But mistakes can happen. Some recruiters often perceive a conversation with a candidate as an interrogation, where they can put a person in an uncomfortable and stressful position. This is a serious mistake and should not be done this way. So, let's talk about the way to a good interview.
Get a general idea of the position and the candidate
Read the job description, key responsibilities, and skills required for the position. What does the candidate need to be successful? Are some skills mandatory and others 'appropriate'? Where can you compromise and where can you not? What tasks or responsibilities can be taught to this person at work later on, and what experience should they have from day one?
For example, for the direct duties of a designer, a person must have certain graphic programs, but, for example, various analytical services (even if they are in use in your company and everyone makes reports), they can learn later, already in the course of work. There is the main thing, and there is the secondary thing."
Look through the candidate's CV and highlight the areas you would like to explore in more detail during the interview. Are there any previous experiences, skills, or key projects that you would like to spend more time on? Is there a skill you'd like to learn more about?
Suppose, for example, you're looking for someone who has experience managing multiple projects at once and is able to prioritise different tasks. In their CV, the candidate states: "managed such-and-such tasks and projects in a large and close-knit team". This is a rather vague point, so it's better to go into it in more depth, for example, ask: "Tell me more about your experience of working on several projects at once. How did you manage it?".
If the candidate can tell you what kind of projects they were, what they used, what their responsibilities were, and do it in a concise and compact way, you should take a closer look at them. Less general - more specific, that's what your motto should be!
It's better to prepare questions in advance
You may be handed a list of questions from above, or you may be involved in compiling it.
In any case, your list of questions should include both highly specialised and "general", behavioural questions. Most positions require both technical knowledge and soft skills."To get the most comprehensive information possible, make sure your questions include specific examples. For example, let's say you want to know how a candidate handles conflict. You could ask: "Have you ever had any difficult issues with your colleagues or boss? How did you get out of it?"
Or perhaps you want to know how well a candidate adapts to change. You can ask: "Give me an example of a time when you had to adjust your expectations for a project. What happened and how did you manage to do it?"
The goal is to get candidates to talk about how they could handle different situations that arise in their work or in a team - because this can happen in your company.
When it comes to purely technical questions, be creative here too.For example, if you are discussing remote employment for programmers, you can ask the candidate to list some disadvantages or what they lack in their favourite programming tools. In order to come up with such questions, ask the specialists in this area in your company, they will tell you what to ask and what +/- correct answer you should expect.
If you are filling an online position for content managers, you can ask him to describe what tools the candidate uses to measure the effectiveness of his work. You can also ask them to take tests that you or the tech department have prepared in advance. You should test the candidate comprehensively, on various aspects of their future work.
Build a friendly atmosphere at the interview
Don't make the candidate feel hostile or anxious. Start with friendly and unobtrusive questions, ask the person "How's your mood?" or "How was your day?" or something else in the same vein. As practice shows, if you start a conversation in a casual, non-official manner, the person opens up more easily and you can understand the candidate better. Small talk will also help you relax. Remind yourself that you are just talking.
Next, let the candidate know what to expect from the rest of the interview, including its structure, duration, and what you expect from their answers. Knowing the structure will help the candidate and also allow you to review the specific steps you will be taking. Finally, check to see if the candidate has any questions before continuing.
As you go deeper into the discussion, show genuine interest in the candidate's answers. Don't multitask and don't allow yourself to get distracted.
However, let the candidate know that you will be taking notes. Your key task is to get the person to have a frank conversation so that they don't answer you like a programmed robot. It is a lively conversation, lively answers, reservations - this is your key goal, not dry and template phrases from resumes and interview trainings.
And once again, take notes!
Listening to the candidate's answers, notice the key points. Don't rely on your memory, especially if you will be interviewing several candidates in one day. Take notes to remember important details about their skills and experience, which will help you make your decision. It's also helpful to cross-check the candidate's answers from time to time with slightly different questions to ensure that they are identical (i.e. honest).
You don't need to write down the candidate's answers word for word, but try to cover the general context of what they are saying and specific facts - places of work, some features, dates, etc. The details of their work are also very important - what exactly did they do in certain situations? What outcomes or skills were associated with their actions?
Your notes during the interview will also help you to analyse more carefully whether you have enough information to draw conclusions on a particular issue and whether you need to add an additional question: "Can you tell me a little bit more about this or that?"
At the end of the day, if a candidate is struggling to answer a question, don't give them a red card right away. Sometimes people need a little time to think. Give them a moment to collect their answer, note the moment to yourself - and if the question is still causing difficulty, move on to the next question and come back to it at the end of the interview if you have time.
