The Cost of a Poor Interview Technique

We frequently hear of candidates failing to prepare properly for interviews- but often the prep from hiring managers can fall short too. It’s easy to think ‘I’m hiring, they need to prepare for me’ but this won’t help you to attract the best talent in normal times, let alone in today’s highly competitive market.

Here are some tips to help secure the best people for your team. These are all based on feedback I have had personally from candidates:

Read the CV ahead of the interview –

it’s highly disrespectful to skim-read a CV on the fly whilst the candidate is sitting in front of you. Final interviewers are the guiltiest of this (yes, you CEOs…).

Show interest –

you may have interview fatigue but it’ll only get worse if candidates detect that you are starting from a point of cynicism and disinterest.

Think about your questions –

if you ask the same questions at each interview stage, it looks like there isn’t any internal communication or structure to the process.

Make time for their questions –

interviewing is a two-way process and not leaving or making time for the candidate to ask questions portrays arrogance.

Be sincere about how you end an interview –

don’t say you’ll have feedback in 24 hours if that’s not going to happen.

Pass on your feedback immediately –

candidates put a lot of time into interviews, it’s only fair they get feedback swiftly.