5 Best Practices in Interviewing for Hiring Managers and Interviewers

The hiring process includes a lot of stages, such as writing the job descriptions, posting on the job portals, shortlisting profiles, and much more, and the actual interview by the hiring manager is just one of them. But if the hiring managers are not well prepared to handle the interviewing stage, all your efforts as the talent acquisition specialist might end up being futile.

The hiring manager carries a lot of decision-making power and often has the final say. So if she makes a judgmental error due to being underprepared or biased, your organization stands to lose great candidates. On the other hand, if she selects candidates without objectively assessing them, it will lead to a poor hiring decision.

Most hiring managers get involved only a little later in the hiring process, after a set of resumes have been shortlisted by the recruiters. And they are hardly ever trained for the task of interviewing and selecting good candidates. So it’s really ok that the art of interviewing doesn’t come naturally to them.

A great way to overcome this limitation is to follow certain easy best practices, which will ensure that hiring managers contribute to the hiring process in the most effective way possible.

5 Best Practices for Hiring Managers to Help Make Great Hiring Decisions

Know what you are hiring for

As a hiring manager, you are probably going to be interviewing not for your own role, but for a job role below you, or maybe even a peer-position. So knowing what goes into the work that will be done by the hired employees is critical to determine what to look for in a candidate’s profile.
Take your time to research the job role by talking to employees that are currently in that role, understanding their challenges, and figuring out what kind of people are likely to do well in that position.

Identify the key details in the candidates’ CVs

Once you have understood what it is that you are hiring for, it’s time to take a detailed look at the CVs that are passed on to you as the hiring manager. More often than not, the recruiter would have shortlisted suitable candidates, but it’s a good idea to do your own due diligence.

For example, if you are looking for a Python programmer with at least two years of experience, you should see some technical details of the programmer’s accomplishments in that role in the past. If the details seem inaccurate or vague, you will know what kind of questions you should focus on asking.

Prepare what questions to ask in the interview, and what answers you are looking for

After familiarizing yourself with the key details in the candidates’ CVs, you should go about preparing the essential questions to ask, such as:

1) Can you highlight your top most professional accomplishment in your present job role?

 

    #) If the candidate is unable to articulate this, he probably doesn’t have any major accomplishments in his current job. If he blabbers on without being able to zero in on what difference his work made, he probably doesn’t know the impact of his work.

2) Why exactly are you looking for a job change?

    #) Try to figure out whether they are looking for a change just for money, or for long term growth prospects, or something else. But the main thing is that it should be for a genuine reason and a candidate who answers this question truthfully will be a better long term prospect than one who gives you a flamboyant but canned answer. Just make sure you don’t interrogate a good candidate in such a way that he gets annoyed with your grilling and decides not to join even if selected.

3) Why do you want to join this organization?

    #) This will tell you whether they have researched your company’s details and whether their attending this interview is driven by interest in your company, or is just a casual attempt. You need employees who know what they like about their organization.

4) What roadmap do you see ahead of yourself in the next five years?

    #) The answer will help you determine the ambition-level of the candidates. It’s really ok if they are not clear about it, as long as they admit it. You wouldn’t want to hire someone who unrealistically thinks they can become the CEO of an MNC, from being a Customer Support Representative, in just five years.

Conduct the interview with professionalism

There will be times when the first impression of the candidate is not a great one. But appearances can be deceiving. So having decided to interview the candidate, you should go through with it with professionalism.

And there may be times when you are totally impressed with the candidate’s first impression, but don’t let it cloud your objective judgment.

Evaluate the interviewee objectively and without bias in both cases.

Here are some steps involved in conducting an interview professionally:

1) Introduce yourself and your position in the organization

2) Maintain a good body language

3) Be courteous and empathetic

4) Listen actively, and not selectively

5) Invite questions at the end of the interview

Keep the communication channel open with the shortlisted candidates

Often times, this step is overlooked and is left completely to the recruiters. However, if the hiring manager can add this personal touch at the end of their interview with selected candidates, it will go a long way in the candidates deciding in favor of joining your company. Of course, you don’t have to give them your mobile number, but giving your company email should do just fine. You need not worry about candidates pestering you with follow up emails, because you will have given it only to those whom you want to join your company anyhow.

Driving Great Hiring Decisions as Hiring Managers

The recruiters really deserve the hiring managers’ help in this regard and together, you can synergize your efforts with those of the talent acquisition specialists. Making great hiring great decisions cannot be a one-person show and all stakeholders will need to pitch in and contribute their bit.

And as hiring managers, by following these best practices, you are providing invaluable support to the recruiters and ultimately contributing to great hiring decisions.

These best practices need to be limited to just hiring managers. Even recruiters can follow the same and will derive the great benefit of boosting their hiring efforts.