Five tips for successful interviewing

Hiring the right staff is the most important decision a business can make, bar none. If you are a business leader or manager that has managed staff, you will know exactly why this is - great staff make your life easier and enjoyable and toxic staff can cost a huge amount of time and effort, not to mention possible damage to teamwork and customer relations alike.

Identifying and selecting the right potential candidates for a role is a skill in itself, but once done, it is essential that the interview process is conducted properly so that as much objectivity can be put into an inherently subjective process as possible. Here are my five top tips for conducting a good interview:

1. Prepare properly.

As with any other successful enterprise, the result is proportional to the level of preparation. This means having a well-defined Job Description for the role which defines the specific responsibility and character attributes. It is then much easier to assess a candidate’s suitability when the resume arrives and hence derive an appropriate set of questions. Allow yourself time in advance to thoroughly review the information provided by the applicant. I have seen interviews where it was clear that the interviewer had not done this which not only renders the time spent at the interview of limited value, but it also sends a bad message about the manager and the company as well.

2. Put the candidate at ease.

For most of us, interviews are stressful at the best of times (especially if we really want the job!) so an interviewer that can put the candidate at ease will more quickly start to build a relationship with the candidate who is then more likely to open up honestly about their past experience. A good interview is conversational but at the same time yields valuable insights into the candidate.

3. Introduce yourself, the role and outline the structure of the interview.

Often overlooked is the need to set up the interview properly itself. I use this to introduce the interviewers and their roles so that the candidate knows who they are talking to. It is well worth just spending a few minutes on the company and the role since this will give the candidate some time to gather their thoughts and provide a proper context for the interview. It is also good to advise that there will be time for questions at the end if these have not already been covered.

4. Focus on evidence.

Ask a hypothetical question and you’ll get a hypothetical answer. For this reason, it is much better to ask for specific examples from their previous work experience rather than what a candidate might do. This is known as ‘behavioural’ interviewing vs ‘situational’ interviewing since it draws on actual events and what the candidate actually did with respect to these.

5. Listen well.

In my younger days I tended to fixate on my next question as opposed to properly listening to the answer the candidate gave to the last one. If you listen properly, the candidate feels validated, you get a better understanding of their skills and capabilities and the next question comes quite naturally (hence a ‘conversational’ interview). Don’t be afraid to take notes as well for later review

Ian Ash ACC, AInstIB
Managing Director OrgMent Business Solutions - www.ombs.com.au