by Mary Norman

Created on: August 05, 2008   Last Updated: June 13, 2009

Top 9 Strategies for Conducting Effective Executive Interviews

In today's mad-cap corporate jungle, there is an unprecedented amount of competition in selecting and hiring the best candidate at all management levels. We all know that hiring the right person for the job is imperative to a company's success, but the task of evaluating and preparing for the hiring process is low on the totem pole in comparison to more strategic priorities such as customer-impact, operational and sales processes.

William Laurent, a renowned independent consultant in the Master Data Management (MDM) field understands that a company's most valuable assets are its people. "Fortune 500 companies allocate more than one-third of their operating revenue - in remuneration, health care, retirement/pension funds, training and additional programs - on human capital. Prudent corporations don't neglect to extend governance and technology best practices to the procurement of human capital."

Managers at small to mid-size companies have little, if any, support from an internal HR department and fitting an interview into an already over-burdened schedule can be challenging. By taking steps ahead of time to eliminate unqualified or undesirable applicants, you remove the need to schedule dozens of interviews that end up wasting of your valuable time. Conducting an interview can be a breeze if you prepare ahead of time using these proven interview strategies:

1. Know What You Need

Understanding the skills, talents and qualities needed for the job is essential in choosing the right candidate. If a job description doesn't exist for the open position, make one. Identify what you want the employee to do, specific responsibilities and the minimum education and skill requirements to successfully attain them. For example: responsible for consistent PMA / FDA approval, manages submission of all 510k premarket notifications, etc.

2. Know What You Want

Get a clear understanding of what you want by identifying the specific characteristics and traits of the person you would most like to have on your team. If you have employees successfully performing in the position already, list the traits and characteristics they bring to the position. For example: adaptable, catalyst, high integrity, etc.

3. Manage Risk

Incorporate risk management practices into the interview process to minimize liability exposure. Improper inquiries, discriminatory statements or comments that reflect bias can open up you and your company to litigation.

Federal

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