How to Interview Candidates: A Simple Guide to Effective Candidate Assessment

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<h2>Key Takeaways</h2>
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<li>Candidates may not turn up for an interview. It’s common and not a personal rejection, but minimise the risk by arranging the interview properly.</li>
<li>Don’t rush interviews. Give yourself enough time to prepare before the candidate arrives and to reflect after the interview has ended.</li>
<li>Choose an appropriate location and prepare it in advance.</li>
<li>Build rapport with candidates so that they feel comfortable and will be open with you.</li>
<li>Control the pace of the interview by asking one question at a time, using a natural delivery, stating your questions concisely and keeping candidates on track if they ramble.</li>
<li>Listen carefully and probe when answers are vague.</li>
<li>Take notes of the key points but don’t try to get down everything. Use my recommended method of noting the question labels, followed by some notes that accompany that question.</li>
<li>Throughout, remind the candidate of the PORC for more honest answers.</li>
<li>Remember to sell the job to the candidate, giving them information about key areas such as job security, work culture and management style.</li>
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Before the Interview

Here are a few tips for helping things go smoothly:

• Choose the right location: Candidates prefer to have their interview in the workplace because it helps them form an impression of the work environment. Before the interview, make sure that everything is tidy and presentable and provide a glass of water for the candidate. Public places such as restaurants and bars are full of distractions and are generally a bad idea.
• Every member of the Interview Team must be present: Your Interview Team only consists of those members of the Recruitment Team who are involved in the final decision making process. Depending on the size of the company and the job being applied for, this could range from 2 - 4 people. Key decision makers being absent can cause indecisiveness and reduced confidence in the overall decision.
• Don’t rush: Give yourself 15 minutes before the candidate arrives to look over their CV, your Telephone Interview notes and your Great Performance Profile, 45 minutes for the interview, and 15 minutes at the end to review your notes and make a decision.
• Video interviews are a valid option: They can work well for first interviews, though I recommend face-to-face for second interviews. Video interviews are time-saving, cheap, allow you to recruit from further afield and are easier to wrap up early if the candidate turns out to be unsuitable. On the other hand, they make it harder for the candidate to form an impression of the workplace and it’s hard to pick up body language cues over a screen.
• Expect no-shows: Candidates may sometimes not turn up for an interview. Before reacting, consider whether there’s a misunderstanding or if your instructions were unclear. To minimise these risks ensure you perform a Telephone Interview, arrange it over the phone, send a calendar invite and the day before send a reminder text message to minimise the risk of this happening.

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Build Rapport with Candidates

When the candidate arrives, they’ll be feeling a mixture of emotions. The more comfortable they feel, the more open they’ll be with you, and the more they’ll want to join your company; rapport is vital for an effective interview. 

Here are some tips for creating rapport:

• Use the candidate’s name and be upbeat, enthusiastic and sincere.
• Use natural eye-contact. Show that you’re listening by looking at them, but don’t stare.
• Start with easy questions.
• Mention things that you have in common. For example, if they were inspired by a teacher, you could say (briefly!) that you were too.
• Listen actively and use follow-up questions. Using a structured set of questions takes the pressure off having to think about what to ask next, allowing you to relax and properly listen to candidates’ answers. 
• It’s fine to laugh if the candidate says something intentionally funny – this shows that you’re human and will be good to work with.
• Empathise if the candidate brings up something difficult that has happened to them.
• Stay calm if they say something inappropriate.

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Maintain an Appropriate Pace & Tone

To effectively deliver and sequence your questions do the following:

• Pose one question at a time. Asking more than one disrupts the flow and leads to information being missed.
• Ask the questions in a natural tone of voice, speak slowly and clearly, and try to create smooth transitions between them. Be conversational and curious.
• Don’t jump around time periods. This makes it harder to spot patterns and can be confusing. Follow our Script for Structured Interviews, available in the Guides & Checklists section of our website, to keep on track.
• Keep questions concise and fast-paced. 
• If a candidate talks for more than a couple of minutes they might well start to ramble. It’s fine to cut them off and to get them back on topic by politely inviting them to say more about a particular point of interest.

