Welcome to the third part of a 4-part series on prepping, conducting, and managing an interview. As a business owner or manager, you are so busy with your daily tasks of running and managing your business; it’s easy to forget to prepare for your interviews. However, there are 5 simple tips to help you avoid stepping on an interview landmine.
1. Fail to define the job requirements.
Do you have a clear picture in your mind of the performance you want to see from the position you are filling? Do you and the other people interviewing candidates agree on what you’re looking for in the person you hire? Not doing so may lead to issues in the hiring process.
2. Fail to create a scorecard for the interview
Create an interview scorecard that lists the key accomplishments and skills you want in the person you hire. You might have several criteria from sales skills, organizational skills, leadership abilities, and so on. For which each interviewer scores the candidate.
3. Fail to ask open-ended, accomplishment-oriented questions
If you had to walk into an interview right now, with zero preparation, could you ask good interview questions and learn everything necessary to make a judgment about the candidate? You should always come into the interview with your questions prepared.
4. Failing to listen
This one should be obvious, but it is vital that you listen carefully to every answer the candidate gives you. As well as adapt your questions based on the previous answers provided.
5. Fail to do a post-game debrief
After everyone has interviewed the candidate (within 24 hours at the most) meet with the other interviewers to do a post-game debriefing to
discuss your impressions.
