Four Steps to Strategic Candidate Interviews

The pool of job applicants is bigger now than ever, but the cost of a hiring mistake is still steep. By strategically interviewing candidates to determine their real skill set, experience and "fit" for the position, you can avoid putting the wrong person on your payroll. Stacie Garlieb of Successful Impressions, LLC puts forth four questions you should be asking.

Every employer would like to be 100% certain that the candidates they hire will be successful in their jobs.  Phone interviews and face-to-face interviews  allow the employer to ask questions in a behavior-based way that can uncover the level of skills the candidate has that are relevant to the position.  Depending on the industry, there may be nuances in phrasing or content, but here are some guidelines on how to ask questions that should give an accurate indication of a candidate’s abilities.

1. Use phone interviews to screen candidates out by asking questions such as “Why are you interested in this position?” or “What skills do you have that would be most important to this role?” to determine if the person really understands the job expectations and can share with you the past performance and skills they have in those areas.
2. Face-to-face interviews should get more detailed about the way the candidate has used the relevant skills to produce results in the past.  Questions using phrases like “Tell me about a time you used your (communication, teamwork, etc.) skills to (what results would be expected in that role while using that skill)” will allow the candidate to tell you about specific instances of their performance.
3. If a candidate does not provide detailed enough information about the situation, tasks/actions, and results they describe, the employer can follow up with “Could you please give more detail about what you specifically did and achieved?”
4. In panel or group interviews, sharing the questioning responsibilities between interviewers is most effective.  For positions that report to multiple managers or require presentation skills to groups, this helps to determine someone’s abilities in those areas.

Ultimately, interviewers should be listening for details of how the candidate took action and used the skills needed for the job to provide value to the organization.  Questions that require explanation of past performance and use of skills will always be the most effective way to determine a candidate’s real skills and assist management in hiring the most qualified person.

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Successful Impressions, LLC
www.successfulimpressions.net

This story, written by Stacie Garlieb, is part of the Chamber's monthly Business Driver email. To sign up for any or all of the Chamber's email newsletters, click here.