Best Practices for Interviewing and Hiring New Employees
August 20, 2021
Hiring new employees is always somewhat of a risk. Whether we are hiring for a simple job or one extremely complex, we never know exactly who these people are as employees until working with them. With this, the process of interviewing new applicants is extremely important. The tips and tricks listed below will prepare you to conduct successful interviews one hundred percent of the time!
3 common mistakes interviewers make:
1. They fail to provide applicants with a clear job description
– This is a HUGE waste of time, money and energy for both you and your company. You’ll spend days, if not weeks, reviewing applications and/or conducting interviews only to find out that none of the candidates are qualified for the position.
2. They only ask skill-based questions, and fail to ask questions regarding who the candidate is as a person, an employee and teammate.
– Asking only skill-based questions will limit the amount of information you receive. This limited information will not allow you to assess how well each candidate will fit into your company’s culture. This could cause for major problems in the long-run.
3. They fail to create a scorecard or interview question sheet for all interviews
– This is one of the most simple steps to conducting an interview, yet it could be argued as the single most important. If you think that after several interviews you will remember what each candidate said and why, you’re making a mistake. In order to keep track of all the candidates and make the best overall decision, you’ll need to be able to go back and reference what they said specifically during their interview.
First, you need to prepare yourself for the interviews. You can do this by thinking about the current needs of your company, and asking yourself 3 essential questions:
1. What are the critical skills needed to do this job well?
2. What kinds of basic personality traits should this new employee possess in order to fit in to the company’s culture?
3. What kind of salary can your company afford to give this new employee?
Then, when it comes time for the interviews you’ll have the ability to test how good a fit each candidate is for the position you’re hiring, by already having established then answers you’re looking for to three of the most important questions you should be asking:
1. What skills make you a qualified candidate for this position?
2. What makes you a good employee and teammate?
3. What is your desired range in salary?
Interviewing and Hiring Checklist:
1. I have defined the skills essential for this position
2. I have created a scorecard or interview question sheet for all candidates
3. I know my company’s budget for hiring this new employee
4. I have considered the personality traits this employee should possess in order to fit in with the company’s culture
5. I have created and shared a clear job description with all applicants
6. I have read over each candidates job application and resume prior to interviewing them
7. I have established, and know that I can provide each candidate with improvement opportunities involving quality of life and career advancement
