How to Successfully Conduct a Job Interview

The job interview is often your best chance to sort the wheat from the chaff and find the perfect employee. Staff members are from the beating heart of any organization, so it's vital you know how to recruit the best ones for your enterprise. This article lists tips for conducting interviews.

After whittling the number of applicants down to a shortlist, the interview stage is your chance to select the perfect person for a job. The staff that runs an organization are employing the wrong person for a role can cause significant damage to an enterprise's fortunes, so it's imperative to take steps to ensure you secure talented and eager additions to the team. The interview process itself offers an opportunity to assess each candidate thoroughly, so follow these five simple steps to get started on the path to successful recruitment.

1. Know what you want

Before you start interviewing any candidates, you need to clearly define what attributes and experience you should set to compare the real candidates. Be as realistic as possible when creating your ideal applicant profile while identifying the key traits you're looking for. Ask your existing staff members for suggestions or advice. Their opinions should hold extra weight if they're going to be working closely with the new arrival. Creating a profile of the perfect applicant will give you a reference guide that you can refer to when creating a job advert and interviewing candidates. 

2. Put them at ease

Many great candidates are passed over for jobs after being inhibited by nerves in the interview. Obviously, you want someone who can perform well under pressure but undue stress is unhelpful and will hinder your search. Try to make each interviewee feel as welcome and unburdened as possible. The more relaxed they feel, the more you will be able to gauge how they may perform on an average day on the job.

Allocate an unintimidating space for the interview to take place and only invite necessary staff members into the room. Offer the interviewee a drink and a chance to gather their thoughts before proceeding. During the process, itself, ask open-ended questions and encourage them to expand on their answers. The more they talk, the more confident they will feel and the greater the opportunity will be to judge their suitability for the role and the company.

3. Stay on track

Every question you ask should be pertinent to the role for which they're applying. Many CVs are bloated with irrelevant but impressive-sounding feats, so it's important to stay focused and on track at all times. Assess every bit of information you have for its relevance to the role. If it's unrelated, remove it from your calculations.

A candidate with a limited amount of experience in a relevant role can often be a more suitable option than one who has a wealth of knowledge in a completely separate field. If you're unsure how an aspect of an interviewee's CV is relevant to the role, don't be afraid to ask in a tactful and professional manner.

4. Gauge their attitude

A candidate's attitude towards work is arguably more important than their professional experience. Ask situational questions to evaluate how an applicant responds to various unbecoming circumstances at work. See how they deal with people and difficult situations.