How to get the most from your candidates in an interview

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Employment Office gives 5 tips on how to get the most from your candidates in an interview.

With the preparation that goes into any of your recruitment interviews, it’s in your interest to ensure you glean all you can from the exchange. However, even the most experienced interviewers commonly have regrets after an interview, wishing they had clarified a response or asked more follow-up questions. This can particularly be the case with complex Behavioural Questions.

Here are 5 tips to remember during your next interview to make sure you get a reflective and realistic response from the applicant:

  1. Know what you are looking to find out from each question. This is a basic but pivotal point. When the flow turns from a straight question / answer structure into a conversation, interviewers often turn their attention to the next pertinent topic that’s been raised before all the details from the initial response have been discussed. Steer the conversation back to ensure that you get what you need from each point.
  2. Delve further into each response. There’s no getting around applicants coming prepared with the answers they want you to hear. To get a more realistic response to Behavioural questions beyond the sheen, drill back further with repeated questioning, until they have fleshed out a SAR (Situation, Action, Result) response.
  3. Make sure applicants use multiple examples. Similarly, you can get around the applicant’s prepared examples by asking for another, and another, example. “That’s great, have you got another example?” is a legitimate tool to isolate those with a depth of experience from those with only a shallow selection pool.
  4. Stay away from leading questions. This goes beyond avoiding Yes / No questions, or nodding when the applicant heads in the direction you want. It also includes making assumptions based on their CV or application form. If you phrase your question as “I can see you’ve done…, can you tell me more about that?”, you won’t find out much beyond what’s outlined on their CV. Instead, ask straight up for an example of the behaviour or experience you’re looking to identify, without handing them that specific example.
  5. Make sure it’s clear what you’re looking for. Just as you need to be certain of the purpose of each question, so does the applicant. It’s vital that if you’re not getting the insight you’re after from a specific question, you communicate the reason the question is relevant. Feel free to rephrase a question several times to clarify what you are trying to discuss.