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Interview Advice: 3 Tips For Employers & Recruiters

In today’s competitive business environment, it is just as important for the employers and recruiters to be on top of their game as it is for the job candidates.  To attract the best employees, a company must enact a powerful and well thought-through recruiting process.  The interview is a vital component in your smart hiring process to building a high-performing team of motivated employees. There are many articles offering interview advice for job seekers about how to flawlessly handle a job interview, but few focus on how the employers and recruiters should conduct the process from their end. The below tips and interview advice build further on some of the suggestions laid out in our recent post.

By incorporating these tips and interview advice into your recruitment process, you can enhance the effectiveness of your company’s hiring regiment.

Interview Advice #1: Be Personable

When you are considering hiring on a new member of your team, their credentials, experience, and qualifications are obvious points of interest.  While it is important to inquire about these particular qualities, make sure to get to know each candidate as a person as well.  You must appreciate the fact that there is strong demand for their skills. The top talent that you are attracted to is likely being considered by several different companies, including your competitors. In order to ensure that you are bringing on employees that completely buy into what your company represents, make sure that you and your colleagues make the effort to connect with candidates at a personal level. Ask questions about their background, interests, and hobbies.  If hired, this individual will be spending a lot of time around the office, interacting with other employees and finding their place within the company culture.  Not only does this method give you a good glimpse into the personality of each candidate, but it also creates a more relaxed atmosphere for the rest of the interview process.

Interview Advice #2: Include Open-Ended Questions

As a company hiring to fill a position, there are certain qualities for which you are most likely looking.  Prepare the right questions to check the potential of your candidate in these areas but include some open-ended questions, as well.  Avoid the typical cookie-cutter interview questions.  Ask very direct and specific questions related to the position to be filled and relevant to the job requirements.  Make sure to also include some open ended questions aimed at revealing certain traits and qualities consistent with the needs of the business.  Such questions provide a great way to explore a candidate’s thought process when faced with incomplete information or multiple options. Interviewees often have practiced, scripted responses ready for the types of questions most frequently asked in interviews.  Get a glimpse of their real personality by taking the course of the interview outside the box. Including a few subjective questions allows the candidates to expose their creativity and will provide a more comprehensive look into who they are. 

Interview Advice #3: Pay Attention to Nonverbal Cues

Listen to what each candidate is saying but make sure to pay attention to his or her nonverbal cues, as well.  This is a good practice to implement both during the interview and while the candidate is casually interaction with reception, other employees, or anyone they may encounter.  You can tell a lot about your candidates by the way they handle themselves and treat those that they interact with during the interview process. Great companies are made of people who know how to effectively work with each other. When interviewing candidates, it is often a good idea to see how well they interact and communicate with other people in your organization as you walk with them down the hallway. Are they comfortable in your office setting? How was the interview coordinator’s experience in scheduling the interview for the candidate?

Integrating the above interview advice into your hiring department’s interview process will provide you with a better glimpse into each candidate and their specific qualities.  It also provides a much improved and complete candidate experience to your top applicants. Make sure to track all the important data you collect during the interviewing process with the help of a full-featured applicant tracking software and recruiting platform.

Building an effective and compatible team of employees begins with the recruiting and interviewing process.  Without asking the questions and creating opportunities to learn more about your candidates, you may miss out on the best fits for your company.  Create a powerful recruiting and hiring process to establish a stable of high quality employees from the ground up.

What interview advice do you have to help employers and recruiters nab the top talent they are looking for?

Photo by Startaê Team on Unsplash