Conducting interviews is an art that doesn’t get enough attention, and is mostly overlooked in organizations. The interviewers are being selected on the basis of their technical prowess rather than any other criteria. If a java candidate is to be hired, just find someone within the company who has a similar experience with java and that that person can take the interview.
No briefing on the job requirements, candidate’s skills, attitude, background, etc. are given (or even asked from the interviewer when he submits his assessment). In many cases, the interviewer would be looking at the candidate’s resume the first time in front of the candidate during the interview and for lack of a better starter he would start with the age-old question “tell me something about yourself?“.
The irony is, most organizations want ‘good candidates‘ and don’t consider it important to engage a ‘good interviewer‘ in the process. If the interviewer doesn’t understand well, what the organization or the project is looking for, what’s a must-have, good to have qualities, skills in the candidate, how can he judge and provide better feedback?
If you are roped in as an interviewer recently or have been taking the interviews for some time but still not sure what should you look for in the candidates, here are a few tips that could help you conduct better interviews in the future:
- Hiring Profile:- Before starting on an interview spree, get to know the job profile that the organization is looking for. Get complete details, not just technology skillset. Is the position for a junior, senior person, what type of project the candidate would be working on, what are the must-have skills and good to have skills, does education matter more or experience, good communication is important or technical skills, will the candidate need to interact with the client, how urgent is the requirement, will he work in a team or as a sole contributor, etc. If you don’t have all the requirements, ask for it and don’t start with the interviews before you have all such details.
- Read the Resume:- A candidate spends a lot of time putting together a decent resume that will showcase his skills, about his background clearly and concisely. Go through the resume well before appearing in front of the candidate for the interview. Usually, you will get a decent understanding of who the candidate is, what has he done in the past, his skillset, education, etc. and you can spare him the boring “tell me something about yourself” type of questions. In case, you don’t see the details in the resume that you are looking for, ask HR to get that information from the candidate before the interview. If the resume is not up to the mark, don’t even bother taking the interview. A candidate who can’t put together a decent resume for the job he is looking for will probably have the same attitude towards work, so no point wasting time.
- Plan the Interview:- Not only for the interviewee but for the interviewer as well, it’s good to plan for the interview. Plan for things like, how much time you want to spend in introductions, technical questions, work experience, soft skills, how to conclude, time check, etc. Maybe keeping a list of questions handy would also be good. Always allow some time in the end for any questions that the candidate might have (this is where getting to know the requirement, point 1. is very important). Introspect after the interview, if you could have done anything better or different during the process.
- Make the Candidate Comfortable:- Interviews are stressful situations and stress could cause people to not be at their best. During the interview, the first thing is to make the candidate comfortable. Asking for beverages, hobbies, family background, favorite shows, introduction, etc., are good ways to start the conversation and have the candidate open up and ease the tension. In case of audio or video interviews first, do a check about the internet connection, call quality, if he is at a comfortable place, etc before starting the interview. Only begin the interview when the candidate is comfortable. If for any reason you believe that candidate isn’t, then offer to reschedule the interview.
- Interview to ‘Select’ not to ‘Reject’:- The questions should be more around what the candidate has done and how it aligns with the project work that you are hiring the candidate for. Try to interview with a ‘select‘ mindset rather than a ‘reject‘ mindset. Every candidate who has reached up to the interview stage has already completed a few prerequisites and HR filtration rounds, etc. so he must have some substance. So don’t ask the questions with the intent to make him fail, or the questions you also don’t have answers to. The questions should be around his experience, his work, his attitude, temperament, grasping skills, willingness to learn, etc. A candidate with a learning attitude can learn any technology quickly (he can even do that during his notice period with the other company), so don’t be stuck too much on the technical aspect and fitment of the candidate.
Also, every candidate should be given due respect and appreciated for their time irrespective of the interview results. A candidate who might not be good for one requirement might be well suited for another one in a different organization. And there is always a possibility that the interviewer failed to judge the candidate correctly.