As there is so much as an employer to the interview process I am breaking down my blogs regarding interviewing into four. My first blog today will make recommendations on interview preparation. Future blogs will cover interview questioning techniques, creating a standardised interview questionnaire and, finally, making the job offer.
Preparing for the interview
Interviews are such an extremely important part of recruitment; it is not just about you interviewing the candidate but also about the candidate interviewing you. If the candidate has reached the interview point in your recruitment process you must be considering hiring them. Therefore, it is vital that you give the right impression of yourself, the role and the business. If after the interview the candidate does not feel it’s the right job for them, at least if you have got the interview process spot on, they will always have a positive memory of the interview and your organisation. I have always tried to make my interviewees feel relaxed and at ease and have received some very good feedback because of this.
CVs
Firstly, you will have to filter through the CVs to finalise the list of interviewees. Review your job description against each CV and rate the CVs compared to the job description. If the job description requires marketing experience, is it obvious from the CV that the candidate has the appropriate experience? If they have marketing experience, is it the right type of marketing experience?
Basically you must go through each candidate’s CVs methodically, comparing their experience and skills to those required for the role, and rate each candidate (making the process fair). This should result in a shortlist of suitable candidates for interview.
Location of interview
There are various factors to consider:
• Have all the papers ready for each candidate’s interview. There is nothing worse than the interviewer not having all of the relevant paperwork in front of them and/or not even knowing who they are interviewing!
• How many people are going to be in the room
• How many people are on the interview panel
• What is the best layout for your room
• Are you asking the candidate to present anything? If so, do you have the correct equipment? Do you need any IT equipment (for example for a PowerPoint presentation)?
• Ensure your receptionist is aware of the interviewees attending, the names of all the candidates and times of arrival. Your receptionist can make the initial warm welcome and settle them in.
• Make sure everyone in the office is aware that you are interviewing so there are no interruptions or noise outside the interview room
• Make the interviewee feel comfortable. The candidate will be nervous enough so make the room, and yourselves, welcoming.
Prepare a timetable
Interviews can quite easily run over time so allocate approximate times to go through your interview questionnaire. This will help you keep to the schedule and to a similar interview format for each candidate.
The Interview itself
Introduce yourself and any co-interviewers and outline how the interview will be structured. Go through the background of the company, what services and or products it supplies and what the plans are for the future of the business. Then describe the role and how it fits into the organisational structure and any additional information, such as hours of working, holidays and benefits etc.
At this point you can start your interview questions. Because you have already prepared and aligned the CV with the job description, you will have some really vital questions to ask. These questions may relate to their education (role dependent) but will always relate to their work history, experience and skills. Also, always ask the candidate to provide specific examples of past experiences which will support the skills and experience outlined on their CV. Again, you can use a marking system, which will help post-interviews.
Have someone with you to take notes of the interview enabling you to focus on the candidate and their responses and to ask any follow up questions; I believe that if an interview is more of a conversation then you get far more out of the interview and candidate than just firing questions at the interviewee.
At the end of the interview, ask if they have any questions. If they don’t then hopefully the interview has served its purpose and you have covered all of the relevant information. Of course it may be that the interviewee is too nervous to ask any questions so let them know that if they have any questions after they have left, they can email or call you.
Before they leave, always inform them of what stage of the interview process you are at; whether you will be in touch to request a second interview or inform them that a final decision has been made etc. Also, let them know the timescales; you may not be planning to fill the position for two months, so make sure they understand this.
Next month's blog will be on questioning techniques but, in the meantime, if you have any questions please do give me a call on 07969 433590 or email louise@taylormadeservices.org.uk
22 November 2020