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Listen & Probe

• A key strategy is to probe. Don’t accept vague answers – the consequence could be a costly mis-hire. Probing is simple to do once you know how, and doesn’t have to come across as confrontational. All you need to do is to ask follow up questions such as “Could you give me an example?” or “Could you be more specific?” or “I’m curious about...”. Simply repeating the last few words of something that the candidate has said will often encourage them to elaborate. For example, if they say “My boss was a bully”, you could say “A bully?” and see what they add. 
• One area that you should definitely probe is the reasons for leaving a job. Don’t accept a superficial, sanitised answer, because there may well be deeper issues to explore. The same goes for when someone has been made redundant. Was it just them who lost their job? Were others let go? See if you can uncover any patterns, particularly if a person has been frequently made redundant.
• Throughout, remind the candidate they will be arranging Reference Calls (a technique known as the Promise of a Reference Call, or PORC). This is my #1 SECRET because it acts like a truth serum, giving more honest answers.
• Don’t over-interpret body language or go in for pop psychology. Don’t wonder too much about why someone is crossing their arms – it could be that they’re cold rather than defensive! It’s best to stick to the facts.

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Take Useful Notes

Even with the best intentions, you will forget a candidate’s answers. It’s really important to take notes that will help you to make a good decision. A few tips to help you do this:

• It’s okay to make your notes on a laptop or tablet if you find typing quicker and easier than writing – as long as the keyboard doesn’t clatter and the screen isn’t so large that it prevents you from making good eye contact with the candidate.
• If you prefer to make notes by hand, use a notebook so that you can occasionally close it to stop the candidate trying to see what you’ve written.
• Pause to listen before taking notes. Particularly if a candidate mentions something negative, otherwise they’ll immediately think you’re recording a failure and may be less inclined to open up.
• Don’t put “good” and “bad” columns on your page as this may unnerve the candidate.
• Don’t annotate CVs. If your notes refer to sections on a candidate’s CV, number the sections and label your notes in your notepad using the corresponding numbers.
• Similarly, the Script for Structured Interviews labels each question (for example, “A1” or “M3”). When writing notes that reference a specific question just write the label for the accompanying notes. For example: “A1 – Proud of winning a rocket competition; learned about rocketry and aerodynamics.”
• Don’t try to write down everything. Keep your notes concise and use abbreviations.
• If a candidate talks about something negative, don’t immediately record this as they’ll think that you’re marking them down and will be less willing to talk honestly.
• Don’t write in your notes any details that could be construed as discriminatory, such as whether the candidate has children. Candidates can ask to see your notes if they believe that there has been discrimination. Furthermore, do not take a candidate’s photo as an aide-memoire because you’re “useless with faces”, or so you can “share it with colleagues”. It can be misconstrued that you’re interested in appearance, leading to “discrimination by perception” claims.
• Don’t score against the Great Performance Profile (yet). This is done later in decision-making. See our guide, 8 Crucial Steps for Deciding Who to Recruit and chapter 14 for more on using the Great Performance Profile to come to a decision with the rest of the Interview Team.

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Don’t Forget to Sell the Job

Just because a candidate has come to an interview doesn’t mean that they’re serious about taking the job. You’re being assessed by the candidate too! You need to show them that the job and your company are a great opportunity for them. Candidates care about:

• Job security: Leaving a job and joining a new company is a huge risk. Reassure them by talking about your organisation’s success, financial position, and vision.
• Cultural fit: When candidates enter your premises, they notice how they’re treated and made to feel. Show them kindness and compassion and make them feel how good it will be to work in your company.
• Work-life balance: Be up front about it if the job is demanding and may affect their personal life. 
• Progression: Career development is important for some people so be honest about the potential (or not) for this in your firm.
• Salary and benefits: Again, be honest with candidates about what you’re offering. 
• Management style: Is this top-down or more collaborative? Are managers approachable and exciting to work for? There’s no wrong answer unless you tell the candidate something untrue.
• Reputation: Some candidates want to work for companies that do business responsibly and ethically, so be clear about your firm’s practices.‍
• Technology and resources: Some candidates may have strong preferences about what technology they’ll be given to do their jobs.

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Additional Resources

• Recruiting Book; The Secrets of Great Recruitment: How to Recruit Great Employees.
• Downloadable PDF guide; How the Pros Interview Candidates: Learn Their Secrets.
• Downloadable PDF guide; Transform Your Interview Process: The Structured Interview Approach.
• Downloadable Script; Script for Structured Interviews.
• Article; Interview Questions to Ask if You Wan to Avoid Hiring Mistakes.
• Article; Interview Questions for Employers to Ask: Your Guide to Selecting the Best Applicants.
• Article; How to Interview Candidates: Unlock the Secrets to Finding Your Next Star Employee!
• Article; How to Arrange Interviews with Candidates.