Want to be a better interviewer? The answer’s in your MAP, not your genes, and that means that it’s within your control. Here are the most essential points to improve your interviewing skills and achieve better hires.

The most important Key, and this can’t be stressed enough, is the first one:

1. Treat the candidate exactly the same way you want to be treated when you’re interviewing!
2. Work to create a relaxed mood. Interviewing is usually stressful on both sides of the desk—the fear of rejection, of looking foolish, of “not doing it right”—and it’s up to the interviewer (you) to set the mood. The more relaxed the mood > the better the interview > the more information you’ll get > the better decision you’ll make.
3. Make the interview a conversation! It’s not the person’s interviewing skill that you want to assess, so placing the candidate in a defensive position or “final exam” mode that increases stress will also reduce both the quantity and the quality of the information you receive.
4. Be interested! If you seem bored or distracted, don’t expect the candidate to be interested. Draw the candidate out! If you are both working to make it better, the results improve exponentially.
5. Don’t make assumptions! If you want to know something (legal) ask about it directly (if it’s not legal skip the sneaky questions, people aren’t dumb). Here is a typical assumption scenario between a headhunter, hiring manager and candidate.

mgr to hh: “We really liked her, but she can’t do X.”
hh: “Did you ask her if she could do X?”
mgr: “No, but it wasn’t in the resume and we talked about some tangential areas and she didn’t mention it.”

hh to candidate: “They really liked you, but you can’t do , and they need somebody who can do X.”
candidate: “I can do X. Nobody I interviewed with never asked about X and my [current] manager doesn’t think it’s important, so I didn’t mention it.”

hh to manager: “She says she can do X. Why don’t you give her a call and discuss it?”

1. Be honest! Level with the candidate. Tell her the good stuff and the bad stuff and the in-between stuff. She will hear it anyway and will have a higher opinion of you for being honest.
2. Candidates don’t forget! When discussing the future—career moves, new projects, new technology, promotions, etc.—talk about the reality. Reality is not a promise or a guarantee; it is a “probably,” a “possibly,” a “depending,” a “hopefully.”
3. When in doubt use your common sense! Interviews are a holistic function, everything you see and hear should hang together without forcing it; any concerns left can be settled when checking references.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 30th, 2007 at 2:30 pm and is filed under Business info, Communication, Hiring, Retention. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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