Mistakes to Avoid When Interviewing Job Candidates

When conducting an interview for a vacant position you have at your company, it’s not simply up to the candidates to impress you. You need to ask the right questions, and you need to know exactly what you are looking for. Otherwise, you could end up picking the wrong person for the job. Unfortunately, most employers aren’t trained in interviewing, and so it is difficult to know if you are getting it right or not. Below, we reveal some of the common mistakes you should avoid when interviewing job candidates.

• Not selling the company – Interviewers often overlook the fact that the interview is not only about evaluating the candidate in question, but it is also an opportunity to show off your business in a way that will persuade the candidate to choose you. You never know how many other interviews they may have lined up, so you really need to show why your business is a good place to work.

• Not delving deeper into questions – There is little denying that behavioral interview questions are complicated. You may not discover a lot about the candidate by asking them one question you have had lined up about a past experience. If this is the case, you need to start delving deeper. You want to get to grips with the way in which they think, how they came to a number of solutions, what impact their actions had, and how they were perceived by others. Make sure you use follow-up questions until you are certain you have a full understanding of the individual and the way they think.

• Failing to seek outside assistance – Executive recruiters do not need to take over the entire job search process for you, but their assistance can prove to be invaluable. They can provide you with expert assistance on behavioral interviewing tools and techniques, giving you the best chance of a quality hire.

• Not knowing what to look for – This may sound daft; surely an employer knows what they want? Well, the problem is that too many interviewers have become reliant on template questions they have heard from others or found on the Internet, and they don’t really know what the questions are meant to say about a person. This can lead to them hiring the wrong people. You need to think about the skills you are looking for in a person, for example, problem-solving skills, communication skills, patience, and so on. You then need to look for questions that are designed to determine whether an individual possesses those skills.

• Rushing conclusions – Lastly, this is something we can all be guilty of in everyday life, but it can be harmful to the interview process if you rush to conclusions about someone. In a short space of time, you should be able to determine whether someone dresses well, and whether they are confident and polite. But, do these qualities correlate to future job performance? It is important to give people a chance. After all, there are no bonus points for making a fast decision.