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This is my first time doing this and I'm fumbling on my words. Its like i'm more nervous than the candidates. Need some tips and guidelines. For those who interview candidates often, what made this easier for you?
What i'm trying to do is remember how it was on the other side of the seat. Like how employers interviewed me. Its been a while though.
In my experience in getting interviewed this year is they ask a lot of behavioral questions that are just plain stupid because I know in no way are they qualified to interpret the answers. I really wish they would get rid of all the BS they have now and just ask questions about the job I'm interviewing for. /rant off!
If a candidate responds to your job posting through T-Mobile sidekick . . . its good judgment to disregard their application right? I need someone who is hardworking and focused.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kodaka
Try thinking of it more like a conversation than an interview.
Try not to make them nervous by being nervous. I agree with the post about not asking behavioral questions, it's just confusing. Just stick to what is pertinent for them to understand about the job. You would be surprised how many people leave an interview and have no idea what the job even is, because it was misrepresented.
Just them a nice general question such as: Tell me a little about yourself. Then explain the position, the pay and expectations, and ask them if there are any questions. Bing, bang, boom you are outta there!
Just them a nice general question such as: Tell me a little about yourself. Then explain the position, the pay and expectations, and ask them if there are any questions. Bing, bang, boom you are outta there!
You have to prepare for the interview as much as the candidate. Fortunately, you only need to prepare once! Think about the skills needed for the job as well as the attributes a person needs to be successful. Then develop questions around those things, asking the candidate to give examples when they have been successful at those things. For example, if it's really important that the person be a team player then ask them to describe how they have done that in the past and how it helped the team. If you just ask "are you a team player" you are going to get "yes" for an answer - highly subjective.
You also want to get a sense for the person's attitude towards work in general. One of the questions I ask is "Describe for me your perfect job". You would be amazed at the variety of responses I get! One guy said 9-5, no weekends. I immediately disqualified him because I needed people to step up and work overtime when we were in a crunch.
You might try practicing with a coworker or spouse/SO - you'd be surprised how much role playing really helps.
When interviewing, it is important that you make the candidates feel comfortable also and create a little connection by asking them how they feel or what specific preparation they made prior to the interview. This will somehow make them feel at ease and confident. The interview must be conversational but in a businesslike manner. You can refer to the candidates' resume and ask something that is related to what they have written on it. Then you can say something a little about the company, about the position you are looking to be filled in and the compensation. From there you can ask the candidates about their skills and why you should hire them, something like that. You can also browse for tips and advices on the common
Last edited by FarNorthDallas; 04-13-2010 at 11:41 AM..
Reason: deleted link
I've been interviewing all over the place in a wide span of businesses from the #1 corporate place to work to small firms that interviewed me casually at Starbucks, and I've been able to evaluate which style of an interview works the best for the job seeker and employer.
Narrowing down a list of 75 candidates to 10?
Casual interview asking what they know about the company, the position, and how they think they fit in well with both the position and the company.
Entry Level job for college grads
Pick their brain! Ask them everything in the book!
City/County jobs are the worst because they're panel style using people who are familiar with the job and they always ask 4-5 questions and use the information to weeed through and choose a smaller pool who then move into interviewing with the supervisor/manager directly. Most of the process is formality because of HR legal issues, so your just repeating the same stuff thats on your resume.
One of the WORST interview strategies is asking the same old boring questions such as, "what makes you the best candidate, tell me about your last positions in detail, tell me about your education/qualifications". These are the worst because this information is easily seen in a resume! Nowadays if your not tailoring your professional resume to specific jobs then you won't get a callback anyways, so for those candidates that are ready to go, its just a waste of time because everybody has a textbook answer for these type of questions so it does nothing for either party.
On my last interview I actually controlled the entire interview because the hiring manager allowed it to become a conversation instead of the common interrogation. From this manner, I was able to learn tons about the company, his management style, other coworkers and most importantly, I was able hear more about the job and convey how well I was a match for it through casual conversation. It was a genuine method for both of us to gauge who well the match was for the specific job.
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