Technique and rules of the interview. Stages and interview methods

Applicants for the position, as a rule, worry before the interview and carefully prepare for it. But for the employer, this event is no less responsible. In order not to miss a valuable specialist, a recruiter should thoroughly know the rules for conducting an interview.

Key interview types

First of all, the employer must decide how the meeting with the applicant for the position will take place. This largely determines the order and rules of the interview. The techniques are as follows:

• Biographical interview. During such an interview, the recruiter tries to learn as much as possible about the candidate's previous work experience. Thus, we can conclude about his abilities and predict what benefits such an employee will bring to the organization.
• Situational interview. The recruiter presents the candidate with a practical task (hypothetical or real). This makes it possible to evaluate the applicant’s real skills, his thoughts, as well as his ability to find a way out of difficult situations.
• Structured interview. The employer prepares a list of questions in groups in advance. Thus, the recruiter receives exactly the information that is essential for him.
• Competency interview. During the conversation, the employer finds out whether the potential employee has the characteristics and skills necessary for the quality of work.
• Stressful interview. To assess the candidate’s resistance to emotional stress, as well as the speed of reaction to unforeseen situations, the employer tries to get him crazy. For this, provocative questions or unexpected tricks can be used.

Stages of the interview

To get the best employees for your organization, the employer should be familiar with the methods and rules of the interview. The steps are as follows:

• Training. The employer determines the time frame and content of the interview. A study of the candidates' resumes is carried out and a rough list of questions is being compiled. Qualitatively conducted training is the key to a successful interview.
• Preliminary communication. This is the welcome part during which the participants introduce themselves, and the recruiter explains the purpose and procedure for holding the meeting. This stage accounts for a quarter of the total duration of the interview.
• Main part. During this stage, the employer finds out significant points such as competencies and personal qualities of the applicant.
• The final stage. The employer ends the conversation and sums up the interim results.
• Decision-making. After meeting with all applicants for a vacant position, the employer analyzes the information received and makes a final decision.

Interview objectives

Effective interviewing is possible only when the employer clearly understands what he wants to know. When communicating with the applicant, you should receive answers to the following questions:

• The real reason for finding a new job. If a person violated the terms of the employment contract or discipline, it is possible that this will happen again.
• Is the candidate hardworking or lazy? The quality of work depends on this.
• How fast is the interlocutor’s reaction? It will depend on how quickly he can adapt to changing working conditions.
• How initiative is your interlocutor? So you will understand whether he will do the work on his own or will constantly wait for clear orders.
• How considerate is the person? This will determine his relationship with potential colleagues.

Key Rules

An interview with a potential employee is a difficult responsible event. The employer needs a lot of effort. In particular, you must follow these basic rules for the interview:

• Prepare the documents. At your fingertips should be a list of candidates and a summary of each of them, an approximate list of questions, job descriptions. A separate answer form should be assigned to each applicant, and there should also be several blank sheets for notes.
• Take care of a comfortable environment. The room should be clean, well ventilated. There should be no foreign objects in the workplace.
• Be careful in the first minutes. As a rule, the first impression of the interlocutor is formed three to four minutes after the start of the conversation.
• Take breaks. Between interviews with different applicants for the position should be held at least half an hour. Otherwise, you can transfer the residual impression of the previous one to the new interlocutor, which may cause an erroneous decision.
• Remember the discipline. You must come to the interview on time or notify the applicant in advance of reschedule the meeting.
• Record the progress of the interview. It seems to you that you remember everything, but within a few minutes after the end of the conversation you can forget the essential points. And written notes will help you quickly restore information about the applicant in memory.

What to ask the applicant

The rules for conducting an interview with a candidate for a vacant position also determine the basic list of questions. Here's what you need to ask the applicant:

• "Tell us about your previous work." The answer will help you understand the person’s attitude to the previous leader and organization. In the same way, he may speak of your organization in the future.
• "Why are you interested in this vacancy?" If a person does not answer in a stereotyped manner, then he really understands the work and wants to grow in this direction.
• "Tell us about your strengths and weaknesses." It is important to understand how honestly and objectively the applicant evaluates himself.
• "Why did you leave your previous job?" You will be able to understand what exactly drives the applicant - conflict, inanimacy or the desire to grow and change your life for the better.
• "How can you help achieve the goals of the organization?" The answer will let you know how much a person is aware of his role in the enterprise, how much he understands the specifics of work.
• "What success have you achieved in your previous job?" The answer will give you an idea of ​​whether the person is aiming at a personal or a general result. Equally important, he gives abstract or specific answers, confirmed by numbers.
• "Why should we hire you?" Evaluate the ability of a job applicant to present himself.
• "What could the previous employer say about you?" It is good if the resume contains contacts of people who can give you recommendations.

