There are five secrets to being a great interviewer. These keys empower you to maximize your effectiveness in hiring the right people for the right roles.
The first secret
Know what you want before you start the interview. Understand the role that you’re interviewing for, the purpose of the role, and the intended outcomes the role is required to produce for the organization. Understand the core functions of the role, who the ideal candidate needs to be, what competencies the ideal candidate needs to have, and what the right experience is for this kind of position
The second secret
Use an interviewing guide. Either use a work history interviewing guide that gives you all the questions that you need to answer – like a template or a format – or use a values-based behavioral interviewing guide.
Even after all the years I’ve been in recruiting, I prepare for interviews so I ensure that I ask all the right questions to make a conscious choice. I’ll be honest, there are times I’ve found myself on autopilot and I immediately reschedule the interview, or get access to my interview questions so I can get back on track.
The third secret
Get yourself mentally prepped to be in an interview. Many of us are doing 15 things in an hour, and then we rush and do an interview. Or we do an interview on the run or in our car or a coffee shop. We’re not present and we’re not listening, so we either have a superficial conversation and make a decision based on a few things we’ve heard and many things we didn’t hear or didn’t want to hear; then after we regret it. So it’s important to be present. It’s important to Be in a quiet place, It’s important to be in a frame of mind to be ready to listen and most importantly ready to hear.
The fourth secret
Listen from a place of curiosity and open-mindedness. You’ve already defined the role, you know what the core functions are and what the ultimate purpose of the role is. Now you listen from: Does this person have the core competencies