Interviewing Skills

June 10, 2023

Objectives

  1. Evaluating candidates for selection by gathering unbiased factual information about them against the requirements.
  2. Influencing suitable candidates to join and be retained.
  3. Building brand equity as an employer

Common Recruiting errors

  1. Type A Error – Recruiting the wrong person
  2. Type B Error – Missing out recruiting the right person (This is more costly)

Good interviewing minimizes both types of errors

Why do hiring errors occur?

The common reasons are:

  • Desperation,
  • Laziness or over-confidence in one’s judgment,
  • ‘Halo effect’ (Error Type A) ,
  • ‘Stereo-types’ (Error Type B),
  • Not properly defining the competencies needed.

Competencies

Specifications of Competencies

  1. Guard against over-specifying the competencies– asking for too much. It can lead to Type B error.
  2. At the same time don’t miss out on listing a critical competency– expecting too little, leading to Type A error.
  3. Classify the required competencies as ‘must’ or ‘desirable’
  4. Distinguish those competencies which are ‘trainable’ from those which are ‘difficult to train’.
  5. Don’t eliminate a candidate who is a little deficient on a ‘desirable’ or a ‘trainable’ competency.
  6. Don’t select a candidate who is seriously lacking on a ‘must’ or ‘difficult to train’ competency.

Some Behavioral Competencies of Relevance

  1. Analytical ability
  2. Planning skills
  3. Relationship building
  4. Listening
  5. Assertive communication
  6. Personality & presence
  7. Learnability
  8. Problem solving attitude
  9. Training/developing team members

What is the candidate looking for?

How to know what the candidate is looking for?

Different candidates are motivated by different things –

  1. more money, rewards and recognition,
  2. better designation, opportunity to learn,
  3. a change of function/ industry, promotion prospects,
  4. good boss, good team, fun atmosphere,
  5. certain kind of work, responsibility and freedom,
  6. home location, meeting family obligations,
  7. job security, company name, etc.

You can get clues on what the candidate is looking for by reading the CV chronologically and asking the right questions.

Before the interview…

  1. Study the job description
  2. Confirm the competencies required
  3. Read the CV and mark any competency indicators
  4. Look for motivational indicators
  5. Plan the interview questions

Most poor hiring decisions are made because of jumping into interviews without preparation.

Questioning Skills

Most interviewers confine interviewing to

Interviewing for What knowledge the candidate has, Finding out what the candidate does not know, the domain of the candidate’s past experience, why the candidate wants to leave the current company. 
Instead of interviewing for How good is the candidate at applying knowledge, How quick is the candidate at learning what he/she does not know, Possible change of domain based on liking or suitability, How to attract the candidate to join you, if good leave the current company 
,

Good interview questions

  1. Ask for examples and experiences of how situations requiring specific competencies were handled in the past.
  2. ‘Funnel’ the questions for details
  3. Ask what he/she would do differently if there was a chance to repeat a previous project or task.
  4. Ask to compare two or more companies, bosses, functions, jobs, locations etc. which the candidate may have experienced.

The ‘funnel’ approach

  1. Broad open ended questions – ‘What’, describe
  2. Probing questions – ‘How’, details
  3. Reason questions – ‘Why’, knowledge
  4. Close questions – ‘How well’ results

* This structure is applied for probing each competency

How to detect fraudulent candidates

  1. Probe information gaps in the CV
  2. Probe for facts and the candidate’s specific role when major achievements are claimed.
  3. Ask for examples of ethical dilemmas the candidate has dealt with in his/her career or life.
  4. Observe the candidate’s body language when he/she is responding.
  5. Cross-check on specific areas of doubt with someone who has worked with the candidate.

Useful Questions

Talking about your organization

  1. From the CV and during the interview, gauge the motivators of the candidate in his/her career.
  2. Share only pertinent points about your company, its policies and the candidate’s role, which would address his/her needs and aspirations.
  3. Don’t make it a PR statement! Don’t just share dry facts. Support them with a human story as much as possible, including your own, if appropriate.
  4. Don’t oversell. Give a balanced, truthful picture. Candidates trust transparency.
  5. Tell the candidate how his/her strengths and background can help to improve upon current situation.

Non-Verbal Behavior

Look out for ….

  1. Does the candidate appear confident? Relaxed?
  2. Are there changes in posture, clenched hands, tightening of shoulder muscles, and avoidance of eye contact? At what point did they occur?
  3. Are there signs of dominance or submission?
  4. Make sure it is a discussion between equals. You need the candidate as much as he needs the job.

Effective Interviewing requires…

  1. An environment free of distractions / interruptions
  2. Establish rapport – put candidate at ease
  3. Airtime 70:30
  4. Maintain eye contact
  5. Probe, but don’t judge too soon

The Structured Interview

Opening of Interview

  1. First make the candidate feel relaxed, and establish a rapport
  2. Introduce yourselves by name and designation, shaking hands
  3. Ask the candidate if he had difficulty finding the place or if he had a cup of tea, etc.
  4. Make an apology if the candidate was made to wait for more than 15 minutes.
  5. A good opening question is to ask “Tell me what you do in your current job”. If a fresher, “Describe a project you have done you are proud of”.

Interview Structure

Open

Put the candidate at ease and open the interview.

Competency Assessment

Ask him / her the prepared questions to assess competencies.

Funnel the questions to probe: What, how, why, what resulted.

Understand Aspirations (if candidate is good)

Ask what he / she seeks in the new job / change.

Probe Retention Factors

Ask about family, obligations, concerns.

‘Sell’ the job.

Tell candidate about how the company / job can meet his aspirations.

Close the Interview

Invite the candidate to ask and respond.

Check interest and close the interview.

Record and score