Tips for Conducting an Effective InterviewHow to hire the best people for your business

Conducting an effective job interview is your chance to learn more about the prospective employee, their skills, their experiences, and whether they will be a good fit for your team.

A lack of preparation for an interview can result in a bad hire, leading to significant training costs, team clashes, and many more problems that can negatively impact your business’s budget.

In addition, candidates are also deciding whether they want to work for your company. A negative interview experience can reflect poorly on your business and damage its reputation. It’s therefore critical that in the brief time you spend with a prospective employee, you obtain the crucial information and weigh up whether they are the right person for the job.

The following tips will help you to conduct an effective job interview and enable you to hire the best person for your business.

Start strong by putting the applicant at ease

Shockingly, a whopping 80% of interviewers do not provide a great experience to candidates. This can have a significant impact on your business—the perfect candidate may choose not to work for your company if they suffer a negative interview.

Start your interaction by extending professional courtesies. Offer the candidate a drink, ask if they found the office alright, and perhaps give them a brief tour. This will humanise you and your company, relax the atmosphere, and eradicate any awkward or nervous silences.

It’s also prudent to continue to be personable throughout the interview. Making eye contact, keeping your webcam on, and building a rapport before getting into the difficult questions will encourage your prospective employee to talk more freely and allow you both to get the most out of the session.

Listen

Remember that the aim of the interview is to assess and learn about the candidate. A common rule is to listen much more than talk. Ask questions and guide the interview but allow the interviewee time to think about their responses and expand upon their answers.

By taking a step back and listening as much as possible, you will leave the interview with a clear view of your prospective employee, enabling you to easily assess their ability to work for your business. In turn, the interviewee will also leave the interview feeling respected and valued, giving you a strong base on which you can build a professional relationship.

Ensure that you are thoroughly prepared

To get the most out of your interview, block some time out in your rota beforehand to plan and structure the interview process.

Having a prepared set of questions that directly relate to the job’s responsibilities can help you to quickly establish whether the candidate is the correct person for the job. It’s also important to review the candidate’s resume before the interview takes place. In doing so, you can create tailored questions that boost the productivity of the interview.

You must also ensure that enough time is set aside for the interview and that an appropriate room has been set up in advance. Not only will this allow the interview to run more smoothly, but it will also give the interviewee a good first impression of your company.

Ask behaviour-related questions

Behaviour-related questions are an easy way to discover whether a candidate will suitably fit in with your current employees and company ethos.

Asking questions such as “tell me about a time when you…” will demonstrate examples of past performance and behaviour. The answers of which will allow you to tap into the candidate’s psychology and assess how their work ethic will blend, or not blend, into your business.

Similarly, it is also vital to look out for non-verbal signs of behaviour. As well as their appropriate dress and eye contact, noting the candidate’s body language will help you to determine whether they are the best person for the job.

Learn about the candidate’s career goals and set expectations

Many candidates will go into a job interview needing to know more about the company and the job. Taking some time to explain the background of your business and the job role in question will allow your prospective employee to find that the reality meets their expectations if they are to be hired.

Spending a bit of time learning about the candidate’s career goals will also give you an insight into what their professional expectations are and what they hope to get out of the job. This will also allow you to branch out into the topic of extra responsibilities—perhaps they’d like to take responsibility of time-off requests—and begin planning a professional career path.

Not only will this help you to sell the job and assess if the candidate is the right fit for your workplace, but it will also help the candidate to assess whether this is the right job for them.

Look to improve your interviewing techniques

Understanding that you can always improve your interviewing techniques will allow you to continue to grow. Just as 70% of candidates want feedback after an interview, take some time to ask your candidates how you could also improve your interviewing skills.

Combined with incorporating these tips into your interviewing process, your future interviews will run more smoothly and more efficiently, and will boost your ability to ensure that the correct person is hired every time.

Start scheduling your staff online.

No credit card required, nothing to download, no mailing lists and no surprises.