Perfman HR: INTERVIEWING
Perfman HR: INTERVIEWING
Perfman HR: INTERVIEWING
While resumesand cover letterspresent onlythe informationthat candidates want you to see,interviews allow you to find outabout qualities or flaws that arenot revealed on paper. Specifically,it is an opportunity to ask thequestions that will help you assesshow the candidate will performon thejob. While resumesand cover letterspresent onlythe informationthat candidates want you to see,interviews allow you to find outabout qualities or flaws that arenot revealed on paper. Specifically,it is an opportunity to ask thequestions that will help you assesshow the candidate will performon the job.
At the same time, you will be able to get a sense
of whether the individual will thrive in your
company culture. Finally, the interview allows
you to articulate company values and to sell the
candidate on the idea of joining your team.
It's vital to hone your interviewing skills and
familiarize yourself with all aspects of the process.
A badly handled interview can end up with
a weak candidate making a deceptively strong
impression, or send the perfect candidate running
in the other direction, turned off by an
unappealing manager or a job that was inadvertently
portrayed as a dead end.
At the same time, you will be able to get a senseof whether the individual will thrive in yourcompany culture. Finally, the interview allowsyou to articulate company values and to sell thecandidate on the idea of joining your team.It's vital to hone your interviewing skills andfamiliarize yourself with all aspects of the process.A badly handled interview can end up witha weak candidate making a deceptively strongimpression, or send the perfect candidate runningin the other direction, turned off by anunappealing manager or a job that was inadvertentlyportrayed as a dead end.
PRELIMINARY SCREENING
Some companies go straight from the stack of resumes to inviting candidates in. Interviewingis time consuming, however, so when themust-interview stack is large, you may want todo some preliminary screening, either through aphone interview or by using some type of quickassessment.
Phone Interviews (Telecons in HR parlance!)
Consider screening candidates via a telephoneinterview before asking them in for a formalface-to-face interview. This is particularly helpfulwhen you're interviewing candidates wholive in a different geographic area and you wantto avoid the costs (transportation and lodgingexpenses) of bringing an ill-suited candidate infor an interview.Phone interviews should typically last between10 to 30 minutes, so make every question count.After all, this is your opportunity to determine whether the candidate has the minimum technicalskills necessary to do the job. It might behelpful to jot down notes during the conversation,so you can refer to them later.
Ask open-ended questions that reveal how wellthe candidate would fill the position and fit intothe company as a whole, and attempt to gatheras much information as you can, while keepingthe tone light. Engage the candidate by listeningcarefully and asking follow-up questions,requesting clarification of statements you don'tunderstand or asking for further explanations:How did she arrive at a specific decision? Howdid he feel about that outcome? Stay away fromquestions that can be answered with only a yesor a no.
After discussing the candidate's backgroundand experience, go over salary requirements andassess the person's willingness to relocate, if necessar.Find out if the candidate will consent to background checks or drug testing, if required,and verify the candidate's availability and potentialstarting date.
BEYOND DUE DILIGENCE
When Tom Peters and Robert H.Waterman, Jr., studied 43 of thebest-run companies in the UnitedStates to explore what makes themsuccessful, they found that one ofthe most important commonalitiesamong these firms was their focuson people. Their hiring process, inparticular, was intense, with manycompanies interviewing candidatesas many as seven or eight times. Themanagers there wanted to get to knowthe people they were hiringand tolet the candidates get to know them aswell. As these successful companiesdemonstrated, it pays off to takeas much time as you need duringthe interview process to be sure thecandidate is the right fit for the joband the organization.SOURCE: In Search of Excellence by Thomas J.Peters and Robert H. Waterman, Jr. (HarperCollins).
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