Designing & Conducting the Effective Interview
Interview is an art. It demands a positive frame of mind on the part of the interviewers. Interviewees have to be treated properly so as to leave a fine impression (regarding the company) in their minds. HR experts have recognized certain steps to be followed as conducting interviews:
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1. Preparation: Effective interviews do not immediately happen. They are planned. This involves following:
- Establishing the goals of the interview and determining the areas and particular questions to be covered.
- Review the candidate's application and resume, noting areas that are hazy or that may indicate candidate's weaknesses and strengths on which questions could be asked.
- Keeping the test scores prepared, along interview assessment forms.
- Choosing the interview method to be followed.
- Selecting the panel of experts who would interview the applicant (list the number of experts to be called as well as the chairman).
- Reorganization a comfortable, preferably private room from noise and interruptions (neat and clean; lighted, well furnished, and ventilated) where the interview could be held.
2. Reception: The candidate should be correctly attained and led into the interview room. Greet the applicant with a warm, friendly, greeting smile. Names are vital. So tell the candidate what to call you and then ask the candidates for his preferred form of address. Tell in brief about yourself and put the candidate at easiness so that he may reciprocate with personal information. Ask the candidates about activities, hobbies or some other topic so as to break the ice. As a rule, treat all applicant - even voluntary droppings at your office - courteously, not on humanitarian grounds but because your company's standing is at stake. Begin the interview on time.
3. Information Exchange: To acquire the confidence of the candidate, begin the interview with a cheerful conversation. The information exchange among the interviewer and the interviewee can proceed thus:
State the reason of the interview, how the qualifications are going to be matched along skills required to handle the job. Give information regarding the job for which the candidate is applying. Known as a practical job preview, like an exercise would be most fruitful while the applicant gets a realistic picture of what he is thought to do on the job. A practical job preview helps minimise surprises for the new recruit, developing the comfort level and drop ambiguity and doubtful in the early stages of work. Also, the first intuition a firm makes on a new appoint is one of being truthful organisation that stays with the worker, enhancing the employee's level of commitment.
- Start with open-ended questions where the candidate gets sufficient freedom to express himself freely rather than 'yes' or 'no' type of responses.
- Do not put words in the candidate's mouth by asking: You have worked in any private management institute before. Haven't you?
- Do not telegraph the wanted answer by nodding or smiling while the right answer is given.
- Do not interrogate the candidate as if the person is a prisoner and don't be patronising, ultra-critical or sarcastic.
- Do not monopolies the conversation, by giving very little opportunity to the candidates to reveal himself.
- Do not allow the applicant dominate the interview by confused from point to point so you cannot ask all of your questions. Establish an interview schema and stick to it.
- Do not use hard words to confuse the candidates. Provide information as freely and truthfully as possible
Box : Common Interview Questions (R-Lathrop)
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Openers
- Could I see your resume?
- Can I do something for you?
- Why you want to join our company?
- Why do you believe that you are suitable for this job?
- What do you believe you can do for us?
- What thing attracts you to us?
- Tell me regarding your past experience.
- What pay expectation do you have in mind? (Try tactfully to avoid answering this one early in the interview).
- Regarding inspiration and interests
- Is your current employer aware of your interest in a job change?
- Why do you desire to change jobs?
- What reason you to enter your job field?
- Why do you wish to change your field of work?
- Why are you leaving military service at this point?
- What would you like to be in five years from now? When you retire?
- What is the ideal job for you?
- If you had complete freedom of choice to be a great success in any particular job field, which would you prefer? Why?
- Regarding education and intellectual ability
- Explained your education for me.
- Why did you choose your major (area of specialisation)?
- What was your class standing?
- What were your activities?
- What honours and awards did you earn?
- What were your average grades?
- Did your grades sufficiently reflect your full capability? Why not?
- What kind of courses did you like best or least and why?
- Have you done any special training for this job? Regarding pay
- What do you needs?
- What is the minimum pay you will agree to?
- What is your reimburse record for the last five years?
- Why do you think you are qualified for so much more?
- We can't pay the income you should have. Would you be eager to start lower and work up to that figure?
- What do you hope to be earning five years from now?
- About experience
- Why should I appoint you?
- How do you fit the needs for this job?
- What did you do in military service?
- What would you do to develop our operations?
- Who has exercised the most influence on you? How?
- What duty performed in the past have you liked best or least and why?
- What are your maximum strengths/limitations for this job?
- What are the strongest restrictions you have found in past supervisors?
- Which supervisor did you like the most excellent and why?
- What types of people appeal most/least to you as work associates?
- How much people have you supervised? What kinds?
- What are your maximum accomplishments to date?
- What equipment may you work with?
- Why have you altered jobs so frequently?
- Have you ever been fired up or asked to resign?
- Explained the biggest crisis in your career.
- What were you doing during the period that not covered in your resume?
- Why were you out of work so long?
- What was the particular nature of your illness during your extended hospitalisation?
- What made you leave your past jobs?
- Could I see samples of your work?
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- Targets on the candidate's education, training, work experience, etc. Determines unexplained gaps in candidate's previous work or college record & elicit facts that are not specified in the resume. Avoid questions which are not job-related.
- Listen to the applicant's answers carefully and patiently. And pay attention to non verbal cues (applicant's facial expressions, body language, gestures etc.). To boosts reliability and ignore discrimination, ask the similar questions of all applicants for a specific job. Keep careful notes and record facts.
4. Termination: End the interview as happily as it start without making any awkward situation for the interviewee. Here, ignore communicating through unpleasant gestures like sitting erect, turning towards the door, glancing at clock or watch, etc. Some interviewers finish the show by asking: do you have any ultimate questions? At this point inform the applicant regarding the next step in the interview procedure, which may be to wait for a call or letter. Regardless of the interview performance of the candidate and interviewer's personal view, the applicant should not be given any suggestion of his prospects at this stage.
5. Evaluation: After the interview is finish, summarise and carefully record your observations, constructing the report depend on responses given by candidate, his behaviour, your own observations and the view of other experts present at the time of interview. Better to use a standardised evaluation form for this reason.