"I am convinced that nothing we do is more important than hiring and developing people. At the end of the day you bet on people, not on strategies."
Lawrence Bossidy, Director at Merck pharmaceutical.
In every company, large or small, time is money. When every second counts, finding a swift and effective way to interview potential employees is an essential skill for any manager. In between discussions with clients, meetings with colleagues, and research and development tasks, few managers can find time for a bite to eat, let alone conduct rounds of interviews to find the ideal candidate for that all-important role. Yet it is not something that should be shoved to the bottom of the pile. A good executive can take a company to new heights, while a bad choice could spell disaster.
Internal human resources, often the first port of call in any hiring process, may do nothing more than sort through the copious resumes and remove the most hopeless from the running. As a result you are faced with another stack of paperwork, and little progress has been made in choosing your newest employee.
The question: How to conduct potentially numerous interviews efficiently and still recruit the best possible candidate to your team?
By putting the following interview strategies into action, you can reduce the time it takes to choose a candidate without compromising on quality.
Top Nine Strategies for Conducting Effective Executive Interviews
1. Prepare Yourself
Success is all in the preparation. By developing an interview plan, applicants can be questioned and analyzed efficiently, and you can receive the information that you need to make the best decision for the company as a whole.
The first step is to carefully consider the role for which you are hiring. Do they need experience winning contracts? Must they be aware of standards such as CE marking, or be familiar with applying for pre-market approval (PMA) such as an FDA 501(k), or do they require knowledge of FDA approval policies?
Construct a personal model of the ideal applicant. How should they behave? Do they need to cope with stress, work in a team, and conduct presentations? Make a list of which behavioral characteristics would be present in the ideal candidate.
Familiarize yourself with the resumes. This is a time-consuming task, particularly if you have twenty or more applicants for the job. However, spending five minutes scanning through each resume can give you an idea of where each applicant's strengths and weaknesses lie, and leave you better prepared for meeting them face to face.
Tailor a few core questions to each candidate and make a note of them on their resume. These will provide a foundation for the interview, giving the applicant to build up a picture of why they believe they are suitable.
2. Choose Your Setting
Where the interview is conducted is an essential factor in the process. Making sure that both you and the interviewee are at ease will enable you both to get more out of the experience.
The room needs designed for the purpose of long meetings. Make sure that you, the interviewer, are going to be comfortable for long periods of time. If possible ensure that sustenance is available. Perhaps your candidates may not need food in their one-hour interview, but being able to grab a snack between meetings will do you the world of good and make you more receptive to each potential new colleague.
3. Set The Tone
In order to get the most from any interview it is important to help the candidate do their best. By reducing the stress and anxiety of the occasion, you can get a better idea of how they behave on an average day, rather than under the intense scrutiny of a one-on-one meeting.
Be friendly and conversational. The candidate will take their cues from the interviewer. If you are bored, aggressive or intimidating they will react accordingly, and the interview will degenerate.
4. Establish Control
Many a manager has found themselves at the receiving end of an unnerving interrogation from a candidate when conducting an interview. Start off on the right foot by establishing your control.
The way you open the interview can be very telling. If your introduction focuses on the company then the candidate may get the impression that the staff do not matter to you as much as the corporation. It also gives you the opportunity to ramble, wasting precious minutes.
Instead get straight to the point. Welcome the applicant, take an interest in their journey and welfare, and then begin with an open-ended request such as: "Tell me more about yourself and what you can contribute to our company."
5. Interview Questions
The aim of an interview is to keep the person sitting opposite you talking. Between eighty and ninety percent of the conversation should be carried by the candidate, therefore giving them the chance to showcase their personality and expertise for your approval.
A key skill is making sure that questions are as open-ended as possible. Try to avoid yes/no questions, or those that potentially limit the applicant. By keeping your tone light, conversational and, above all, interested, you can garner a wealth of information in a matter of minutes.
There are three main types of questioning. The first is behavioral, which direct the applicant to explain their reactions to difficult situations such as missing deadlines or facing conflicts within a team. These queries will enable the applicant to provide a character profile, which you can compare to your own specification of the perfect candidate.
Hypothetical, or "What would you do if..." questions allow the interviewee to demonstrate their problem-solving skills. By posing these scenarios you will understand how easily the candidate will fit into the job-role and the working culture of your company.
Technical questions are essential in any job that requires specific knowledge or expertise, such as programming or medical design and development. These can either be conducted in the interview, or analysis through aptitude testing.
6. Ongoing Assessment
An interview is only useful if you are taking note of the facts that the applicant is presenting to you as they answer questions. By taking an active interest in what is being said, you will not only encourage them to give full and dynamic answers, but you will give a good impression of yourself and the company.
Take notes throughout the interview, highlighting salient points of each strength and weakness for every candidate. When it comes to the final decision, do not rely on your memory to recall the minutiae of each encounter.
7. Time management
If it becomes apparent that the applicant does not match your criteria, then ending the interview will save time and effort, allowing you to move on to the next candidate. By sticking to a loose interview structure rather than a rigid timetable, a higher level of flexibility is possible, allowing you to extend or curtail the length of each meeting as required. Beware, though, of becoming too flexible and allowing applicants to over-run. Setting a maximum time will enable you to meet the goals of the day and will prevent interviews dragging on beyond their natural conclusion.
8. Inform and Motivate
As the interview draws to a close, it is important to reward the candidate with information that they may find relevant. Ask if they have any questions, explain the way the company works, and inform them of how soon you expect to make your decision.
By providing this opportunity to the candidate, you are underlining your appreciation for their time and effort and giving them an insight into the corporate culture of the company that may be their future workplace.
9. Review And Decide
As each interview progresses, you will form a further mental short-list based on your instincts, as well as the manner in which each applicant behaved and answered your questions. If a candidate does not make it onto this short-list then do not consider them further.
Those who have made it onto the short-list warrant further time and consideration. Compare your notes and their resume to the job specification, take into account technical acumen as displayed in response to any aptitude tests or technical questioning, and consider whether their personality will fit neatly into the existing workplace culture.
Consider performance, management ability, emotional maturity, motivation, intelligence, qualifications and career growth potential when choosing the final candidate.
Although time is of the essence in any business venture, the selection of a competent and skilled employee deserves devotion. Hiring the wrong applicant can be an incredibly costly mistake, damaging not only profits, but also productivity and the reputation of your growing business as a result. By putting aside the time to prepare you can make the most of the interview process, and be confident that you have made the right decision when choosing the latest member of your team.