Monday, May 12, 2008
5:06 AM
Questioning at interview
It is essential you plan your questions before the interview. This will then allow you to listen to the candidate's answers more intently and gain more from the interview.
If there is more than one of you hosting the interview, make sure that you agree before hand who will be asking what questions about what areas. You could easily look disorganised and intimidate the candidate.
Start the interview with a few low order questions (ie gentle and easy to answer questions). This will give the candidate an opportunity to relax and settle into the interview.
Your questioning should become more probing as the interview progresses.
Only ask closed questions when you want a yes or no answer or specific information.
Do not assume you understood their response. If you are not sure you understood them ask more questions until you do understand.
Do not assume they have all the experience you are looking for because it says so on their CV. Ask probing questions to ascertain how much experience they have.
Try to establish what they have made, saved or achieved in their past roles.
Behavioural questions are sometimes necessary to see how they reacted in certain situations, (ie Give me an example of ....? Describe a situation in which you had to ...? Tell me about a time that you were able to ...?).
Try to keep eye contact when writing your notes. It can be quite off putting for the candidate and make them feel uncomfortable if you do not.
Ensure that your notes are short, concise and to the point.
Your body language should be open and friendly. This will make the candidate feel like they are building a rapport with you.
Leave time at the end of the interview for them to ask you questions.
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