself’ demonstrates a lack of preparedness and skill on your part. Instead, ask ‘I looked at your LinkedIn page and was impressed by your project management experience. Could you tell me more about that?’
You’re representing your firm so you need to make a good impression. Be punctual and polite: after all, a bad interview could affect your brand and reputation. You should treat a potential employee as you would a potential customer. Emphasise your interest in them by making notes throughout the interview. These will help later when you’re reviewing the candidates.
My interviewer had a stack of CVs on the table and asked me “which one are you?” before chucking the rest on the floor. It made me doubt I’d be treated well if he actually gave me the job.
If you want to see how quickly a candidate thinks on their feet, prepare a couple of job-specific questions that will test their logic and thinking skills. But don’t discount the candidates who don’t come back with a snappy answer if you were otherwise impressed by them.
TIP: Don’t ask a candidate what they’d do if they won the lottery or which biscuit they’re most like: neither question has any bearing on how well they’d do the job. Try “You list your greatest success as X project. What problems did you encounter? Was there ever a time you thought the project might fail?”
You should think about the candidate’s fit with the company culture: it’s as important as the stuff on their CV. You don’t want to badger an interviewee, or make them feel like you’re trying to trip them up. An interview can be enough of a test of their nerve without adding obstacles.
TIP: Asking a candidate about their biggest weaknesses just encourages them to lie, which in turn elicits bad feelings during the interview.
After the interview, or even during, you could give the candidate feedback about the parts of their CV that worked and what didn’t. It’ll help them consider their strengths and give them a positive feeling about the interview. It’s also a chance to see how they deal with constructive feedback.
TIP: As well as honest feedback, make sure you explain the interviewing process to candidates, including timescales and next steps. After all, if they are interviewing with other companies and you don’t keep in touch, they might take another job in the meantime.
