What do you look for when you interview a candidate?

[imagineAA]

To me, what's most important is the person's behavior and mannerisms during the interview. Is the person articulate and clear? Does the person have a sense of humor or seem easy going? Does the person show enthusiasm? Does the person seem genuine? If a candidate meets all these qualities, then I will recommend him.

To me, those are not as important. Charisma is not a job skill for the roles in my department, so it is mostly irrelevant. Very intelligent, capable people can get nervous during a job interview and not have good mannerisms.

I mainly look for experience, creativity, ability to overcome barriers, ethics, ethics, ethics, maturity, maturity, maturity, technical skills, knowledge, and work ethic.

[Phil P]

Originally Posted by Suburban_Guy

Thanks, a lot of good inputs above, many seem to reaffirm that there's a lot of things that are important besides the background on paper (education, work experience).

In response to Phil, it depends on each company, but for my past and current job, my initial phone screen was more for my work experience and my background. They wanted to flesh out a little more about my background and how it applies to the current position. The actual in person interview was more about how I may fit in with the group and my personality.

It's fine to pause before answering a question, as long as you say something. We had an interview last week with one of the worst candidates I've ever experienced. Spent maybe 5-10 seconds answering briefly our questions, and just sat there without saying much at all. Total turnoff, zero enthusiasm and zero personality.

Just had an interview today, she was also very good and I will recommend to hire her. She had a really easy going personality, and seemed eager to work for us in a good way without being smarmy and cocky. When we asked her a question, she spent time giving us thoughtful answers. Not talking too much, but talking enough to show she's thoughtful in our response. Plus she had some good questions for us too, which is always important. It's those subtle things which I look for, very easy going and smiles readily, but also enthusiastic people.

Alright, I'll try and keep that in mind. I knew that I had to have good questions coming back because I've had a few phone interviews where I didn't have many and it felt awkward at the end.

So, prepared yet thoughtful responses mixed with a cheery and collaborative attitude... I'll see if I can do that

[Redbrink]

The last 2 weeks Ive had the opportunity to interview with 3 different types of work environments in three different states (Im looking to get out of midwest) ... I just wanted to share that all 3 HR managers had a different 'tone' about them... It was hard for me to feel comfortable speaking with one,as he seemed rushed and I wasn't his priority at the moment... The 3rd was vert rehearsed it seemed ... Again I had to be creative in quickly think of way to bring his attention back to our interview... The 2nd one was fantastic... Probably the best and most relaxed process I've experienced... Her questions to me were different then the norm and ... I want to say fun ... I'm sure they were to find out my character and personality.. With one question or an instance per say ... I had to describe a time I went above and beyond... My reply "It's hard for me to think of one ibmnstance because I feel it's not only a part of ny job but it's my nature to go above and beyond to make sure a client/customer knows their complaint issue and at times even compliment is going to be adressed assesses resolved or compromised" ... I then asked for her email address n asked if itd be ok if I could have the rest of business day to choose 1 and email it to her .... Is it frowned upon to ask for a length of time? (she said absolutely and I could hear she wasn't agitated

[tnff]

I notice pretty much everyone is looking at personality type questions. To me that's why so many hires don't work out. Yes, personality and fit is important, but the most important thing is they have to be able to do the job. If you're counting on HR to ensure they have skills, that's a big gap. HR doesn't know the skills and anyone can fill out a resume that says they can do anything. The last set of applicants I got from HR had 20 people on the list and 17 didn't even have the minimum qualifications. Oh sure, they could fill the square, but didn't have the right background to know what the square meant. Unless you are hiring for very basic jobs, there is a certain level of skill and ability the candidate must come with. Some skills can't be taught; they either have them or they don't. I've wasted too much time trying to train newcomers who just don't have the basic knowledge to do the job.


The other issue with hiring on personality is too many people are very capable of faking it for the interview. Seen way to many that show the perfect fit personality to the hiring panel, but once on board, have a very different personality toward coworkers.


I ask skill and knowledge based questions first while observing their personal interactions. I don't ask the typical trick and pseudo psychological questions that are so in favor today because they say more about the company than the candidate.

[Marie Joseph]

A lot of it depends upon the position that I am hiring for, but as for the non-technical skills I generally look for enthusiasm, willingness to learn, and sincerity. I also will ask questions related to the technical skills and always have the hiring manager with me since the prospective employee should have the chance to meet the person s/he will potentially be working for. I also like to have the potential hire meet other employees in the department for a casual discussion and tour as part of the interview process and gather feedback from them.

I avoid hiring on personality or "fit". I have seen too many bad hires that have made it through the system this way and refuse to use the canned questions corporate provides.