Trainism

The most inevitable process that follows you as a trainer & remains a part of your profile is the process of conducting Interviews. At times I feel it is a very unfair deal. One party in this process is totally at ease while the other trying to give its best in minimum span of time. But if it is a prerequisite to get into an organization then one must be prepared for it. Conducting good & successful interviews is an art worth learning.

Experts say that conducting an interview requires an investment of both time & money. So while conducting an interview have you ever thought about the ROI-Return On Investment that you are giving to your organization excluding the cost of hiring a wrong candidate. If yes then good, keep it up & if no hen it is time to wake up trainers.In the next couple of paras I will try to simplify the Interview process.

Before you start the Interview process ponder on the following points.

• A good hiring decision can greatly benefit the organization.
• A bad hire can doom the companies process. Hence judgment pays a very important role
• A good qualified employee must join the organization as soon as possible.
• One must never do a favor by clearing the interview of an undeserving or below average candidate.
• You are not a GOD that you can accept or reject candidates. Come out of it if you haven’t. You are given some powers & must use them judiciously.
• You must be prepared for it. If in the last 20 interviews you have been asking the same question then you need to think again about your own capabilities as a trainer. Please read more & prepare yourself thoroughly before you put any candidate on test.

Before you start conducting interviews, know you self better as an interview:

• Who does most of the talking? Do you let the candidate speak or are you more interested in telling that you know it all.
• Do you ask more of open ended questions or closed ended questions?
• While conducting an interview do you do positive inquiry or negative inquiry or even worse it is an Interrogation call & you enjoy every time when the candidate is stuck?
• Do you always end up asking creative & out of the box questions?
• Do you like asking counter questions or believe in the funnel approach which means narrowing down.
• Or do you ask question to collect data, facts, figures & only for confirmation of what is written in the resume.

Your style of asking questions would largely depend on what you think about yourself or to be blunt what you want others to think about yourself.

Tips of  successfully conducting an Interview:

1. Get calibrated before you start conducting interviews. Interview calibration should be done once in every quarter amongst heterogeneous departments.
2. Be prepared with the list of questions that you must ask. This should have a minx of all open & closed ended, creative, confirming, positive & negative inquiry.
3. Be prepared with a pen & paper handy or of you have a computer then you must have the scoring matrix & the judgment parameters in front of you.
4. Be very careful of the setting. If it is face to face interview, then book a room well in advance & avoid any sort of interruptions as it can make or break someones entry to the organization. If it is on the phone, only speak to the person when he or she is ready.
5. Put the candidate at ease by telling something about yourself & what are you judging the candidate on. Educating candidates always help. So that he/she understands & gives the desired answers.
6. Start with Open ended casual questions before you jump on to the hard ones.
7. Try to make the candidate laugh, trust me this works well. Crack a joke to lighten the atmosphere.
8. Take permission for taking down notes & if it is a very long interview do not hesitate to offer tea & coffee.
9. Keep a tab on the timing. Never have a set timing of 5 to 10 Min’s. The interview timing must vary as per the candidate & his ability to communicate.
10. Do not look for a perfectionist or someone who is just like you. Look at the need & then define a judgment criteria. An average candidate can make it large it he/she has a positive outlook.
11. During a face to face interview observe the body language of a person.
12. Do not hesitate to give a feedback if the candidate asks for one, you should just know how to handle it well.
13. Probe candidates to ask more questions about the organization at the interview level.
14. By the end of the interview try to uncover hidden talent in the candidate.

An organized interview should always take place in a quiet & private area.  This would encourage the candidate to tell more about himself without interruptions & will help the interviewer arrive on the right decision of either accepting & rejecting a candidate.