I have been taking interviews for my organisation for more than 2 yrs now and must have taken 80+ interviews. So when I was invited to attend Effective Interviewing Skills workshop, it felt more like a waste of time. After all what more was there to learn I felt. Thankfully my bubble of overconfidence burst and in a pleasant way.
I viewed interviewing as a non avoidable task and a hindrance in the way of completing my work on time. I used to approach the interviews with a very straight face and kept it to the point. However during this session I realised I had got it all wrong.
An interview is a candidate's first face to face interaction with the company, and first impressions are often hard to change. So it must be given its due importance and time.
I found that its important for an interviewer to introduce himself as well, talk a brief about the organisation, specially points that cannot be found on the world of internet. Also its good to understand if the candidate knows the role and job profile he is appearing for, and set the expectations correctly. Now that I have implemented this, it has become a good way to break the ice and gives some time to the candidate to settle down as well.
I also found that one should read the candidate's resume in advance (rather than go through it in front of them) so that they are well aware of candidate's skill sets and know what to ask. When I went ahead and implemented this, I found the candidates many a times were both amused and surprised that I had read their profile so deeply.
You might be taking a technical interview but its important not to limit yourself to technical stuff only during the discussion. One must evaluate the candidate on his/her attitude as well and not leave it for the manager or HR. After all attitude at many times plays an as important role as knowledge.
While you can argue that attitude is not easy to judge, BEI or Behavioural Event Interviewing plays an important role here. This strategy stresses on questioning the candidate a behavioural question and asking him to supplement the answer with actual instances from the past. e,g Tell me about a situation where in you were faced with a very challenging situation. What was it and how did you deal with it. Since the answer needs to focus on past experience there is lesser scope for manipulation. Also what a candidate considers challenging may or may not suit your project needs and will give you a good idea on whether he/she will fit in or not.
Last but not the least dont try to cut an interview short. Evaluating a candidate can easily take upwards of 45 mins so be patient and keep pending work tasks off your mind :)
I viewed interviewing as a non avoidable task and a hindrance in the way of completing my work on time. I used to approach the interviews with a very straight face and kept it to the point. However during this session I realised I had got it all wrong.
An interview is a candidate's first face to face interaction with the company, and first impressions are often hard to change. So it must be given its due importance and time.
I found that its important for an interviewer to introduce himself as well, talk a brief about the organisation, specially points that cannot be found on the world of internet. Also its good to understand if the candidate knows the role and job profile he is appearing for, and set the expectations correctly. Now that I have implemented this, it has become a good way to break the ice and gives some time to the candidate to settle down as well.
I also found that one should read the candidate's resume in advance (rather than go through it in front of them) so that they are well aware of candidate's skill sets and know what to ask. When I went ahead and implemented this, I found the candidates many a times were both amused and surprised that I had read their profile so deeply.
You might be taking a technical interview but its important not to limit yourself to technical stuff only during the discussion. One must evaluate the candidate on his/her attitude as well and not leave it for the manager or HR. After all attitude at many times plays an as important role as knowledge.
While you can argue that attitude is not easy to judge, BEI or Behavioural Event Interviewing plays an important role here. This strategy stresses on questioning the candidate a behavioural question and asking him to supplement the answer with actual instances from the past. e,g Tell me about a situation where in you were faced with a very challenging situation. What was it and how did you deal with it. Since the answer needs to focus on past experience there is lesser scope for manipulation. Also what a candidate considers challenging may or may not suit your project needs and will give you a good idea on whether he/she will fit in or not.
Last but not the least dont try to cut an interview short. Evaluating a candidate can easily take upwards of 45 mins so be patient and keep pending work tasks off your mind :)
