At RECRUITERS, we spend a lot of our time helping candidates prepare for job interviews. We even published our ultimate job interview guide on our site for all candidates to see it. However, job interviews are just as important for employers. Hiring managers need to know how best to conduct an interview so that they find the right talent and avoid the dreaded bad hire.
A well-structured interview will help hiring managers and employers find the best candidates and give top talent the chance to properly showcase their achievements. So, what do you need to know?
The secret to selecting good candidates is to have a good hiring process from start to finish and that starts with good CV selection. You can’t find good talent at the interview stage if you don’t select good talent at the CV stage, so make sure you check out what you should be looking for when selecting CVs to take to the next stage.
Pay particular attention for gaps in their CV. These aren’t necessarily something to be concerned about – there could be any number of reasons why there is a gap in their CV but it’s important to make a note of it and find out more.
You should also look out for progression within their previous companies and red flags such as poor spelling and grammar. This shows bad attention to detail. Once you’ve selected the best talent from the CVs, you’ll be ready to conduct an interview that helps you narrow it down further.
One of the first things to look out for within an interview with any candidate is their knowledge of the business, the company and the industry. This shows how interested they are in the role and your company in particular.
Start by simply asking them what they know about the company and follow with questions about the industry as a whole. Any candidate that demonstrates extensive knowledge of your company shows that they took the time to research your organisation beyond the home page of the website. It also shows that they may have some expert knowledge about the industry in general, which will make them stand out.
For any candidate looking for a job with you, you’ll need to know what their motivations are. Why are they looking to leave their old job? Why do they want this particular job? These questions are key to finding out if a candidate is the right fit for you. You need to know why they want to leave their own job to ensure they won’t want to leave your company in six months for the same reason and you want to know what attracted them to your company because it’s important to know what they’re hoping to get out this job.
A candidate’s motivations will tie into your EVP, so not only will it help you get to know what aspect of your employer brand is attracting candidates, but it will also help you keep top talent by knowing what motivates them the most.
Competency-based questions are vital for conducting a good interview and showcasing the best talent that can back up their skills and abilities with real experience and examples. Competency questions call for examples of specific abilities. For instance, if the role calls for someone who can develop a growth strategy, you can ask a candidate:
Describe a growth strategy you set out previously and executed upon? How did you arrive at the strategy? What was the outcome? What did you learn?
You can also check out the advice we give candidates on competency-based interviews, which includes the STAR method of answering questions. As a hiring manager, it will help you know what to listen out for in their answers.
Before the interview, you should familiarise yourself with the job spec and what specific skills are required to the job. Hiring managers can often become excited about a particular candidate and forget to check if they have a key requirement that is vital to fulfilling the role.
Make sure you have a list of non-negotiable skills that the successful candidate needs to do the job, whether it’s a certain level of coding, an ability to use excel, experience with budgets or even just good time management. If it’s a must-have, don’t neglect to ask a direct question about it.
A good hiring manager knows what skills to look for to fulfil a role, but good CV selection could reward you with a number of good candidates are technically proficient enough to do the job. Asking a candidate why you should hire them gives them a chance to stand out.
It will, or should unearth each candidate’s unique selling point, that can help you make your final decision. What nice-to-haves will they be able to offer you if they’re successful? What makes them better than everyone else? The best candidates will have a solid answer for this and examples to back it up.
Not unlike the basic skills required, it can be easy to forget the most obvious and necessary interview questions. You may identify the dream candidate, only to find out that you can’t make them a good enough offer, or that they’re not available for the time that you need them.
Make sure you ask every candidate about their notice period, any holidays coming up and what their current package is or salary expectations. And when it comes to their salary and package. Don’t just ask about their basic salary. Find out what benefits they have, any bonuses they receive, when their next review is, etc. These may not be reasons you will discount a superstar, but forewarned is forearmed and it’s always a shame to lose a top candidate at the final hurdle because you forgot to get valuable information.
At RECRUITERS, our experts are not only adept at finding top talent, but they’re also experienced in solving your business and staffing challenges, including improving your interview and hiring process. Just check out our success stories here. Want to learn more about how RECRUITERS can help your business? Check out our hiring solutions here.
Written with contributions from the RECRUITERS team
Interview photo by Amy Hirschi on Unsplash
