Recruitment, Part 3: Interviewing

Eurgh, interviews. I honestly think I prefer being interviewed than interviewing sometimes. It is so tough to work out if the answers you are being given resemble the truth and whether the questions you are asking are really getting to the heart of the matter. Of course, often you know straight away that someone isn’t a fit, but it’s when you’re at round two and have a handful of potential candidates that I just wish I had a crystal ball.

There are a few solutions.

Firstly, now you have your ‘essentials’ list narrowed down, form some questions that ask for examples of those behaviours. Instead of asking, ‘are you able to give honest feedback, even to your manager?’, ask ‘can you give me an example of a time when you’ve given honest feedback to your manager even though you knew they didn’t want to hear it?’. Make it clear that the interviewee has as much time to answer these questions as they’d like, and you can even come back to them. After all, you want a real answer to the question, not to know whether or not they have an indexed memory.

Secondly, try to organize the interviews so that afterwards, several interviewees are able to mingle with you and your employees over a cup of tea and biscuits. The candidates will get a chance to get more of a feel for the business but your employees will also get a chance to pick up on any red flags. It’s incredible how much people will say, even to the person who just interviewed them, with a cup of tea and a biscuit in their hand when they think the interview is over.

Lastly, when you think you have made a decision, use their referees. When you get their previous manager or colleague on the phone, tell them you are a small business looking to invest a lot of time and money into [successful candidate] and you would really appreciate it if they could answer some questions. Then ask them a few of the same questions you asked the candidate. Even down to examples of the behaviour whenever possible. If they don’t have time, ask when would be a better time to call back, because you need to hear about their experience with the candidate.

PS. If you've got any magical interview questions that you have used or had used on you in the past, please don't be a dick and keep them to yourself: comment below.