You worked long and hard and became a boss.and faced the problem of conducting an interview. Or you do not hold a management position at all, but you were asked to help with hiring personnel. Or some other reason, as a result of which you are puzzled by the question of how to conduct an interview correctly. In general, employers dream of a universal answer, and the best psychological minds are struggling to solve this problem. The ability to determine at first glance whether a person is suitable for a position would solve many problems, but, unfortunately, there is no clear option yet. But despite this, we have prepared a list of the most effective and working techniques from modern recruiters especially for you.
What is the interview for?
If you want to conduct it correctly and effectivelyinterview, then you need to clearly understand the purpose of its implementation. Many employers believe that a conversation with a future applicant is a kind of exam. And they look down on the candidates who come. But this is the wrong position! An interview is a negotiation between an employer and an applicant, and both parties are equally interested in their positive outcome: the employer wants to find a good employee, and the applicant wants a good job. Due to the distorted position of “I am an employer, and therefore I am the king”, a very good employee can run away from you, and you will never know about it. The nature of the interview also depends on the goals of the interview. For example, if you just need to fill the vacancy with an adequate employee, then a conversation aimed at eliminating obvious contraindications to the position, for example, laziness, deceit, etc., will be enough. … If you need the best employee, or you are interviewing for a very responsible and important position, then the interview should be very detailed and objective. It is recommended to use special psychodiagnostic methods aimed at measuring business and personal qualities. Naturally, such an interview will take more time. The nature of the interview depends greatly on the job responsibilities of the person being hired. For example, if you need to find a good sales manager, then you need to study in detail his communication and self-presentation skills. And since the interview itself reveals and demonstrates them, you do not need any special “special means”. Just look and listen to the person: if he can convince you to hire him, then he is a good sales manager.
Useful techniques
As we have already said above, there is no universal answerThere is no answer to the question of how to conduct an interview correctly. However, there are general recommendations that a person who selects candidates for a given position should know like the back of his hand. First, you need to make a list of what you want to see in a future employee. This may be certain knowledge, skills, abilities, business and personal qualities. Next, you need to think about ways to check them. Of course, you will be able to see the manifestation of most of them during the interview. For example, if stress resistance is important to you, to check it you will only need to create a little stress for the applicant by choosing a rude manner of speaking or a walk-through room for the conversation. In some cases, special psychodiagnostic tools, such as tests, may be useful to you. In such a situation, it is better to seek help from a professional, since interpreting test results is a very complex thing, and it does not come down to a simple score, as many people think. To obtain a reliable result using a questionnaire, a deep and detailed analysis of the answers is necessary, and this can only be done by a person with a higher psychological education and experience in this field. Therefore, you do not need to download tests from the Internet, print them out, conduct them and focus on the result obtained - it's like playing roulette, where the bet is your vacancy. In order to correctly assess the qualities you are interested in, you need to manage the conversation. Agree, it looks very strange if the applicant does this - such a long monologue "what I want, that's what I say." By asking questions, you can at any time direct the interview in the direction you need, and also find out what you want to know, and not what the candidate for the position conveys. Do not hesitate to persistently ask clarifying questions - this will help you understand exactly what the applicant means, and also, in the case of a lie, expose him. For example, if the candidate speaks only in general phrases, ask him for details. Incoherence and a sharp increase in filler words instead of banal recall may indicate dishonesty on the part of the applicant. By the way, about lying during an interview. Unfortunately, many applicants are guilty of it, and there is no getting away from it. But perhaps you should not conclude that the candidate is blatantly lying to you based on just one observation or answer. Any person can get nervous and confused, and everyone, including the interviewer, should understand this. But systematic omissions, inconsistencies and avoidance of answers can already be regarded as dishonesty. In any case, the likelihood of successful cooperation with such employees can be close to zero. All this is general advice and recommendations for people starting to conduct interviews. However, there is also heavy artillery: techniques of experienced recruiters that help to “see through” and learn a lot about almost any candidate. We present them to your attention:
- Make contact with some employersIt seems that a friendly dialogue with the applicant is unnecessary. Ask questions, get answers - and that's it, nothing more is needed. However, this opinion is wrong. You can underestimate the impact of various factors, such as excitement, introversion, ability to work in, etc. ... They can distort the results, as a result of which you will hire a bad candidate or not hire a good one. Therefore, it is so important to create a comfortable psychological atmosphere for the applicant: say hello, smile, joke a little. This will show you from your best side and will be able to objectively evaluate the candidate for the position.
