A hiring manager has every bit as much of the same need to perform well during a job interview as the candidate. In this case, the hiring manager’s performance will result in the best possible selection. Here are five tips for interviewing job candidates.
Do Your Homework
Interviewers should come prepared to the job interview by thoroughly reviewing the candidate’s resume beforehand. It is better to not waste time during the interview reviewing the resume on the spot. It makes a better impression on job candidates when the interviewer comes to an interview with some prior knowledge of the candidate. In other words, if candidates do their homework, so should you.
Prepare Your Questions
There is a limited amount of time during a job interview for you to get to know the candidate. Additionally, you will want to spend your time during the interview following a candidate’s responses and forming an impression. Coming up with questions during the interview distracts your focus from interacting with the candidate. By preparing questions ahead of time, you can be more efficient during the interview when you already know what kinds of questions to ask your candidate.
Be Conversational
Job interviews that are excessively formal make everyone involved feel uneasy. If you are reading from a script and not interacting with the candidate, you may miss many clues as to the candidate’s true personality. Oftentimes, candidates come prepared to answer the questions, but they are not prepared for the other interactions. By being conversational, you put a job candidate at ease, which then makes them more likely to show their character traits.
Talk About the Candidate
Hiring managers often want to make a good impression on the candidate, but the topic of conversation should largely be about the candidate. Hiring managers should resist the urge to make the interview about themselves because they already have the job. The goal of every job interview is to find out whether a candidate is the right fit, and that can only be reached by learning about the candidate.
Sell the Company
The interview should focus on the candidate However, it should also persuade the applicant that they want to work at your company. You should be subtly trying to sell your company as the best place for the candidate to work. Note that the sales pitch should not be too overt.
While interviewing candidates may seem like a daunting task, by following a few simple rules, the process can become easier. Make it even easier by hiring Moxie to take care of bookkeeping and make sure your employees get paid on time.