Some people get very nervous before a job interview but it’s not just the interviewee that feels the pressure. Conducting an interview is a skill that some have and some don’t. The person doing the interviewing feels a certain amount of pressure too and it could be said that the way they come across as the representative of the company means that you are in effect interviewing them too.
Here are some top tips for getting it right when you conduct an interview:
Focus on starting slow and safe maybe by asking a personal question so that you hopefully put the person at ease. This humanises the scenario and you might even hear an interesting story.
Make some of the questions open-ended and this way you get your candidate talking more rather than just giving one word responses to specific questions.
Let the interviewees talk and allow them the space to go off topic for a bit if they want to. This is where you learn some very interesting things about their personality traits. Don’t cut them off and change the subject if they are opening up.
Don’t send questions in advance as you want to see how candidates react to being put on the spot and if you send questions first then you will only receive very scripted replies.
Listen to what’s being said and not being said. Were any questions skipped or glossed over and what could be the reasons for this?
Have a schedule so that as the interview progresses you will remember to cover all the key points.
Prepare a private and comfortable room that does not feel like an interrogation. Arrange the room so as to not overly intimidate and ensure the space has good quality Gloucester Office Furniture from a site like www.severnfurnishing.co.uk
Write down the questions that you want to ask and develop them from areas of the candidate’s work experience that need the most attention based on the job specifications. Try to commit most of them to memory though as you will want to maintain eye contact as much as possible rather than staring down at paper looking disinterested.
Make sure that the job description is totally up to date and does indeed reflect the current requirements of the role. If it is not current, then highlight this in the interview and gear your questions towards what is relevant.
