When was the last time you were interviewed? If you’re a small business owner, it may have been a while ago.
Whether your last interview was a year ago or a decade ago, we can bet you remember the bad ones! Maybe you encountered one of the following circumstances:
- The boss who hadn’t read your resume
- The reception person who forgot to book you in
- The colleague who asked irrelevant and difficult interview questions
Time is precious, and recruiting can become expensive if you waste time and resources. So to drive your efficiency for the next time you’re hiring, let’s discuss how job interview conducting is done right!
Top 10 Job Interview Conducting Tips
Conducting structured interviews takes proper planning and attention to detail. If you don’t know where to start, you’ve come to the right place.
To help you out, here are the top 10 tips from HR on Hand, for optimal job interview conducting:
1. Choose your selection panel.
Before starting the job interview process, ensure the right people are interviewing your potential employee.
Maybe you decide you’re the only one who needs to be involved with the initial interview. Or perhaps you find there are other people in your company who can better speak to the role the candidate has applied for.
Either way, establish your interview panel early on and brief them on how the interview process should go.
2. Pick the right job applicants.
An essential part of ensuring a job interview isn’t a waste of time for everyone is to ensure you’re only interviewing the most qualified candidates.
Take the time to review each job seekers’ resume and other supporting documents before following up for an interview. This ensures that you’re only interviewing the best people for the job.
3. Make sure that you set aside enough time.
Something to keep in mind about conducting interviews is time, as you don’t want to be limited by it.
Set aside enough time for a thorough interview, whether that’s 30 minutes or a full hour (or more!). A structured interview doesn’t necessarily have to be all that long, but you want to ensure that this time is available just in case. Let your candidate know before the interview how long they should expect it to take.
4. Thoroughly read your candidate’s resume.
There may be times when someone else takes charge of the recruitment process – such as if you use a recruitment agency – which might mean the first time you meet and speak to the job applicant you’re interviewing is during the interview.
Even if this is the case, you shouldn’t show up unprepared. The interview should not be the first time you read your job candidate’s resume. Make sure to have an understanding of who the candidate is beforehand by reading their resume and other documents. This will also help you form better questions for the interview.
5. Write down specific questions.
Another factor in being ready for an interview is having the right questions prepared. You should never walk into an interview without a plan. This results in a lack of structure, wasted time, and can throw the interviewee off.
Make sure that you have a specific set of questions prepared to ask your job candidate that cover the full scope of the job and your company culture.
6. Introduce yourself.
It’s always a good idea to start an interview by introducing yourself and your company. When you introduce yourself first, you put your candidate at ease and set the tone for the remainder of the interview. Don’t forget to allow the candidate to introduce themselves too! Make sure to also use this time to let your candidate know what the interview will run.
7. Describe the role.
Ideally, the candidate you’re interviewing should know the job description of the role they’re interviewing for. However, to make sure that both you and your candidate are on the same page from the beginning, give them a brief description of the role in your company and the expectations.
8. Evaluate the need for a second interview.
One interview is rarely enough to make a final decision on a candidate. If the first interview goes well, consider whether you’ll need a second interview for additional questions.
You do not have to conduct the second interview. Someone else on your team, who the new candidate would be working closely with, could do it. Regardless, make sure you have the right panellists and interview questions set up for this second interview.
9. Do your due diligence.
After the interview, and before making a final decision, you must go through any necessary additional steps to verify that this person is the right candidate for the job. These include checking references, ensuring the applicant is legally able to work in Australia, and conducting a criminal record check (if applicable).
10. Follow up.
Our last job interview conducting tip is to follow up with each potential employee, whether they were successful or not.
Advising the unsuccessful candidates that they have not been selected is respectful and allows your company to maintain a good reputation. You also don’t want to delay following up with a successful candidate. Chances are you are not the only company they were interviewing for!
Conclusion
Job interview conducting isn’t easy, but if you take the time to prepare, you’ll interview the best candidates and end up with the most qualified person for the job.
Use our free recruitment and selection checklist to guide you through the job interview conducting process.
