An intense look at interviewing
Sarah Nichols, the Managing Director of an Auditing Firm, states that there are fundamentally two different kinds of interviewing methods used by human resources management in order to help meet their goal of selecting the right person: the screening interview and the behavioural interview.
The screening interview, according to Sarah, is designed to eliminate those applicants who are deemed inappropriate as they do not meet the specific requirements or have the needed qualifications and abilities required to fill a vacancy. It also allows them to gather basic information about the applicant.
The behavioural interview on the other hand is designed to help make an educated selection decision based on fair and legitimate criteria, rather than on a “gut feeling.” The following guidelines will deal predominantly as the acceptance determinant and has been constructed with three major objectives in mind.
1. To provide a process that ensures that all candidates will be evaluated in a uniform and consistent manner.
2. To provide an outline for use in the interview process.
3. To provide tools that will result in obtaining answers from potential candidates, serving as indicators or predictors of future performance.
At Sarah’s firm the interviewing process is divided into three segments: preparation, the interview, and evaluation/selection.
The first step concerns the job description involved with the interview. This will help to determine what they are looking for in a candidate. The best way to do this is by reviewing the job’s key responsibilities listed in the job description. As they are reading these, they must ask themselves: what are the personal characteristics and skills needed to be successful in the position? Examples may include attention to detail, communication skills, flexibility, calmness, job-related knowledge, energy and reliability.
A candidate’s completed job application can serve a variety of purposes. Completed application forms present an accurate preview of the “coming attractions,” or the work background, ambitions, and education that candidates bring to the interview. Remember that past performance is the best indicator of future performance. As they read the application, they should automatically check for such items as experience, education, and physical qualifications, but there are many other things they can get from the application.
Completed application forms also present the framework that will be used in the actual interview with the candidate. They take the time to read them carefully. They cannot interview effectively, if they have not done their homework. Conducting this ‘background research’ can really assist in the interviewing process as it gives you a little more insight as to the character of the applicant.
Remember: You want to interview potential staff and effectively select the people who best fit the organisation's needs. To do this, your interview process, interview questions, and interview exchanges have to be be legal, ethical, and not offer assurances that potential staff can interpret or think of as promises.
Sarah feels strongly that good interviewers practice good listening skills. She offers the following guidelines to assist during this process:
1. Listen and consider what the candidate is saying.
2. Formulate probing questions to follow-up their responses and to test their validity.
3. Use “summaries” to control talkative candidates. This can be done by taking what a candidate says and paraphrasing, then moving to your next planned question.
4. Silence – after asking a question, be patient for the candidate to respond. It allows them to think of response and encourages them to provide more information. Many interviewers interfere in their own information-gathering process by rushing themselves to fill a gap in conversation.
5. Clipping – At times, the candidate may ramble. If they feel they are rambling and the information they are giving is not relevant, they can start talking right along with the candidate as they are finishing a sentence. This will “clip” the story short, and allow them to take control again.
