8 Tips on How to Have a Good Interview
It’s important to have rules for interviews so that every candidate feels comfortable and can show their best self. You are more likely to hire the right person for each job if you know which interview questions to avoid and how to set up a good interview process. You might want to learn more about how to interview if you are in charge of hiring people or work in human resources. We talk about how to set up and run interviews in this article.
8 tips on how to interview people
If you want to hire someone new, you might do interviews to find out who would be the best fit for your company. Interviews help you learn more about candidates and decide if their personalities will work well with your team. When you’re doing interviews, here are some things to keep in mind:
1. Establish position requirement priorities
Find out what you need to do the job before you start interviewing people. When you know what the job requirements are, put the ones that are required at the top and the ones that are preferred at the bottom. During the hiring process, it’s important to be flexible, because the best person for the job might not meet all the requirements but still be the best choice.
2. Talk to people in the HR department
Human resources professionals are a big help when it comes to screening candidates and talking to them. Once you’ve made your interview materials, you might want to meet with someone from human resources so they can look them over and give you feedback. For example, a member of the human resources team might be able to tell you before the interview starts if any of your questions might be against the law.
3. Put together a team of people with different backgrounds to help you hire.
Having a diverse hiring team can help make sure that potential employees are evaluated fairly and make them feel more comfortable with the process. You want to make sure that everyone feels like they belong and that they are being heard during the hiring process. During the hiring process, you might want to put together a team of skilled and different employees to do interviews and make decisions.
4. Develop a welcoming environment
If you make a space that is comfortable and free of distractions, your interview is more likely to go well. The candidate should feel like he or she has your and your team’s full attention. Think of a room with few windows that look out and a door you can close during the interview. Don’t do other work while you’re interviewing, and before you start, ask the candidate some questions to make sure they’re comfortable.
5. Avoid asking personal or unfit questions
During an interview, you want to find out more about the person you might hire, but there may be some questions you shouldn’t ask. Some interview questions might not only make the candidate feel bad, but they might also be against the law. During interviews, you shouldn’t ask about the following:
- Don’t ask them if they are in any groups or unions or if they belong to any. Instead, ask about the groups they belong to in their field.
- Age-related: Don’t ask your interviewee how old they are or how old they are. Tell them that if you decide to hire them, they will need to show proof that they are adults.
- Appearance: Instead of talking about how the candidate looks, talk about their skills and experiences that are relevant to the job.
- Citizenship: You can ask a candidate for proof that they are legally allowed to work in the U.S., but you can’t ask them about their nationality or citizenship.
- Disability: You can ask a job candidate if they can do the job with or without reasonable accommodations, but you can’t ask them if they have a disability.
- Drug use: You can ask a candidate if they are using illegal drugs right now, but you can’t ask about their past drug use or drug-related crimes.
- Family situation: You might not want to ask candidates about their kids, but you can listen and answer their questions if they want to talk about their families.
- Financial: Instead of asking a candidate about their money, you can ask them about their skills and how they deal with money problems.
- Gender: You can ask a candidate if they have worked under other names, but don’t make any assumptions about their gender. Ask candidates how they like to use pronouns.
- Race: You shouldn’t ask a candidate about their color or race. Instead, focus on their history and relevant skills.
- Relationships: You might not want to ask a candidate about their current relationship or if they are married, but if they bring it up, you can have a real conversation about their family.
- Religion: You can ask a candidate how many days off they might need for religious reasons, but you can’t ask them what they believe.
6. Write down what happened at the interview.
To protect yourself, the people who hired you, and the company you work for, it’s important to keep good records. You might want to record each interview on tape or video so that you have a full record of each meeting. Tell the candidate if you decide to record the interview.
You might also want to write things down as the meeting goes on. Even though a video or audio recording of the meeting can be useful, taking notes lets you write down what you’re thinking during the interview. Then, you can refer to them when going over the candidate’s information during the hiring process.
7. Maintain neutral body language
A candidate may say something during an interview that makes you happy, sad, or surprised. It’s important to keep your body language calm in these situations. For example, if a candidate says something that surprises you, try to stay calm so that the candidate feels at ease.
8. Ensure all questions are job-relevant
When getting ready for an interview, one of the most important things to do is to make sure that the questions you ask are about the job. Make sure not to ask questions that are too personal or inappropriate, and make sure your questions are about the job. This keeps you and your hiring team from doing anything illegal, and it can also speed up the interview and make everyone feel more comfortable. Focus on the things that are important for the job if you want to look professional.
