Insights

01 27 2017

A team is only as good as the people behind it. A company cannot grow into a winning enterprise singlehandedly, or overnight. It takes time, dedication, and great employees to build a successful company and make it flourish.

In today’s economy, hiring the best people has become more critical than ever, and a key component of that is the interviewing process. As nerve-racking and stressful as interviewing is for a job candidate, as we discussed in a previous blog, the same can be said for the person conducting the interview. Between meetings, busy workdays, and deadlines, it is not always easy juggling multiple roles. Interviewers need to have a process that helps evaluate their candidates efficiently.

Here are five tips that can ease the interview process, and at the same time, help build your team with the best candidates possible.

Allocate Your Time

Time management is one of the most overlooked aspects of an effective interviewing process. When scheduling interviews with potential applicants, pick a day during the week when you can arrange four or five interviews throughout the course of the day and dedicate at least an hour to each of them. You want to be able to dedicate sufficient time to a candidate, especially if you feel you are connecting with someone. You do not want to have to cut the interview short because you have other meetings and deadlines that day.

Ask the Right Questions

Obviously, you’ll want to ask questions during an interview; however, asking the right questions could make all the difference in hiring the right person. When coming up with questions prior to the interview, focus on culture fit, motivation, management and leadership skills, and interpersonal skills, in addition to your questions more directly related to the job responsibilities.

Paint the Picture

You have reviewed the candidate’s resume, arranged an interview, and prepared questions that will help you select the perfect candidate. The next step is “painting the picture”—outlining the interview structure for the candidate. You want to both be on the same page as the interview moves along. Begin by briefly describing the company and the overall job responsibilities. Then ask your questions and encourage the candidate to ask questions of their own; remember, potential candidates are deciding whether they want to work for you, too. This keeps you and the candidate focused on the task at hand and helps the candidate manage expectations.

Less Talking, More Listening

The number one communication skill for a successful workplace is listening. The same goes for when you are interviewing someone. Allow your candidates to describe their skills and qualifications that will prove successful in the role being discussed. Let them talk about past experiences that relate to their potential new responsibilities and assignments. They might even have a unique way of handling a problem your company has been trying to solve. The key here is to listen, more than talk.

Interview the Person, Not the Resume

This is a big one. So many people focus on the resume of the person without interviewing the person behind the resume. A candidate can look amazing on paper, or completely underqualified. You know the saying, “don’t judge a book by its cover.” Think of a resume as the cover. I cannot tell you how many candidates I have interviewed that looked perfect for the role on paper, but in the end were not right for the role, and vice versa. Just because what you are looking for isn’t written on the resume, doesn’t mean the candidate hasn’t had some form of the experience you are looking for.

John Willard Marriott, founder of the Marriott Corporation, once said, “If you take care of your employees they will take care of your customers and your business will take care of itself.” It seems he knew the value of hiring the best employees. The right interviewing process is a great place to start.  

AUTHOR

Will Spencer

Project Manager at StratComm