Your questions should not be typical
If you ask the candidate typical questions that you have collected somewhere on the Internet, be prepared to get the same typical answers, because, as they say, no one has ever been banned from Google.So, in addition to being professional and comprehensive, your questions should not look standard.
An example of an atypical question would be something like "Name three reasons why we shouldn't hire you." At the same time, we advise you not to ask questions like "Why is a wheel shaped like a circle", as some coaches recommend. The fact is that such questions, although non-standard, can be offensive when it comes to hiring a high-level specialist, not a novice junior.
Ask about previous work
If the candidate has a previous job, be sure to ask what he or she liked and disliked about colleagues and managers. And you can immediately put an end to those who will openly slander their former management, this is a bad sign.
At the same time, if a person speaks objectively about their experience, can highlight the positive and negative aspects, this shows that they accept criticism and are capable of analysis and introspection, which is already good.
Peculiarities of remote interviews
If we are talking about remote interviews for the purpose of hiring for vacancies with remote work, then we can distinguish between telephone and video conversations, now more people prefer the second option, but the first has not yet completely lost its position.
When it comes to telephone interviews, there are several general principles:
- Don't call at any time, set a date and time when you will call the person;
- Study the candidate's CV before the conversation to immediately form a list of specific questions;
- Often a telephone conversation is a prerequisite for a new, more thorough interview, so keep in mind that you need to quickly assess the general level of the candidate and ask him or her key questions accordingly.
If we're talking about a video conversation, then you can visually assess the candidate, his or her emotional reactions, etc. This is a bonus, but remember to follow certain rules:
- you are the face of the company, so you should look neat, there should be only a business environment around you, ideally with a company logo in the background, etc.
- in the conversation, you should present the company in such a way that the candidate is eager to work here (this is also true for regular interviews);
- talks should be conducted from a corporate account, not your personal one, because it is difficult to take the interlocutor seriously when his nickname is pespatron0812 or something similar;
- treat the interlocutor with respect, do not solve other issues during a remote interview, no matter how important they are.
In general, treat remote interviews with the same responsibility. They are different in form and may be a little shorter in duration, but the general rules are the same.
What questions you should definitely not ask
It is better to refrain from asking questions about religious beliefs, nationality, politics, sexual orientation, and financial situation. These questions violate a person's personal boundaries and it's better not to go there unless you really need to.
Some recruiters or HRs ask women at the interview: "When do you plan to go on maternity leave?" This question is not only unethical, but also meaningless: even if the applicant is going on maternity leave, she will not inform us about it in advance.
And remember that the law prohibits refusing to hire for reasons that are not related to a person's business qualities. Be careful with questions on personal topics: the applicant may associate the refusal with his or her answers, consider it discriminatory, and even sue you, especially if he or she is a foreigner. In Ukraine, this phenomenon is not yet very common, but in Europe or the US, it happens quite regularly.
Don't be guided by stereotypes
Sometimes recruiters make a mistake - when a candidate voices a "trigger", they immediately give up on him or her, or even prejudge the interlocutor for some reason. Here are a few of these stereotypical prejudices:
- young - it means irresponsible and inexperienced;
- if, on the contrary, he is older, he will be uninitiative and wants to sit out until retirement;
- he worked for competitors - definitely a "sent Cossack";
- has children - it means he will be constantly distracted by them, deal with them at the expense of working time;
- has no children and is a woman - it means she will soon go on maternity leave.
There are many more examples like this, but you don't have to "get behind the conveyor belt" and evaluate everyone unequivocally just because such stereotypes were once confirmed. All people are unique and everyone has their own system of priorities and values. And your task is not to label people, but to evaluate them professionally and professionally.
How to summarise
Let's say we have several candidates, and we have talked to all of them. How do we choose the one we need? To evaluate a person, you need to translate qualitative characteristics (experienced/inexperienced) into quantitative ones, i.e. points, for example.
Put a certain number of points in your notes for answering important questions. Then you can compare the performance of your candidates and make an objective choice. The more criteria you have for evaluation, the more accurate your choice will be.
And finally, one last piece of advice. Do not perceive the interview as a conversation between a boss and a subordinate (even if you are the applicant's future boss). Here you are partners in the conversation, you can also be asked questions, re-asked, and you must answer them honestly.
Then the conversation will be holistic, and its results will be correct. It's much better to talk through all the issues with the candidate and part ways because you don't like each other in some way than to deal with the consequences of missed or hidden pitfalls during the interview. Honesty, loyalty and openness are the key to everything.
