Hiring People_ Recruit and Keep the Brightest Stars - Kathy Shwiff [18]
INTERVIEWING 101: THE BASICS
Once you’ve screened candidates—either via phone interviews, online questions, or by giving them a knowledge test to complete—you are ready to bring the best of the crop in for interviews. The goal of every interview is to assess the candidate’s specific skills, to get a sense of how the person will fit in with your organization, and to judge the applicant’s enthusiasm for the position. Determining whether the new employee will be handling specific tasks, supervising others, meeting with clients, or working independently will help you decide how to approach the interview. Varying the interview style, from informal to formal, as appropriate, can help highlight the candidate’s qualities.
Decide on an interviewing plan from the outset. Ideally, if an applicant is to be interviewed by several managers, the same group should see all candidates. You could split the interviewing into two rounds, with one group handling initial interviews and another group interviewing only the most successful candidates. Or you could have some or all interviewers meet with a candidate more than once. Each person can ask the same questions, so you can compare notes, or different interviewers can probe different aspects of the candidate’s skills and experience. It’s best to coordinate the group’s approach beforehand.
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The BIG Picture
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WHY YOU INTERVIEW PEOPLE
Richard Nelson Bolles, author of the phenomenally successful job-hunting manual What Color Is Your Parachute?, says that all interview questions are really addressing just four topics:
Why are you here?
What can you do for us?
What kind of person are you (that is, honest, ethical, dependable, responsible)?
Can we afford you?
SOURCE: Managing for Dummies by Bob Nelson and Peter Economy (Wiley, 2003).
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Use your job description and the list of skills, abilities, and behaviors required to do the job to formulate a list of questions that will guide your discussion during the interview and elicit relevant information from the candidate. This technique not only ensures thorough and organized questioning; it also keeps your group’s questions consistent from one interview to the next, if that’s your intention.
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CASE FILE
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RECRUITING FOR A VIRTUAL WORKPLACE
A full 70 percent of the employees at MySQL, a $40 million international software maker, work from home. Job applicants from all over the world are interviewed by phone and, to determine personality and work style, CEO Marten Mickos asks leading questions, such as, “How do you plan your day?” He knows he’s on to something if they reply, “I always sleep until 11 A.M., then I start working.” Mickos explains, “The brightest engineers like the calmness and coolness of the night,” he says. On the other hand, he is wary of young men without family commitments or other distractions, people who will “read e-mails on their way to brush their teeth.” The job can drive those people crazy, he warns.
Only at the end of the phone interview does he ask where the candidate lives.
SOURCE: “MySQL: Workers in 25 Countries with No HQ” by Josh Hyatt, Fortune (June 2006).
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It’s critical for forming an objective opinion that all applicants be treated the same. At the end of each round of interviews, or at the end of the final interview, the management panel should get together to discuss the applicants and then rank them before making their decision.
Standard Interview Questions
Open your interview with an informal icebreaker to establish rapport and then offer some background information about the company and the position. You might start by telling the candidate your own history there and what the opportunities are in general at your firm. Then start asking questions.
Keep your questions open-ended, which will not only encourage candidates to talk, but will also demonstrate how well they