Interviewing Candidates

Remember that a job interview is as much about you selling your company to the candidate as it is them selling themselves to you. People always have a choice about who they want to work for. This means that you should have some information about your company that you can send out to the candidates in advance, and should allow plenty of time for questions from them in the interview.

But, during the part of the interview where they tell you about themselves, give them plenty of time to speak – and LISTEN to what they say. It’s so easy to ask a question, and spend the time that they are answering it thinking about what the next question is going to be without really taking in what they are saying. To help avoid that it’s worth writing down a list of your key questions in advance for each candidate.

In a two stage process, the main objective of the first interview is to find 3 or 4 candidates who could do the job, fit into the culture and who seem keen. The second interview is to find which of these is best suited to your vision of the company.

The first interview should be simply structured,
   • Greeting – pleasantries - help them to relax
   • Introduction – a bit about the job and why their application interests you
   • Development – enlarge on the information in their application -fill in the gaps – find out why he/she wants to leave his/her current job - the objective is to ensure that you have the same range of knowledge of each candidate
   • Assessment – If there are skills to be tested do it here. Get the candidate to sell himself/herself relative to the job on offer. Find out their qualifications abilities, talents and experience. Challenge some points and if appropriate put the candidate under a little pressure
   • Questions – what does the candidate want to know about the company and the job
   • Prospects – outline potential prospects for such a candidate - explore how they fit with the candidates own ambitions
   • Conditions – pay, fringe benefits and conditions of appointment. If appointed when could they start?

It can really help to have one or two colleagues sit in on the interview with you – but not too many or it’ll be daunting for the candidate. The person who will be their team leader should be there, and it’s also a great idea to involve one of the team members. Prepare for the interviews in advance with these people and ensure that each understands their role.

You may also want the candidate to carry out some practical exercises as part of the interview. For example, if you’re recruiting a PA or secretary you might get them to write a business letter from some outline notes, demonstrating their use of a word processor, their business writing style, and their speed.

It’s important to give each candidate an equal chance. This means that each interview should follow a similar planned format, and should be equally challenging. If a candidate is nervous in the first few minutes give them some time to warm up and relax before writing them off.

There are some questions that the law says you cannot ask in order for the interviews to be fair for all candidates. These are questions that could discriminate between candidates on grounds other than their attitude, talent and experience. So think carefully – if it’s not a question you’d naturally ask every candidate it’s probably not one to ask any candidate.

Sample questions for interviews

   What most interests you about the opportunity of working here?
   What have you most enjoyed in your previous work?
   What is your proudest achievement?
   What personal qualities do you think you have?
   Can you tell us about something you did in your previous job that demonstrates ……………? (insert characteristic, or skill that you want them to have here)
   What has been the most difficult decision in your working life and how did you make the decision?

After each interview, write up some brief notes and score the candidate on another decision grid. Do this before you see the next candidate, otherwise they will all merge together in your mind!

Selecting the right candidate

You will now have two decision grids for each candidate, so the first task is to look for any differences between the two. Did they come across better in person or on paper? Did your view of them improve when you met them?

You’ll also have some notes from the interview.

As soon as possible after the last interview you and your fellow interviewers should get together and go through your notes and scores for each candidate in turn.

At first (or only) interview stage you should be able to weed out candidates that you all feel are weaker than the others. Now you will have a shortlist. Give each person on the selection panel a chance to summarise their feelings about each person on the shortlist and name their preferred candidate(s).

If you’re agreed, congratulations! If not, then reject any candidates that don’t have a member of your team supporting them, and focus on the remainder. Discuss their strengths and weaknesses. Discuss how they would fit into the current team. Discuss how they might grow and develop within the company. And do allow your gut-feel to come into the discussions but watch out for your tendency to like people like you – avoid the clones! If need be, do one final decision grid for each remaining candidate. Finally after the only interview or the second interview, it must come down to a decision.

Welcoming your new team member

Now that you have selected your candidate, let them know by telephoning first and then following up with a letter. You should state:

Any conditions on which your offer relies, such as:
   ‘subject to satisfactory references’
   ’subject to proof of qualifications’
   ‘subject to passing a medical examination’ (get advice before demanding this)
   ‘subject to passing a criminal records check’ (again, get advice in this case)
   ‘subject to eligibility to work in the UK’, etc.

Also state any action that they should take to meet these conditions.
   • Whether a probationary period applies (making it easier to part company after, say three or six months if the match does not turn out to be a good one)
   • The job title, or description of their work.
   • The date the employment will start.

It is also in your best interests to set out the agreed details with regard to pay, holidays, benefits etc. Although this doesn’t legally have to be presented in writing to the candidate yet, it can help to avoid misunderstandings or arguments.

You should send them two copies of this letter, and ask them to sign both and return one copy to you in order to accept the offer. Once they have met any conditions that you set out you should send a further, unconditional, letter of appointment.

Once you have received an acceptance of your offer you should also write to (and perhaps also telephone) the rejected candidates, along with a brief explanation – send them away with a very positive view of your company. You may also choose to file away the details of some people you think may be worth contacting about other jobs in the future.

The next stage is to prepare to welcome your new recruit to the company. This is crucial – if they don’t feel welcomed and excited then they will soon start looking for other work. Help them to settle in well and they will work harder, and show more loyalty. The way that you communicate with and support them in this early period will shape their attitude to your company, and their view of what is expected of them. If it is friendly, thoughtful and well prepared it implants in their mind the fact that you have to be friendly, thoughtful and well prepared to work for your company – so make sure you demonstrate the attitudes of your company very clearly.

These are my recommended steps for success:

   1. Send the offer letter with a welcome pack. The welcome pack could include a brief introduction to each person in the company (or team. No more than a dozen people), some marketing literature so they can get to know your products and services better, and anything else that will help them to hit the ground running on their first day.

   2. Appoint a buddy – someone from the team they will be working in (preferably at the same level as them) - and give the buddy some spending money to meet them for lunch one day, or drinks one evening, in the weeks before they start working for you.

   3. Send them a contract of employment – see below. Send two copies, one to sign and return to you, the other to keep. A template Contract of Employment is included on the CD-Rom. This is a very important document. You should adapt the document to your needs and then get it checked by your lawyer. The template will save you time and money, but it isn’t intended to entirely replace specialist professional advice.

   4. Plan what the format will be for their first week. Will they shadow other people? Will they get any formal training? Who will they meet? Remember to plan in a tour of the building including the location of first aid kits, fire escapes, fire extinguishers and other health and safety related information.

   5. Telephone them a week before they start work to check that they have all the information they need, answer any questions they have etc. Chat through what the dress code is, what the arrangement for lunch are (if there’s nowhere nearby to buy food they will need to know to bring lunch with them!), what the arrangements are for parking and all sorts of other practical details - plus what the format of their first week will be.

   6. If they’re going to need business cards, get these prepared in advance. It’s amazing how exciting it is to have your own business cards on your first day! Just make sure you spell their name right! (I’m not kidding, this happens)

   7. Make sure their desk or workplace is clean, tidy and welcoming.

   8. It’s also great to have some traditions that you always observe on the first day of each new team member. Perhaps you serve everyone a glass of champagne at lunchtime or lay on a nice lunch for everyone. Make it different to normal days, and make it fun.

   9. Their buddy should always be around to help them or answer questions. Perhaps you could pay for the buddy and new team member to go to lunch once a week for the first month?

   10. You should meet your new team member in private at the end of the first week, the first month and the first quarter, to check how they are settling in, answer their questions and give them guidance. Do give them positive feedback on the things that they are all ready doing well. Build them up, but also help them in areas where they are not yet fully confident or successful.