A job interview is a structured conversation with someone to establish whether they are likely to be able to do a job for you – and to find out if they want to do the job. Yes, you should be polite and try to make the candidates comfortable, but don’t forget that the purpose is to find out specific information and record the results, so don’t be too social and chatty about it because you may undermine your ability to find the information you need. So here is step two (role mapping was the first step)
1. Preparation: You really need to prepare in advance, otherwise the candidate will be aware, remember you are representing the company and everything it is about. Just turning up unprepared will mean you get about 50% of the information you need and you will miss an important opportunity to find out the other 50%. So firstly write down job requirements and prepare a spreadsheet to score all the elements needed for the job. These typically fall into four categories:
• Experience: What they need to have done to make them able to do the job. Their experience gives them the maturity to make decisions for themselves.
• Qualifications: Any specific qualifications they must have.
• Soft skills: Do they need to manage people? Who do they need to get along with? Most people need to be able to get along with someone in a working environment be it colleagues, bosses, directors, shareholders, clients or prospects. Ask yourself what skills they need to do this.
• Practical details: This includes things like commuting distance, a match between their salary expectations and what you are offering, car ownership, willingness to travel etc. These factors are as important as their other skills because any one of these can be a deal breaker.
2. The questions: Then, on the basis of the job requirements, think about the questions you want to ask. Some will be obvious but ask them anyway. Each question you ask in an interview should have a purpose, so only choose questions that explore areas that fit with the job requirements.
3. Phrase questions carefully: Ask open questions to get people talking e.g. “Tell me about your experiences of managing people”. Don’t lead your candidates with your questions, e.g. a question structured as “We do it this way – is that how you do it?” will induce the answer “yes” in all cases. Instead ask “How would you go about doing it?” Then they don’t know what your idea of the correct answer is until after they’ve answered the question.
4. And why? Don’t forget to add on “and why?” to questions e.g. “What was your favourite part of your previous job, and why?” This allows you to open up the conversation beyond a one sentence answer. It also helps you find out their motivation for doing things which is much more powerful than just finding out about what they have done.
5. Interests: Ask about their outside interests. You’ll find out their depth of character and whether they are likely to be a good personal fit in your work environment. For example, if your office is full of environmentally aware staff and this candidate loves spending all weekend doing cross-country trials in their 4×4, then you have to ask yourself whether they are going to fit in.
6. Legals: If there is anything controversial you want to ask it is safest if you ask everyone the same question and then record the answer. For example, if you want to ask about their family responsibilities then ask something like “Do you have any dependants? And how are they catered for?” Then ask everyone that same question and make a note of the answers. Then if anyone challenges it you can demonstrate that you have treated all candidates equally.
7. Reasons for leaving: Ask their reason for leaving their previous job and listen carefully to how they answer. If they insult their previous employer or colleagues then you can be sure they will do the same to you. If they find a way to be polite and tactful then that is how they will behave when they are working with you.
8. Read the CV: Before each interview read the candidate’s CV looking out for anomalies e.g. years not accounted for etc. Then take time to ask them about it in the interview. Don’t be judgemental about what you hear but collect the information. Often gaps are explained by time spent caring for children or possibly world travel.
9. Notes: A practical suggestion is to print out a set of questions for each interview and write the answers on it in the interview. You must keep your notes as a record for an appropriate length of time e.g. 6 months and then destroy it. That’s a legal requirement.
10. Talk through the CV: Get the candidate to talk you through their CV describing what they have done and when. It becomes clear whether they can talk confidently about themselves and some things do come out differently when they actually say it.
11. Time for questions: Always offer time for questions from the candidate. You’ll find out what level they are thinking at by the depth of their questions.