Tips for the Hiring Team – The Interview
1. Create a good list of questions that can help gauge the candidate’s skills, experience, qualifications, behavior, style, and fit in the culture. You may have a standard set of questions; or you may want to customize to probe for specific abilities and experience.
2. Have a system to capture what you are hearing and seeing. It’s hard to remember your experience after the fact. Take notes. Leave time between candidates to evaluate what you heard.
3. If you are doing group interviews, plan ahead on who asks what and how follow up questions are done. These can be fun and informative for everyone involved, but can also be chaotic. If you have a group of people interviewing each candidate, consider a 1-3 ranking right after the interview; then again when all interviews are complete.
4. Know what you can and can’t ask legally in a job interview. You cannot ask questions about: age, race, ethnicity or color, gender or sex, sexual orientation, country of national origin or birth place, religion, disability, marital or family status, or pregnancy.
5. Be welcoming and friendly to all your candidates. Professional courtesy at all times, with everyone.
6. Pay attention to parity. If one or more candidates are out of town, consider performing all in-person interviews via Skype/Zoom or other online service. This reduces bias and puts all candidates in a similar position to show success.
7. If you are trying to determine personality fit, consider using a personality assessment tool to identify what the candidate’s preferences may be in terms of strengths, approach to problem solving, priorities, and work style. Just remember to know what to do with the results with your team.
8. If you are trying to understand specific strengths and ways of working, provide scenarios and ask how the candidate might function within the scenario.
