Getting the right candidate that fits with your company is important and the interview process is a crucial step towards this. You need to ask the right questions to get the information you need to know to hire the most qualified and appropriate candidate. The interview is a powerful procedure, the candidate will prepare for the interview and you should too.

In this blog we will discuss techniques and methods to a successful interview.

Know Who You are Interviewing

Firstly before the interview begins you should read over the CV, know who you are interviewing. Google their name and check out their links. Call the references on their CV and research what previous employers have to say about them.  At this point you should know the candidate well enough to engage in a productive interview conversation. You should also have a candidate checklist of the skills, experience, qualifications and attributes that your ideal candidate should meet, this should be reviewed throughout the interviewing process.

Prepare Relevant Questions

Have relevant questions prepared for the candidate, asking impractical questions are pointless and time wasting for both you and the candidate. Prepare questions about something you have read on the candidates CV. Ask them about their skills they have stated on their CV and to explain them in detail and how they have used them.

During The Interview

Ask questions that will tell you something about the candidate that you can’t find out from reading a piece of paper. Asking scenario questions can help determine what type of person they are, are they a leader, can they work on their own initiative, are they really hard working like they say they are?  Ask a question that will indirectly get you the answer to your hidden question. By this I mean that you will not ask a candidate straight out “are you a diligent worker” because of course most candidates will say yes, you need to rephrase your question.

At this point you know what experience and qualifications the candidate has and what type of person they but you want to know what skills they truly possess. Now you can ask for a time when they displayed expertise in a skill that they specified to have, from this you can tell how strong or weak that skill is. Now test them even further give them a problem in your company and ask them how they would solve it. This will allow you to determine whether they are a fit to your company.

After the Interview

Send an email to the candidates that you have interviewed thanking them for meeting with you and say you will notify them with your response and give them a time frame of. Although many interviewers don’t do this, it is a nice gesture to the candidate and also improves the company image by giving a personal touch.

Adapting these techniques should improve your interviewing process and enable you to choose and hire the best suited employee fit with your company.