Interviewing candidates is one of the most important steps in the recruiting process.
It is essential, in this step, to identify the right questions to ask candidates in order to identify the most suitable resource for the profile you are looking for.
A good recruiter should think of a series of questions that investigate not only the technical skills of the candidate, but also the soft skills that distinguish him and the reasons that led him to apply.
The job interview is the decisive moment of the entire application process. Through it, the more or less impersonal data of the various curricula vitae come to life and can finally be evaluated.
While to overcome the first obstacle of the preselection you rely on so-called hard skills, such as training, qualification and particular knowledge, in this phase personality, motivation, communication skills and, more generally, presence are evaluated. In two words, the soft skills of the candidate.
Anyone who has no experience on how to interview a candidate runs the risk of immediately stumbling upon the beginner’s mistakes.
This includes, for example, allowing oneself to be influenced by sympathies and emotions, forgetting central questions for the evaluation of the candidate, or conducting the interview without following a structure, which makes it impossible to compare candidates once the selection interviews are over.
The selection interview serves the purpose of making it easier for you to choose the best candidates for vacant positions in your company.
This objective is never lost sight of during the interview. For this to be possible, you must ask the right questions, as well as remain neutral in the evaluation, but also know how to create a relaxed atmosphere, in which the candidate can feel at ease. The most important conditions are good preparation and a clear structure of the interview.
Regarding the structure of the interview, it can be very useful to set a time limit for the various topics of the interview.
By doing so, it will be possible to avoid that some phases are unnecessarily prolonged and that the most important points then have to be dealt with in a hurry at the end, perhaps because the next candidate is waiting in the waiting room.
In any case, the interview should generally not last more than an hour, even better if you keep it under 45 minutes.
This can be beneficial not only for the candidates, who are under pressure, but also for the personnel manager in the event that he has to carry out several interviews one after the other.
The optimal basic structure of a cognitive interview is the following:
- Greeting and presentation of those present (5 minutes)
- Candidate interview (15 to 20 minutes)
- Presentation of the company (from 5 to 10 minutes)
- Questions from the candidate (10 minutes)
- Closing (5 minutes)
It is highly advisable to practice body language and non-verbal communication.
These support you in the correct reading of the unaware signals of those in front of you, as well as in communicating the intention to create a positive and relaxed atmosphere.
The gestures that signal interest, respect and appreciation contribute to the calm of the candidate, who can thus show you his best side.
Conducting an interview without any preparation, the candidate notices it, because he will be asked for information that is already clearly stated on the curriculum vitae.
This, in addition to putting you in an unpleasant situation, also harms your company, as it could drive away the most qualified candidates, who do not feel sufficiently appreciated
So take the time necessary for proper preparation. Read the application documents carefully, writing down your considerations, so as to always have the most salient information during the interview.
The same also applies to gaps and gaps in the CV. Demonstrating that you know the candidate’s background and career profile and showing your interest (for example why they decided to apply for a given position) has a very positive effect on the candidate.
A few hours before the interview, it is good practice to double check the organization of the interview, making sure you have not left out any details.
This means remembering the meeting with the candidate to all colleagues who are required to attend, preparing the room and making sure that whoever is in charge of receiving guests is informed of the candidate’s arrival so that they can greet them (possibly with their first name).
Three types of questions, one goal: to avoid “gray areas”
All questions in a job interview are conceived with one goal: to allow the recruiter to discover at least three aspects of the person in front of him.
- One: what is the degree of “adherence” to the position offered.
- Two: how it reacts under pressure.
- Three: how it integrates – even if only potentially – in the team or company for which it is intended.
In other words: each question helps to avoid as many “gray areas” and to allow us to understand if the candidate is the right one, or not.
To simplify the matter even more, we can say that the questions to ask the candidate at the job interview can be divided into three macro-categories: standard questions, exploratory questions and questions to avoid.
Standard questions
These are the commonplaces of job interviews.
Those for which, perhaps, the candidates have prepared the answers in advance.
But not asking them would still be a mistake, because although they are questions that the candidate somehow expects, they still provide important information on the selected profile. Eg:
- What attracted you to this role? From this question it is possible to find out how thorough the research on the role and the company has been. And it is always essential to be clear how much the candidate cares about the job you offer and your company.
- What are the main reasons? With this question it is possible to establish how much the candidate is trying to develop their skills and how much they really feel attracted to the sector in which they operate.
- What are its strengths, and its weaknesses? It is always helpful to find out what the candidate thinks he is particularly good at (and why) and what he is wrong at. Listening to the weak points, it would not hurt to try to understand what he does, or plans to do, to try to improve himself.
Exploratory questions
In addition to the technical questions related to the role, it is good to try to deepen the knowledge on the type of worker you are facing and on previous experience. Good questions to find out are:
- Which management style do you prefer? Does it match the kind of management they might expect in case he gets the job? And if not, could it be a problem? This is the right question to understand it.
- What types of people do you want to work with? The answer to this question will also be particularly helpful. Especially when it comes to understanding if the candidate is suitable for team work.
- What was the biggest challenge you faced in your career? – Discovering the approach to solving a problem can indicate a lot about an individual. For example its relationship with the word “challenge”.
- What has been the most important success in your career? – It is always useful to discover the candidates who are proud of their work and it is also a good opportunity to relax a bit during the interview with an anecdote that will put the candidate on display.
- If you had the chance, is there anything that would change in your career? – Does the candidate learn from mistakes? The answer to this question says a lot about the progress (including emotional) made over the course of your career. Are they really convinced of the choice or would they have wanted to do something else?
Equally useful, especially in times of pushed smart working and remote work, is to try to investigate their knowledge in the IT field, linked for example to specific software. No less important are language skills and an understanding of your company’s products, industry and competitors
Questions to avoid?
Asking a question that should be avoided in an interview would greatly shift the focus of the selection, and could even put the recruiter in a bad light in the eyes of the candidate.
- Tell me about yourself – First of all this is not a real question, it does not provide any starting point for the selection, and as if that were not enough, the answer may not contain any really useful information.
- Better to look for an alternative form, such as “Could you describe the reason why you have embarked on this career path?”
- Where do you imagine yourself in five years? – The real answer should be on a beach in Hawaii after winning the lottery. But what most likely will come out of such a question will be something like “having reached a managerial position within the company”; or in any case an answer given with the sole purpose of “satisfying” the recruiter. Better then ask something like: “What skills do you hope to develop in the coming years that will allow you to advance in your career?”
- What could it do for the company that others would not be able to do? – This question does not add much and above all puts the candidate in an awkward position, as he cannot know what another candidate could do about which he knows nothing. Instead, resort to a question relating to work ethics. Like: “What are your best skills? And what makes you think that? “
- What is your marital status? – Any questions of a personal nature (including age, gender, ethnic origin, religion, sexual preference, disability) are not only unethical, but also illegal.
- What are your salary expectations? – Salary is something that can be discussed before or after the job interview, but not during, as it is not fair to put pressure on a candidate.
Structuring an interview: how to end the interview
Once you have all the information you need, give the candidate a chance to ask you questions.
In addition to being another chance to sell the benefits she would have working for you, it will also give you an idea of what her biggest concerns are about that role. It may be appropriate to ask what notice period it has.
It is essential in all phases of an interview to put the candidate at ease in order to get to know his true potential.
At the end of each interview, even if it was not successful, it is important to always give feedback to the candidate for the employer branding of the company.