BE A BETTER INTERVIEWER

Much has been written about the importance of interviewing well when going for a new job. But what do we know about conducting job interviews?

A company’s success hinges on its ability to hire the right people for the right positions. Yet few interviewers get any advice beyond cautions about illegal questions.

“Interviewers should keep abreast of various interviewing trends and techniques,” counsels Matt Samson, supervisor of recruiting administration and talent acquisition at Afl ac, the Columbus, GA-based insurance company. “You should never think you have compiled an exhaustive list of potential questions. Th ere will always be new or diff erent ways to interview, and it is important to use the practices that best fi t the position and your organization.”

Here are fi ve tips for improving your abilities as an interviewer:

Do your homework.

Do a little research before beginning the interview process, suggests Francie Dalton, president of Columbia, MD-based Dalton Alliances, Inc., a communication, management and behavioral sciences consulting fi rm. “Talk to those who held the job previously, and ask what worked and what didn’t.

Talk to those who’ll be working with the successful candidate and ask what hiring criteria have been overlooked in the past or will be needed for a new position.” Th is will help you develop questions that will better assess the candidate’s ability to do the job, fi t into the culture and succeed.

Be friendly.

“Th e more comfortable a candidate is, the more accurate their information will be,” says Carly Drum, managing director of Drum Associates, an executive search fi rm in New York City. “It is really about being friendly from the fi rst point of contact. Th e more upbeat and personable you are, the more the candidate will open up.” Why? Because being nice relaxes interviewees and creates trust. “You are much more likely to have a candidate interested in joining your team if the interview process goes well. Besides competencies, chemistry is the most important aspect. People want to work with people they like.”

“Ask them, ‘What is the biggest thing you’ve ever messed up?’”

Ask better questions.

“We should interview candidates to understand what they have done and what they want to do,” says Krista Cavanaugh, senior recruiter for Digineer, an Internet strategy, management consulting and technology services fi rm in Plymouth, MN. “Try to determine how they can help your organizations move forward. Get an understanding of critical thinking skills, how they problem solve, how they communicate, etc. Ask something like, ‘Tell me about the biggest obstacle you have faced in the last year and walk me through the process of how you solved it. What were the results?’ Answers to questions like these are much better indicators of on-the-job success.” Must be; Digineer’s annual turnover is less than 2%.

Listen.

Seems obvious, but this bears repeating. “Not enough interviewers are truly good listeners,” notes John Worth, director of alumni and executive MBA career management for the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School in Chapel Hill, NC. “Th ey’re good talkers. And it’s hard to listen when you’re talking.”

Get tough.

“You’re not going to give them an easy job, why give them an easy interview?” asks Ed Milano, vice president of program development at Continuum, a West Newton, MA-based innovation consulting fi rm. “Give the candidate a real opportunity to be impressive. Ask the candidate, ‘What’s the biggest thing you’ve ever messed up?’ If you ask the right way, the candidate will immediately laugh versus being intimidated. Th en you will get a great story about the person and their approach under pressure. If you don’t, then you know that the person has a problem with candor or that they’ve always taken easy positions. Our clients give us their toughest business problems and ask us to fi nd new opportunities. As soon as possible, we want to fi nd out if the candidate is cut out for that kind of work.” Th e approach works. 50% of Continuum’s employees have been with the fi rm for fi ve years or more.