Do’s and Don’ts When Interviewing a Candidate

6th June 2023

Good employees are the lifeblood of any business. CEO Gary Vaynerchuk of VaynerMedia emphasises that good employees are the key to a business’ rapid growth and continuous success, as their skills are what keep your company moving forward. Following this logic, it’s easy to see why recruitment is one of the most essential aspects of any business. After all, it’s up to recruiters to weed through hundreds of applicants in order to find the best person for the job.

While we’ve already covered Five Top Tips For Success In Recruitment, we’re back with some more tips that are geared towards what you should and shouldn’t do during the interview process. This is important, as interviews are crucial to get a read on potential candidates and are great opportunities to see what they are like beyond their resumes. Read on to learn more about three variables to consider when interviewing your candidates.

Do: Be Prepared

The last thing you want to do is ask a candidate repetitive and generic questions, as this won’t let you gauge their skills accurately. Your interview should be specific and dependent on the skillset and character of the respective candidate.

For this to happen, there should be a certain level of preparation before the interview even occurs. HR specialist Barry Lenson states on Comeet that interviewers must familiarise themselves with the candidate’s material, which means going through their resume and conducting the necessary background checks. From there, you’ll be able to ask specific questions that will let you to determine if that candidate is truly fit for the job.

Don’t: Overshare

While some might approach the interview process with a certain level of fluidity and an air of casualness, the last thing you want to do is talk too much. You need to avoid talking about yourself and your career unless the candidate asks you about it, but even then you’ll want to keep your answers to a minimum.

Remember that you’re there to interview them and learn about them, and when you’re talking about yourself, neither of those things are too relevant. When you find yourself in situations like these, politely steer the interview back to them by saying that these things can be addressed at another time.

Do: Assess Chances of Retention

There’s no questioning that hiring the best person for the job is of the utmost importance. However, “best” doesn’t always mean the most skilled. Another factor that you’ll have to take into consideration is a candidate’s willingness to stay on board for a significant amount of time.

Chelsea Ritschel states on The Independent that nearly half of millennials applying for jobs plan to leave within the first two years, which could be a huge inconvenience considering the resources and manpower that go into the entire recruitment process. And while the message here isn’t to avoid millennials, interviewers could gain a lot from considering how likely it is for a candidate to stick around from the get-go.

Source: https://recruitingtimes.org/news/27454/dos-and-donts-when-interviewing-a-candidate/

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