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Interview Tips: 10 Tips to Help You Hire the Right Person
Studies show that 40 percent of all hires fail. Indeed, hiring the wrong person is a huge waste of both time and money. Here are 10 tips to help you interview and hire the right person:
- Do your homework.Think the position through thoroughly. Make a list of the skills, talents, and abilities you want for this job. We call this a competency matrix, but it’s really just a list of all the things you want. Prioritize the list, and craft questions based on what you want and need the most. And read their resumes thoroughly, check references, and do a Google search on the candidate.
- Establish a rapport.Strike a friendly tone and use open body language. Make the interview a conversation not an interrogation.Explain the job, explain your hiring process, and be sure to thank the candidate.
- Mind your biases.People tend to like people like themselves, so be careful you’re not just hiring yourself. Studies show that most interviewers make up their minds about a candidate in the first two minutes of the interview, so try to be open to people who are different than you.
- Be consistent.Make sure you ask each candidate the same questions. At the end, you want to compare apples to apples, and you can’t do that if you haven’t been consistent.
- Use behavioral-based interview questions.Past performanceis indicative of future performance, so ask about real experience instead of hypotheticals. For example: “Mary, tell me about a time when you handled an irate customer” or “Steve, “tell me about a time when you lead a team.”
- Take notes.This seems obvious but few people do it. Be sure to take notes during the interview so you can remember things later. And if you’ve made your list of competencies you can check them off or apply a rating scale.
- Listen well and ask follow up questions.Remember, make the interview a conversation, not an interrogation.
- Don’t forget to sell.Chances are, the candidate has other options, so the interview is an opportunity for you to sell them on the position. The candidate is also interviewing you and your company.
- Ask the reception staff about the candidate.How did they treat your reception staff when they came in? How did they behave? This is important!
- Follow up with the candidate as soon as possible.You are a brand, so make sure your interview process is positive. Don’t leave them hanging; it reflects poorly on your company.
Good luck!