Conduct The Perfect Interview

How To Interview A Candidate In 5 Steps

Conducting a great interview is a key skill every employer tries to master, but, it is something very difficult to do. There are several different factors to consider including preparing and asking the right questions, seeing the right people and deciding what the time and length of the interview will be.

Below are 5 steps to give you a structure when it comes to performing the perfect interview.

1 – Deciding Who Will Be In The Interview

• Decide who you want to be in the interview. It is important to consider what the relationship the interviewer will have in the role you’re trying to fill.
• The employee who will work closely with the hiring position, normally someone who has experience and specialist knowledge for the position
• An employee or manager who will oversee the position
• It is worth thinking if the person should meet more than just one person or the balance of having too many people in the interview
• Two is usually an absolute max for an interview as it can be very intimidating for the candidate  

2 – Interview Logistics

After deciding who is going to be in the interview it is time to organise the logistics for it. Decide when the interview will take place, date and time and the location.  

Things to consider:

• Do you need to book a meeting or conference room?
• Has everyone been notified of the interview?
• Does water, tea or coffee need to be provided?

Share the interview schedule with whoever will be in the interview, include the location and who will be interviewing. Send this via an outlook reminder.

3 – Prepare For The Interview, Questions To Ask And Job Documents

Have a think, are you prepared to interview the candidate? Do you have all the job documents you need for the interview? Go through some interview preparation and this will give you the confidence to master the interview.

We would recommend:

• Have a copy of the candidate’s CV in front of you, cover letter and any other information they have sent to you
• Copy of the job specification
• Decide what you are looking for from job role and be ready to explain this
• Write down some pre-interview questions and work through the candidate’s CV, highlighting any issues you may have or responsibilities to discuss
• Make sure you have some key points prepared to sell your business to the candidate. An interview is a two-way street and the best candidates are likely to have multiple opportunities!

It would be worth running your questions by a colleague and practice delivering your questions to feel confident before the interview. 

4 – Relax

From our experience in the industry, most candidates will be nervous and stressed at the start, middle and end of the interview.

To make candidates feel better and at ease, you can do the following:

• Be personable, get to know the candidate on a personable level
• Give candidates as much detail about the interview as possible
• If the dress code in the office is super casual, then a candidate might feel quite uncomfortable when they turn up
• Send out pre-interview questions to the candidate
• Anything they might need to know, parking, office doorbells, etc

5 – Feedback

After an interview, all candidates need feedback and closure so that they can move on. This is regardless if they have the job or not, all feedback is useful.

• Let the candidates know what the next steps are, will there be a delay in the decision made?
• Tell the candidate promptly if you are moving forward with another candidate
• Make the candidate an offer quickly and secure them before another company can

We hope this guide will allow you to ease the process of interviewing and make it less stressful for you and the candidate being interviewed. With a growing reliance on interviews in the hiring process, it is important that both the interviewer and the potential candidate are prepared.