Interview Skills

2009-03-22T00:39:00.000-07:00

Scope

Scope of write-up here is to provide information, on how to interview the candidates/ job applicants being considered for selection for the organization, to those professionals who are responsible to take decisions on the selection of human resources for the organization. This write-up does not include any guidelines on how to interview for employment to the candidates/job applicants. That has been covered in two separate write-ups for which refer: (Interview Preparation for Job Seekers) http://interview-preparation-jobs.blogspot.com/) and (Interview Questions) http://interview-question-bank.blogspot.com/ .

Definition of Job Interviewing

Interview is a part of selection procedure to recruit and select the human resources for the organization.
Interviews are designed and used to ensure the future job performance of the selected candidates on the basis of applicant’s oral responses to oral enquiries.

Objectives of Interviewing

Informing the applicants/candidates about the job
Informing applicants/candidates about the company
Demonstrating company’s fair and equitable selection procedure
Demonstrating the rigorousness of interview and systematic/disciplined way (e.g. time management ) of managing the interview
Gaining unbiased factual information against the selection criteria
Taking decision to select or reject a candidate
Making a job offer with details of various aspects of job offer
Influencing suitable candidate to accept the job offer

Outcome of interviewing

Right candidate- selected: correct outcome
Wrong candidate- rejected: correct outcome
Right candidate- rejected: wrong outcome
Wrong candidate- selected: wrong outcome

What do you Check by Interviewing?

Candidate’s competence for the job
Candidate’s motivation level for the job
Candidate’s match (fit) for the organizational culture
Candidate’s match (fit) with his team members in the organization

Interview Venue’s Physical Setting

No disturbance in and around the room
No phone calls
Neutral sitting arrangement (L shape or round table)
Interview stationery
Water or other normal beverages
Comfortable

Interview Structure

Open and build rapport: introductions, purpose of interview, position/job role, interview structure
Current and previous roles: candidate explains, look out for his approaches/achievements
Education: candidate informs, check with required education levels
Upbringing: candidate brings forth his environmental upbringing
Motivational aspects: candidate’s objectives and motivation for his professional and general life
Interests: professional and other than professional interests of the candidate
Close and wrap up: what selection process steps will take place here on

Interviewing/Questioning Skills: Major Points

Interviewer should have studied the CV/resume/bio-data of the candidate prior to interviewing him
Questions should aim at factual recall, comparisons, opinions, cases, hypothetical situations etc
Concentrate on asking questions pertaining to candidate’s past performance which is one best indicator of his future performance generally
You may ask open as well as close ended questions. Yet, It is preferable to ask open ended questions that allow candidate to throw more information on himself (and that’s what you really want from the interview)
Encourage the candidate to give you more examples and instances of his achievement details
You can design questioning sets to include: open ended question for elaboration, further probe, now narrow down, close and summarize
Take one item of interviewing at a time
Don’t be judgmental or biased during the interview process
Remember that you must build quality and purpose in your questioning to get quality and correct information from the candidate
Listen more, talk less
In interview, do not try to show off your knowledge and achievements to impress the candidate or the other interview panel members; that’s never the purpose of any job interview
Ask questions to elicit candidate’s knowledge, skill/competency sets, analytical skills, emotional intelligence, achievements/accomplishments, approaches to handling various situations, social skills etc as necessary for the selection for a specific job
Home work should be done by the interviewer to design appropriate and effective questions
Normally interviewer does not need to use the stress interviewing questions except for those jobs where stress interviewing if necessary to find as to how the candidate will management a stress situation
Run of the mills questions which most interviewers are tempted to ask like “tell your 5 strongest points or 5 weakest points etc” do not lead the interviewer to take any objective decisions (most of the smart candidates would have already prepared their best text bookish replies to such questions and you might unnecessarily get impressed)
Do not ask questions which sound like ethnic, religious, gender or such unethical discrimination

For More Guidance, Assistance, Training and Consultation

Contact: prodcons@prodcons.com

Also refer: (Prodcons Group) http://prodcons-group.blogspot.com/, (Training Programs by Prodcons Group) http://training-development-function.blogspot.com/ and (Productivity Consultants) http://productivity-consultants.blogspot.com/

Other Topics of Interest

All Management Topics (General Management, Marketing and Sales, Service, Operations/Manufacturing, Quality, Maintenance, Human Resources, Finance and Accounts, Information Technology, Life Management)

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