- Use the least typical and “hackneyed” onesformulation of questions As you probably know, many applicants prepare for an interview by reading various pieces of advice on the Internet, among which there are templates for answers to typical questions like “Where do you see yourself in five years?”, “What are your strengths and weaknesses?”, “Tell me about your achievements”, etc. … As a result, interviews with different candidates are as similar as two peas in a pod. There is zero point in such answers. How to make an applicant open up? Ask non-standard questions: this breaks the behavior pattern, increases the truthfulness of answers and reveals real business and personal qualities.
- The correct sequence of questionsUse it to get the result you need. If you want the competitor to relax and feel comfortable, then start with simple biographical facts and gradually move on to more complex issues that require mental stress. If, on the contrary, you want to arrange a stress-interview, then immediately begin with difficult, and even a trick of some kind come up.
- Invite the applicant to ask his questions. Thischanging roles can “shake” him up and show more than all the passive answers to questions put together. You will be able to form an idea of what worries the person most about the future job, what he is like, how he thinks and learns about the world. In addition, this is a gesture of politeness and goodwill towards the applicant, because he will be able to clarify all the remaining unclear details. Pay special attention to the questions that the person has prepared in advance - this shows that he is well acquainted with your industry, company and competitors.
Do not make mistakes!
Unfortunately, no one is immune from committingmistakes, even by gurus of professional selection and diagnostics. However, their number can be reduced to a minimum. As the saying goes, “a fool learns from his own mistakes, and a smart one - from others.” That is why, before conducting an interview, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the list of the most typical “gaffes” for novice interviewers:
Interviewing Techniques
You know that there are several schemesinterview? As a rule, in each country, HR managers adhere to their own strategy for assessing candidates. And they differ greatly from each other. We would like to offer you the most interesting and effective strategies. In the United States of America, for example, interviews are based on all sorts of tests: personality, intellectual, creative, etc. ... Applicants must take them on a computer, but recruiters also observe them in an informal setting. This could be an invitation to lunch, a coffee break, or even a weekend out of town. The targets for observation are the applicant's personal shortcomings and his potential, which do not always confirm his ability to work in the company. And all this is very well revealed using this method. The British act differently. Their method is based on the fact that members of the personnel commission personally talk to each applicant about his biography, family traditions, university, relatives and acquaintances. They may ask whether the candidate studied at Oxford and whether any of his relatives served in the Royal Navy. As strange as it may sound to a Russian, in Britain a decision on hiring a person is made based on these answers. After all, the centuries-old monarchy makes its mark! The Germans, as usual, are distinguished by their pedantry. A candidate undergoing an interview in a German company will need to collect a significant number of documents, which include recommendations from famous specialists, managers, politicians, scientists, various diplomas and certificates, and test results. A commission consisting of experts in this field controls the correctness of their execution and analyzes all these materials. After this, the applicant must go through an equally strict and regulated procedure of a personal interview. The Chinese method is distinguished by its commitment to long-standing historical traditions. It is based on a written exam, the essence of which comes down to applicants writing essays. In these very works, they prove their literacy, knowledge of classical literature and history, and ability to reason. Those who pass this exam successfully (and there are usually no more than three to five percent of candidates) also write an essay, but this time it concerns their future job and is the final one in a series of written exams. Those who pass this will have to go through another test - a direct interview with the manager, and only after that the candidate is hired. By the way, the position and job status often depend on the grade the candidate received on the exams. Modern "HR specialists" usually combine all the techniques and methods listed above. In addition, we must not forget about the importance of an individual approach: an experienced professional chooses an interview strategy depending on the position and requirements for the candidate. But it takes time to learn this. So conduct interviews, study and practice - and the day is near when you will be filling vacancies with one click! We recommend reading:
