Written by Chris West

Interviews are important for two reasons, the first being that it is the candidates' first exposure to the business and first impressions count. The second is that you will want to ensure you are securing the best talent for your team. In this blog, I am going to cover my top 10 tips to managers with upcoming interviews.

Interview tips are important, they can help you get prepared and ensure you cover everything you need to during the meeting.

1. Job Description: You need to make sure the job description is specific and thoroughly covers the responsibilities of the role. This will help you understand exactly what you’re looking for and will enable you to set some must-have skills and some not so important skills. This will allow you to assess candidates fairly because you will have common variables to judge the candidates by.

 

2. Don’t rush: Ensure you’ve spent time preparing rather than just winging it! Clear more time than you need in your diary so that you can concentrate purely on the interviewee. You will come across as more relaxed and calm which means the candidate will likely have a more positive impression of the company.

 

3. CV Check: Spend the time reviewing the CV beforehand, this will allow you to dig deeper and explore more important topics rather than just getting them to run you through their CV. Once again, this will create a better impression of the business.

 

4. There’s no harm in rehearsing: It’s always helpful to rehearse with a colleague or alone before an interview. Again, it’s important you appear calm and this exercise will help you get into the right mindset and come into the interview with the right tone.

 

5. Don’t avoid the showstopper questions: If the role requires a major change such as relocation or an abnormal shift pattern it’s important you ask these questions upfront. You need to respect the candidates time and it’s a real waste if these types of questions are left until the end as it will leave the candidate with a poor impression of the company and could be a waste of time for them.

 

6. Be different: In what is a candidate short market right now it’s important that you and your business stand out above the rest. You can do this by adding different sections to the interview, a good example is to present a case study to the interviewee and see how they would solve the problem, you could then compare approaches. This would be a great topic of conversation.

 

7. Notes: It can be easy to forget to write notes when you are immersed in the interview but it’s such an important step. When interviewing multiple candidates it’s important that you can compare them later down the line and can be very difficult to remember them without suitable notes.

 

8. Leave team for questions: The interview is a two-way street, the candidate will typically come with questions and it’s important they can ask them freely without being rushed. This will create a better candidate experience.

 

9. Feedback: Interviews are investments of time from both parties. Regardless of the outcome, it’s important to go back to the candidate with feedback, focus on the positives and always provide areas to improve

 

10. Next Steps: Knowing the process after the interview is important as this tends to be the most common question from candidates. It helps them evaluate the opportunity manage their time and consider other interviews

I hope this article provides some insight for new hiring managers and allows you to cover the basics with interviews. It will create a great impression and positively contribute to your company’s reputation in the market