Tips on Conducting an Interview
Here are some tips for RTs on conducting interviews...
Questioning a complete stranger can be awkward and uncomfortable. Remembering some of the traditional social graces that you would use in a social setting can help as you artfully guide the conversation in the right direction.
Put the interviewee at ease. Meet the candidate at the door, extend a friendly handshake, make eye contact and act genuinely pleased to be interviewing the person.
Listen. Not listening is one of the biggest mistakes an interviewer makes. The rule of thumb: The candidate talks 80 percent of the time, and the interviewer talks 20 percent of the time. According to Yate, “God gave us one mouth and two ears. In an interview we should use them in an appropriate way. We tend to sell our companies too soon, too hard.”
Maintain control of the interview. Kanter recommends that interviewers not allow candidates to ask questions for at least the first two-thirds of the interview. To cut off the questions, you can say, “I know you have a number of questions, and I am going to leave some time for them toward the end of the interview. But first I'd like to take some time to learn about you.”
Use silence to your advantage. Uncomfortable with silence, most interviewers will jump in and fill the void. Kanter says, “As a general rule, when you ask a question, you shouldn't be the next person to speak. Give the person an opportunity to formulate an answer and to respond.” Also, states Kanter, “Another time when silence is useful is right after the candidate has answered a question. If you pause just a second or two before asking another question, you're sending a signal to the candidate that you would welcome additional information, and sometimes what the candidate adds after that brief pause is more interesting and less rehearsed than the initial answer.”
Hiring Decisions and the “Halo Effect”
When you like an applicant because you share common interests and viewpoints, you can fall victim to the “halo effect.” It occurs when the personal rapport is so overwhelmingly good that a halo descends upon the applicant and the interviewer automatically endows the person with all kinds of positive traits and abilities. If this happens, the validity of the interview is in serious jeopardy. A good interviewer needs to remain objective and stay on course with tough, challenging questions.
Studies have shown that most interviewers make a decision about a candidate in the first five minutes of an interview and spend the remaining time listening for facts that will substantiate that decision. In addition, too many managers judge candidates solely on their communications and presentation skills, or how they “perform” in the interview — not on how they will perform on the job. The goal of the Controller is to break through the interview persona and carefully assess each candidate.
(Some tips on "don'ts of interviewing" appear in the prior post.)
From: Business Finance Article Archives, "The Art of Interviewing," by Carol Orsag Madijan
Questioning a complete stranger can be awkward and uncomfortable. Remembering some of the traditional social graces that you would use in a social setting can help as you artfully guide the conversation in the right direction.
Put the interviewee at ease. Meet the candidate at the door, extend a friendly handshake, make eye contact and act genuinely pleased to be interviewing the person.
Listen. Not listening is one of the biggest mistakes an interviewer makes. The rule of thumb: The candidate talks 80 percent of the time, and the interviewer talks 20 percent of the time. According to Yate, “God gave us one mouth and two ears. In an interview we should use them in an appropriate way. We tend to sell our companies too soon, too hard.”
Maintain control of the interview. Kanter recommends that interviewers not allow candidates to ask questions for at least the first two-thirds of the interview. To cut off the questions, you can say, “I know you have a number of questions, and I am going to leave some time for them toward the end of the interview. But first I'd like to take some time to learn about you.”
Use silence to your advantage. Uncomfortable with silence, most interviewers will jump in and fill the void. Kanter says, “As a general rule, when you ask a question, you shouldn't be the next person to speak. Give the person an opportunity to formulate an answer and to respond.” Also, states Kanter, “Another time when silence is useful is right after the candidate has answered a question. If you pause just a second or two before asking another question, you're sending a signal to the candidate that you would welcome additional information, and sometimes what the candidate adds after that brief pause is more interesting and less rehearsed than the initial answer.”
Hiring Decisions and the “Halo Effect”
When you like an applicant because you share common interests and viewpoints, you can fall victim to the “halo effect.” It occurs when the personal rapport is so overwhelmingly good that a halo descends upon the applicant and the interviewer automatically endows the person with all kinds of positive traits and abilities. If this happens, the validity of the interview is in serious jeopardy. A good interviewer needs to remain objective and stay on course with tough, challenging questions.
Studies have shown that most interviewers make a decision about a candidate in the first five minutes of an interview and spend the remaining time listening for facts that will substantiate that decision. In addition, too many managers judge candidates solely on their communications and presentation skills, or how they “perform” in the interview — not on how they will perform on the job. The goal of the Controller is to break through the interview persona and carefully assess each candidate.
(Some tips on "don'ts of interviewing" appear in the prior post.)
From: Business Finance Article Archives, "The Art of Interviewing," by Carol Orsag Madijan
posted by Hoosier RT | 1:41 PM
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