You only have a very short time to create a rapport between you. Here are ten necessary steps to take:
- Find or create an environment that is friendly, non-threatening, conducive to concentration and free of distractions. Easier said than done, I know, but you should do everything you can to ensure that the candidates will feel comfortable (though not too comfortable!). Chairs should be of the same kind and height. A desk between you and the candidates is unnecessary, but if you feel unhappy without one, make sure it is clear. Photographs, executive toys and the like are a distraction.
- If the candidates have to wait in a reception room, this too should be uncluttered and welcoming. Literature left on the table about your organization for candidates to browse through makes a useful opening to the interview. 'Did you look through our latest brochures? Anything of interest catch your eye?' It also says something about the candidates. Those who have taken the trouble are likely to be more interested in the job than those who have ignored it.
- Begin the interview on time, and ensure that you are well-briefed with your list of questions and all the relevant documents to hand.
- Switch your mind off all other preoccupations and give your attention to the candidates. Though it may not loom large in your own career, the interview may well be the most important one in theirs.
- Wherever possible, fetch the candidates yourself to the interview room, using the time to put them at ease with casual conversation about such non-threatening topics as the weather, travel, parking and the like. Don't forget to thank the candidates for coming. Politeness is cost-effective. The sooner you can get the candidates to relax, the quicker you can get the information and finish the interview.
- Put aside all thoughts of rank and status while the interview is being conducted. They are immaterial. Your purpose is to find the right person to fill the vacancy, not to show how important you are. At the same time, you do not have to pretend to be someone you are not by talking to candidates in the same idiom as they may use. Not only is this patronizing, it is also false, and they will see through you immediately.
- Make allowances for nervousness. No matter who they are or how much experience they have had at being inter viewed, most people are anxious when it comes to selling themselves. Do not be too quick to judge them if at first they do not respond freely and articulately to your questions. Be patient and give them time.
- Treat the candidates as innocent before proved guilty. Though most will not volunteer embarrassing or awkward information about themselves, they do not go into interviews with the intention of deliberately deceiving the interviewer. They are sensible enough to know that even if they are not found out, lies or evasions will not help them in the long run.
- People present themselves far better if they know what is expected of them and where they are in the scheme of things, so before you ask your first question; tell them what the purpose and shape of the interview are. They will probably know it, but it will help them to hear it from you.
- Get candidates talking as quickly as possible. Some writers recommend warming-up with chat about subjects of mutual interest that may have emerged from reading their application form, such as playing the same sport, having the same hobby, living in the same area. Admittedly, these are natural starting points, but they also give those fortunate candidates who share the interviewer's interests an unfair advantage over the others.
There are a number of different systems by which candidates can be assessed, the Seven-point Plan of Professor Alec Rodgers being one of the oldest and best known. He has identified seven headings under which candidates can be judged.
They are: physical make-up; attainments; general intelligence; specific aptitudes; interests; disposition; and general circumstances. Another is John Munro Fraser's Five-fold Grading Scheme, which categorizes candidates by: their impact on others; their qualifications; innate abilities; motivation; and adjustment.
The simplest and most effective system is to compare each candidate to the original person-profile you drew up (or had drawn up for you) when the vacancy was advertised. Taking each item in the profile, you can award the candidate a percentage point - education 50 per cent, personality 75 per cent, coping with stress 20 per cent and so on.
When you have gone through all the candidates in this way, you can also devise for yourself a grading system, awarding an A, B, C, D or E for each candidate. The candidate that scores an A is the most suitable; but B and C candidates are still acceptable; D candidates probably require more training and should not be accepted, whereas those who score E are unsuitable.
Some system, no matter how simple, is better than no system. Despite what some managers claim, judging a candidate by 'instincts' is unreliable and can prove costly to your company, and to you as well if your company decides you are not a good judge of character.
There is increasing reluctance on the part of some employers to give more than the most superficial information about a former employee, so you may find yourself having to conduct another interview with the latter, either in a letter or on the phone, to obtain the information you need. If so, your questions should be brief and deal only with those aspects of the candidate's work that directly affect you.
- Offer the job to the successful candidate. Do not, however, reject the other possibilities until you know for certain that your first choice still wishes, and is able, to take it, otherwise you may find yourself with the vacancy still unfilled.
- 'Only hindsight,' as someone said, 'is an exact science.' If you have kept your notes of the interview together with your assessment of successful candidates, you can follow up their careers in the organization to check how accurate your choice was. If they failed to live up to your expectations or left because they were dissatisfied with the job, you can identify where you went wrong in your interviewing and/or assessment. You can then correct your mistakes so that in future you will interview more effectively and make better choices. If, on the other hand, your choices were accurate, you can feel confident that you have developed a skill that will bring you great satisfaction and enhance your own career.
