Effective tips for your next interview.
In-person interviews have can be daunting, not only for the candidate interviewing for an open position, but also for the decision makers. How can you use a relatively brief time frame to assess a stranger and figure out if they are a good fit for your organization? How many decision makers should be involved? Should you ask classic questions about strengths and weaknesses?
Experts agree, it will only get harder for organizations to hire top quality talent in the future. As the job market continues to improve, impressive talent will have more choices of jobs. Potential applicants also have access to much more information about the companies that they are applying for by using career websites like Glassdoor. If your interview process doesn’t impress potential employees, they will often look for other more exciting opportunities. When hiring, your job is to not only assess the candidate but also make sure that you can convince the top talent to stay. Visium Resources wants to help you figure out how you can make the interview process work for you, and for them.
1. Prepare Yourself
The talent is not the only one who needs to prepare for the interview. Before you meet with the potential employee you need to figure out what exactly you are looking for. This is a necessary step in order to make sure that you are asking the correct questions during the face-to-face. First, compile a list of “required attributes” that would be essential for the position. For inspiration, look to your top performers. What did they do before joining your company? How do they influence your company? What roles did they hold before joining your organization? What do they have in common? These types of questions will enable you to have a solid grasp on what you are looking for in a new employee.
2. Reduce Stress
Many candidates find job interviews stressful because of the many unknown variables. If you are working with a recruiting agency like Visium Resources, we can help prepare talent for the interview. However, it is always a good idea to reduce the stress level of the initial interview. When people are stressed, they do not perform as well, and it could lead to missing out on a great employee simply because of a stressful interview. To combat the high levels of cortisol usually associated with interview, there are a few steps your organization could take. Tell candidates in advance about the topics you’d like to discuss. Be willing to meet the person at a time that is convenient for them. The goal is to make the talent comfortable do that you can have a productive, professional conversation.
3. Involve Others
But keep it to only a few key decision makers. When making large decisions, like hiring a new employee, it is important to get advice from others. We would recommend only to involve a few trusted colleagues to help you interview. You want to gain multipole opinions in order to hire the right person for the position, but you don’t want to involve so many opinions that it turns into a long, complicated process. Peer interviewers can also be very effective, as that gives your team a say in who they work with. It also helps to give them another reason to help the new employee succeed and increase team morale.
4. Ask for Solutions
It is not always advisable to ask the typical interview questions about strengths and weaknesses. These questions will usually end up not giving you any actionable knowledge to assess the candidate’s potential. Instead, ask for solutions to real problems that your organization is facing. For example, you could explain a problem your team is having and ask the candidate to explain the steps he or she would take to solve or mitigate it. Or, you could describe a process in your organization and ask them to identify inefficiencies. These types of questions will give you a much better ability to really assess a person’s competency and potential.
5. Close the Deal
If you think the meeting is going well and you believe that the candidate is worth pursuing, spend time during the second half of the interview selling them on the role and your organization. Remember, an interview is a mutual process. You must make that process enjoyable for the candidate or you risk losing them to a competing offer. Ask them if they would like to talk to anyone on the team, peers do the best job selling a position and offer an honest picture of what life is like at your organization.
Above all, remember that hiring has always been a process of relationship building. In order to hire a great fit for your organization, it is going to take effort and skill from both sides. However, if you follow these 5 simple tips, you can increase the likelihood of landing the next amazing applicant for your open position.
