How Good an Interviewer Are You? Part 1

By Marcia Zidle on October 2, 2012

Have you ever hired someone who did not live up to expectations? Or have you seen how a bad hire can bring havoc to a team or department?

Then you want to make sure you are a good interviewer so that you can increase the odds for selecting the best person for your most critical positions. Don’t leave it up to first impressions, your gut or a recommendation from a friend. So how good are you?

Test your interviewing savvy by answering TRUE or FALSE to these 10 statements.

  1. You should study the application/resume before conducting any interview.
  2. It is your responsibility to maintain control over the progress of the interview.
  3. During the interview itself, you should do about 50% of the talking.
  4. An applicant with more than four jobs in five years should not be hired.
  5. Write down every thing the applicant tells you so you can remember it.
  6. A good way to commence an interview is to challenge the applicant to prove he can do the job.
  7. Specific interview questions should be framed to elicit “yes” or “no” or similar, simple responses.
  8. You should always review and update a job description before beginning your recruitment process.
  9. Applicants can be encouraged to elaborate on their answers by your use of silence or non-committal remarks.
  10. You can probe for more detailed information by asking behavioral questions.

ANSWERS:

  1. TRUE. By reviewing the application/resume, you will determine the focus of the interview.
  2. TRUE. If you don’t control the direction of the interview, it will get out of hand and become little more than a meaningless conversation.
  3. FALSE. Always remember you cannot learn anything while talking. The applicant should talk most of the time. Keep your part down to 20%.
  4. FALSE. Not necessarily. Determine the reasons for each change of job before drawing your conclusion.
  5. FALSE: It’s best to record only key factors during the interview. Too much writing doesn’t allow you to concentrate on their responses.
  6. FALSE. This will only antagonize the applicant and reduce your chances of building rapport. This often leads to the candidate becoming frustrated, defensive, and non-communicative.
  7. FALSE. Open-ended questions are designed to probe deeply and elicit more and better information.
  8. TRUE. Duties and responsibilities, education, experience and even technical and soft skill requirements can change. Without having accurate information, you set yourself up for potential disaster.
  9. TRUE. These non-directive techniques are very effective, when used properly. Candidates “hate” the sound of silence and often try to “fill the dead air” with additional comments.
  10. TRUE. Asking behavioral interview questions that probe for information and experience are highly effective and will assist in removing the “interview mask” from a candidate.

How many did you get right?
Do you need to learn or brush up on the keys to a successful interviewing? For example, writing comprehensive job descriptions, establishing job benchmarks, creating behavioral interview questions, developing a candidate scoring guide or refining your interviewing skills? If so,we can work with your hiring managers and human resources. Let’s talk!

Management Success Tip:

Never go into an interview unprepared. You’ll spend too much time talking about the weather or sports or job seekers hobbies – nice for conversation but hardly the basis for a sound hiring decision.  Next post will be an additional 10 true or false questions.  will our score go up or down? Also see Behavioral Interviewing.

Do you want to develop your Management Smarts?