Interviewing Techniques
Here are ten quick tips to help keep you in control during an interview:
- Maintain objectivity. Recognize when you feel either too relaxed or uncomfortable-keep your buying switch in the "Maybe" position.
- Conduct a 20-minute performance-based phone interview BEFORE you sit down. When you talk with someone on the phone first, you automatically minimize the impact of personality and first impressions.
- Don't start the actual interview right away; chat or take a walk together instead. This will help minimize emotions and set up the framework for a good dialogue.
- Use a pre-planned, structured interview. Write down a few performance-oriented questions to ask right away, whether you like the candidate or not.
- Measure your first impressions again after 30 minutes. Compare with your original feelings and evaluate your reactions.
- Change your frame of reference: ask tougher questions if you like a candidate, easier ones if you don't.
- Listen four times more than you talk. The interview isn't a casual conversation - it's a fact-finding expedition. Get a page of notes for each of the candidate's accomplishments.
- Treat the candidate as a consultant, someone you're paying to listen to. We always listen more carefully to those we consider experts.
- Talk about real work instead of hypothetical issues. Accuracy will increase if the interview is more like a problem-solving session.
- Use a panel interview to minimize emotional response. With less worries about a one-on-one relationship, you can get to the truth faster.
