candidate's interview experience influences their perception of a role and the company they are pursuing. Based on PwC’s Future of Recruiting Survey from 2019, 49% of respondents declined a job offer due to an unsatisfactory recruitment experience. With 4.53 million Americans quitting their jobs in March 2022, there is plenty of talent on the market, making it the perfect time for you to find qualified talent.
However, since hiring managers are often the first point of contact for potential employees, it is crucial for them to represent the firm in the best light.
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In today’s competitive labor market, preparing for the interview isn’t limited to employees. Recruiting top talent and accelerating the hiring process requires thorough preparation, creativity, and diligence from hiring managers.
This article lists seven practical methods to help you conduct better interviews and hire top candidates for your organization.
How can you conduct better interviews?
With a bit of time and effort, it is possible to become better at interviewing candidates. Here are seven interviewing methods you can integrate into your current interview process to hire more effectively.
1. Prepare for the interview
The lack of adequate planning for an interview can be detrimental to the interviewing process. You must prepare thoroughly by going through the candidate's resume and cover letter and preparing interview questions. It is also crucial for you to have a standardized question bank in advance, allowing you to stay focused during the interview and not waste time contemplating what to ask the candidate next.
With the objective set in advance, managers can also inform candidates about the points to be covered, allowing them to prepare for the interview and give better responses. This is an amazing opportunity to see which candidates have taken the time to prepare well thought out answers. Along with this you can also include a few impromptu questions that allow you to test the candidate’s critical thinking skills and their ability to think on the spot.
2. Build rapport
Candidates seeking jobs are often anxious and stress; it’s crucial for you to ensure that the tone is conversational and not confrontational. Start the interview with a brief introduction about yourself and your experience with the company, followed by what you’d like to achieve in the interview and the interview length.
Setting the scene and tone helps you build a rapport with the candidate and gain an authentic view of the candidate's personality. A friendly and helpful conversation lets the interviewer get a real insight into the candidate's experiences, making it easier to evaluate if they will fit into the role and organization.
Being friendly may also help the candidate open up about their experiences and speak at length. This will help you judge the candidate better and select the one who’s likely to be the best fit for the role and the firm.
3. Master the art of listening
A good interviewer has excellent listening skills that enable them to focus on the candidate's words, engage with their ideas, and respond constructively. Paying close attention to the candidate's answers allows hiring managers to ask follow-up questions and dig deeper. This allows you to test the candidate and also hear unrehearsed answers.
Active listening focuses on both explicit and implicit information. For example, your friendly tone of voice, appropriate facial expressions, and body language are nonverbal cues that help candidates feel more at ease and talk more. This will enable you to gain an insight into their past experiences and education background, and understand the kind of role they are looking for. For example, if you’re part of an early-stage startup where candidates are often expected to work on weekends or beyond their defined duties, a number of candidates might not be a good fit. Or for example, if your firm has been discussing resuming in-office hours, listening well will help you filter out candidates who, for example, wish to be digital nomads.
4. Be mindful of biases
Not being aware of your biases and letting them control your impression of interviewees can be detrimental to the interview process. Therefore, it is essential to learn about and beware of the different types of biases, such as the halo effect and status-quo bias, to identify them in your evaluations.
Make sure you don’t deviate from your planned question bank and ask all candidates the same questions in the same order to make a fair comparison between candidates. FloCareer can help you create an interview structure with a standardized scoring rubric to ensure objective evaluation of candidates.
5. Involve multiple interviewers
Including other colleagues in the interview process gives you added perspective and insight. It might also be a good idea to include colleagues from the relevant department since they already know what it takes to excel in the position and can verify whether candidates have the skills and experience needed. They can test the candidate’s technical skills and ensure the candidate knows the languages the firm uses. For example, if your firm focuses on data analysis through Python, candidates who only have experience using R won’t be a good fit.
Moreover, having multiple interviewers allows for different perspectives and reduces personal bias while hiring.
6. Keep time for questions
After the interview is over, allow candidates to ask questions. This allows you to promote your organization and provide insight into the company and position. Giving candidates in-depth answers helps them feel more confident about the role and motivated to work for the organization.
Additionally, you can learn a lot about the candidate from the nature of their questions.
7. Follow up
It’s essential to follow up with candidates post the interview. If you like an interviewee, schedule another interview to discover more about their skills. On the other hand, if you decide not to proceed with a candidate's application, be mindful of letting them know.
Following up shows that you respect the candidate’s time and effort and can create a positive reputation and candidate experience.
If you’re struggling to track all candidates’ applications, you should consider using an applicant tracking system to manage all resumes, interview reports, and related data through one platform.
Hire top talent effortlessly with FloCareer
If you want to improve your interview strategy, look no further than FloCareer; our team of 3000+ interviewing experts can make this process easy and efficient. Our interviewers are qualified professionals who can help you help you find the best candidate.
A positive employee interviewing experience with FloCareer will help your company build a strong brand reputation and reduce attrition rates and costs of hiring.
How a candidate is treated during their interview process speaks volumes about the company and its culture. FloCareer’s experts have conducted over 300,000 interviews and successfully worked with global organizations, including Mercedes Benz and General Electronics. Book your free demo today to see how we can streamline your hiring efforts.
