Conducting good job interviews was a challenging prospect before the economy crashed, before companies stopped hiring and managers stopped interviewing and everyone stopped practicing.
A few years ago (before the global recession), Development Dimensions International (DDI) and Monster (monster.com) asked nearly 4,000 international job seekers what complaints they had about their job interviewers. The main complaints:
- Act like they don’t have time to talk to me (70%)
- With possession information about the position (57%)
- Turn interview into cross-examination (51%)
- Being late (48%)
- Appearing unprepared for the interview (47%)
- Ask questions unrelated to job skills (43%)
- Ask personal questions (38%)
- Talking about yourself instead of my grades (33%)
These complaints help clarify our challenge: Experienced and practiced or not, many managers are ill-prepared and underestimate the importance of the job interview and their role in it. While job candidates feel enormous pressure to make a good impression, interviewers, unfortunately, often feel it’s okay to improvise, appear aloof, disorganized, or even rude, as if the meeting is more of an administrative hassle than anything else. stuff.
Pretty soon, when those bright, enthusiastic, potential new hires come running back to our door, managers will be back in that old (slightly less familiar) interviewer’s chair. What do we all want from these interviewers… besides selecting the best person for the job? Simple.
- Make each interview a priority on your schedule. Few things you do as a manager are more important or have a more lasting impact on your team and your company.
- Prepare for each interview. In fact Prepare: Know the job requirements and desired qualifications, have a game plan for running the meeting (beginning, middle, and several possible endings), review your interview questions, review candidate information, set aside enough time, choose a comfortable meeting room with our distractions. Interviewers need to prepare just as hard, if not harder, than candidates.
- Ask good questions. You have a short window of time to gather important and work-relevant information about a stranger you just met. To do so, you need to ask the right questions and avoid the many inappropriate and illegal questions that can get you and your business in trouble. For example, if a candidate has a clear disability, can you ask about it? Can you ask the candidates their age or how many children they have or if they want to have children or if they have ever been arrested or where they were born?
- Listens. The 80/20 Rule helps: do 80% listening and 20% talking. Ask open-ended questions that allow candidates to provide full descriptions and explanations. Focus on your words and behaviors with open eyes and ears…and an open mind.
- Clarify. While it’s good to use prepared questions that are consistent across interviews for a particular job, there’s more to interviewing than just running the written questions like a robot—you may need to dig deeper to get the fuller picture. Candidates are on their best behavior, working hard to present what they think you want…much like a first date! Good interviewers know how to get the information they need to make a solid decision.
- Sell yourself. In the eyes of candidates, you are your company. Project the right image: be courteous, personable and professional. Candidates who don’t become employees can still be (or hang out with) valued customers. And, even if you decide that they are perfect for the job, they may decide that you are not the right one for them. them.
We’ll all start hiring again soon, and many managers will have to learn or relearn one of their most vital and overlooked roles. Better get ready!