Gleaning a candidate’s potential and personality is the essence of a successful job interview. Any worthy HR eBook will include a chapter on “Interviewing Tips and Hints” to help interviewers broaden their perspectives and provide valuable insights about each applicant.
Here are some key tips to consider:
Spend Less Time Reviewing Experience
Experience cannot always be used as a criterion for reviewing a candidate. Sometimes, candidates with a single year of experience learn a lot more than people who have worked for twenty years. Moreover, some people write very impressive resumes, but when it comes to their practical application, employers can be disappointed. Therefore, instead focus on assessing competence.
Assess the Employee’s Potential for Competence
It is true that certification matters, because it lays the foundation of experience. During an interview applicants who may not have studied in the field of expertise required, may still have the skills and potential for that competence. Skills like social interaction and insight are not necessarily clearly presented during an interview. Therefore, HR personnel need a keen eye and strategies to pick up such qualities in an applicant.
Evaluate Behavioral and Interaction Skills
Depending on the job description, there are special behaviors that can demonstrate whether someone qualifies for the job. For instance, in a medical situation, employing people who are unnecessarily loud and overly social can be annoying for patients. During an interview HR personnel shouldn’t limit themselves to asking professional questions only. Include a few questions that portray hypothetical situations. Ask the interviewee how he or she would react. This will give an indication about how the applicant will handle things if they are chosen for the job.
Similarly, when it comes to jobs like operational risk management, the interviewee needs to be asked question that test his/her prediction capability through hypothetical circumstances where they are required to make a decision. Depending on the answer they give, you will be able to evaluate their capabilities to make important decisions.
Attitude and Confidence
HR interviewers should be looking out for behaviour and reactions that give clues to the attitudes and strengths of each candidate. Their stability, innovative characteristics and social skills are also important. This can also reflect their potential for quick learning and adaptation to a new work environment. Companies need staff that can quickly adapt to new co-workers, techniques and specific training.
Fine tune your interviewing skills with an HR eBook that covers these issues and conducting successful interviews will not be a problem.
