How to Improve Your Interviewing Skills

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Finding the right employees is a daunting task. Although interviews aren’t a perfect indicator of future performance, you can work toward improving your skills and track record as an interviewer.

Here are eight tips for identifying the best people to add to your team.

  1. Be Prepared
    Before the interview, review the job description, the candidate’s resume and any other applicable information. You want to spend the meeting focused on the applicant not on the paperwork you didn’t review in advance.
  2. Put the Candidate at Ease
    While some interviewers try to trip up interviewees with trick questions, be empathetic and recognize you will get better results if the applicant is at ease. Break the tension before you begin by offering them coffee or a glass of water, giving them a quick tour of the building or introducing them other employees.
  3. Control the Pace of the Interview
    Go into the meeting with an agenda. Specify the items you need to cover and keep yourself and the interviewee on track. Of course, you don’t need to be drill sergeant. Stay conversational and flexible. However, make sure you cover what’s necessary in the allotted time.
  4. Be Consistent
    Unstructured interviews, with rambling and unfocused inquiries, aren’t particularly good at predicting an employee’s future success rate. So, stick to structured interviews and ask all candidates the same questions. Developing structured interviews takes time but the predictive rate is almost double that of unstructured interviews at 26 percent.
  5. Know What You Can Legally Ask
    Certain questions are inappropriate and illegal. For example, you cannot inquire about an individual’s age, their marital status, their religion or the number of children they have. Even a small slip can nullify the interview and put the company at risk for discriminatory practices.
  6. Listen
    Conducting interviews can make for a long day. Nevertheless, remain focused on the candidate rather than letting your mind to drift off to your weekend plans. Pay attention not only to their answers, but to nonverbal cues and body language, which may provide additional insights.
  7. Recognize Bias
    Your first impression of an interviewee, usually made within seven seconds, has the power to seal their fate. If you see something you like, you’ll spend the rest of the meeting finding reasons to hire the applicant. If you see something you don’t like, the opposite happens. Psychologists refer to this as confirmation bias, and it can cause good interviewers to accept a poor candidate or reject a good one.
  8. Track Your Success Rate
    Keep a running record of your hires, the interview techniques used and how long individuals stay at the company. Although this requires extra effort, the data can provide valuable clues as to which tactics work and which don’t.

Could Your Company Use Help with Hiring?
The professional recruiters at Aventure Staffing understand finding talent is both an art and a science. We would be happy to assist your organization with its staffing needs. Learn more about the hiring programs we offer or request an employee today!

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