Tips to Help Employers Identify the Best Talent During the Interview Process  

Interviewing can be a tedious and boring task. However, employers who master the art of interviewing land the best candidates. Making the right decision when it comes to new hires yields stronger company performance and creates a more harmonious work environment for all.

Interviewing is the key to finding a qualified candidate whose skills align with the company needs. All candidates should be pre-qualified before an interview. At smaller companies this may be the responsibility of the hiring manager. At other companies, this may be human resources led. If the hiring manager is the qualifier, it requires reviewing the resume to determine if the candidate meets the minimum requirements to interview for the position.

Once candidates are qualified, the resume is almost useless to the interviewer. Using a resume to guide an interview creates a focus on prior schooling and work experience and can result in hiring the wrong person. While resumes are useful to qualify candidates, resumes cannot determine which candidate is best for the organization and who will succeed in the job. In order to hire the best candidate for the current job, interviewers want to focus on the potential for future success rather than past performance. To make the right hire, it is important to determine a candidate’s ability to do the job and if he or she is a good fit for the organization. Nothing on a resume will prove that. This is what makes the interview so valuable.

Preparing for an interview requires significant planning. A well-executed interview doesn’t focus on the past (schools or job experience) but rather engages the candidate in a discussion as if he or she is on the first day of the job. This will allow an interviewer to differentiate candidates and see which one is ready to start immediately and succeed long-term.

Preparing for the Interview

The most time-consuming part of preparing for the interview is developing the questions. Do your homework on the job for which you are interviewing candidates. It is critical to be keenly aware of what the job entails and who will interact with the hired employee to determine which candidate is most likely to be successful. Craft open-ended questions to assess skill, creativity, behavior, team approach, and work ethic. Employees can have the best skills, but if they cannot work with others appropriately, it can spell disaster. Candidates who aren’t creative may seek the traditional approach, which can stifle innovation and change. Use the time spent brainstorming on the five traits as you prepare your questions. Interviewing for behavior and creativity is just as important as skill. Careful evaluation of these attributes is key to determining which candidate will best integrate and perform well in the job.

• Skill: What are daily tasks the job requires? What skills are necessary to do the job well?
• Creativity: What new ideas have been generated in past employees that led to successful outcomes?
• Critical Thinking: What problems have past employees encountered in this role? How have others successfully handled situations in the past?
• Team Approach: Who will this person work closely with? What is the work style of their team? How does this team communicate?
• Work Ethic: Is this person passionate about the job? Who will the person report to? What does management feel is critical to meet job objectives?

Crafting Questions

To develop your questions, think about the skill set that is critical to the job. Your questions are critical to determine if a candidate has the skill, creativity, critical thinking, team approach, and work ethic to be successful. You wouldn’t waste time asking a potential customer service candidate about his or her people skills. Ask candidates what they love most about interacting with clients. Then ask them to share a time when dealing with a client was challenging and how they found a solution.

Creating Interview Questions

• Ask open-ended questions. To best assess candidates’ abilities to do the job, you need to hear how they think through problems and find solutions. This can only be done if the candidate is talking and sharing his or her ideas.
• Present the candidate with real work situations. Providing candidates with a past problem encountered in this job will determine the ability to step into the job quickly and be effective. It can help gauge critical thinking and creativity.
• Asking questions that help understand how a candidate would solve a team conflict or disagreement allows interviewers to assess if the person is a fit for the team and managerial style of the company.
• Understanding the candidate’s motivation and passion for the job assesses work ethic. Find out why he or she applied for this job and what he or she is most excited about. These questions will give you great insight on how motivated and driven the candidate is. Work ethic is driven by a passion to exceed expectations.

The Interview

The interview should take place in a quiet setting without work distractions to allow the interviewer to focus on the candidate. The interview should be conversational. This is an interviewer’s chance to keenly observe and listen carefully to a potential employee shine and show the interviewer what he or she has to offer the company. Listen carefully and take concise notes. Write down key thoughts, solutions, or ideas that wow you. Good notes help make the decision process easier after the interviews are complete. During the interview, think about whether the candidate focused on the potential job or just sharing past work history? A strong candidate answers questions for the job he or she desires and not based on prior work experience.

Making a Decision

After interviews of all candidates are completed, take time to reflect back on the interviews as a whole. Did one or two candidates stand out more than the rest? Pull out your notes and begin to review their responses. Put yourself in the shoes of those who will work with the candidate both internally and externally. Is there a clear front-runner? If not, perhaps a trusted colleague can help you assess which candidate is most suited for the job. Having a trusted colleague help you evaluate your notes during the interview can often provide some additional clarity and make selection easier. Ultimately, an interviewer should rely on the observations during the interview and trust his or her instinct.

Sample Interview Questions:

• Tell me how you came across this job and why it interests you.
• Tell me about something you are passionate and committed to.
• What type of colleagues do you enjoy working with the most?
• How do you envision a typical day in this role?
• Have you ever worked within a team on a project, and the team couldn’t agree on how to approach or make progress? What was the outcome?