Non-standard issues

It is not always worth relying on standard rules for preparing and conducting interviews. Sometimes you need to show a little creativity. Here are some creative questions you can ask the applicant:

• "What superhero would you compare yourself to?" This will help you recognize the true nature and values ​​of the person you are talking to.
• "Describe your ideal job." So you can understand how your proposed conditions correspond to the ideas of the applicant.
• "How do you plan to join the new team?" The answer will give you an idea of ​​how friendly the applicant is, whether he will decompose the established discipline.
• "Explain the essence (term) to the student." So you will understand whether the interlocutor really understands the question or simply operates on the learned terms.
• "Are you ready to interrupt your family vacation for work?" This will give you an idea of ​​how honest your potential employee is.

Foreign experience

The rules for conducting interviews for hiring are slightly different in different countries of the world. We can distinguish such established methods:

• British method. It is not much different from the usual domestic method. Recruiters ask the applicant questions about work experience and education. Without fail, a person is asked about his family and social status.
• American method. The rules for conducting job interviews in America mean creating an informal atmosphere. As a rule, an interview with valuable personnel is carried out during dinner or outside the city. It is believed that it is in such an environment that the personal qualities of a person are revealed in the best way.
• German method. The Germans scrupulously approach the selection of personnel. For a recruiter, recommendations from previous jobs are important. The voluminous package of documents submitted by the applicant is analyzed by the commission. Only after passing such a "qualifying stage" is a personal meeting scheduled.
• Chinese method. The rules for interviewing candidates are more like a university exam. Applicants perform a lot of written and oral tasks for which they receive certain points. According to the results of the exam, "leaders" are selected who will be admitted to the interview. The Chinese believe that erudition is in the first place, because an educated person is easy to train in any job.

Telephone interview

If the organization receives a large number of resumes, it is advisable to conduct a preliminary stage of the interview remotely. Briefly, the rules for conducting an interview in this mode can be formulated as follows:

• Introduce yourself and clarify whether it is convenient for the person to talk to. If not, arrange a call again.
• Tell me from which organization and about which vacancy you are calling. As a rule, applicants send resumes to several places at once.
• Ask clarifying questions if, after studying the resume, not everything was clear to you.
• If you immediately realized that the candidate is not suitable for you, politely apologize and say goodbye. Do not waste your time or anyone else's.
• If you liked the candidate, immediately appoint a place and time for the interview. Specify what documents the applicant should take with him.

Useful Tips

In addition to strict interview guidelines, you should also follow a few helpful guidelines. Here are some tips for experienced recruiters:

• Do not create barriers. The mistake of many employers is that they communicate with job seekers through the desktop. It will be much better if the interlocutors will sit in chairs on an equal footing. You can also put a chair for the applicant on the side of the recruiter's workplace.
• Speak less. The employer should listen more during the interview. Control yourself so as not to ask leading questions and give clues.
• Defuse the situation. Do not put pressure on the interlocutor and do not intimidate him. Better start the conversation with a joke. In such an atmosphere, a person will better reveal his personal and professional qualities.
• Do not delay the meeting. If you understood from the first minutes of the interview that a person is not suitable for you, do not waste your time or his. Apologize and end the conversation.
• Avoid common questions. If the employee is experienced, he must have been to many interviews, knows the approximate list of questions and can prepare answers. Your task is to discourage the interlocutor.
• Control the progress of the dialogue. One of the main rules for conducting an interview during the selection of personnel is not to leave the topic. If the applicant begins to deviate from the professional line, do not hesitate to return him to the right track.
• Always end the conversation on a positive note. Even if the candidate did not suit you, say goodbye to him in a good way, wish success.
• Make a correspondence table. This is a convenient form to mark the presence or absence of the characteristics of the applicant you need. This form is especially useful if you need to compare multiple candidates.

What should alert

The concept of an interview and the rules of the conduct require a special vigilance from the recruiter. In a conversation with a potential employee, you should be alert for such moments:

• A short period of time at the previous place of work. As a rule, recruiters are skeptical of people who have not stayed in one organization for more than two years. The exception is objective reasons (relocation, liquidation of an enterprise, violation of labor law).
• Too colorful description by the applicant of his own merits and advantages. You must recognize that it is: a manifestation of pride or exaggeration?
• A hazy story about previous work experience. If the interlocutor plainly cannot describe his job responsibilities, this indicates a frivolous attitude to work.
• Too much work experience. Oddly enough, sometimes it is better to prefer a person with no experience at all than someone who has worked in one place for many years. It is much easier to teach a novice from scratch than to redo an experienced worker to your own needs.

Recruiter Mistakes

It’s not enough to learn the basic rules of an interview. You should also study the typical mistakes of recruiters, so as not to allow them in the process. This is what it is all about:

• The criteria for job applicants are not clearly defined.
• The same questions at different stages of the interview.
• False interpretation of the data of the summary by "thinking over", but not by clarification and concretization.
• The assessment of the applicant under the influence of personal prejudice (for example, by nationality, religious affiliation, political preferences, appearance).
• Exposure to a psychological attack by the interlocutor.
• Hypersensitivity to the negative traits of the applicant.
• Haste in search of a candidate for a vacant position.
• Lack of a clear decision-making system based on interview results.
• Conversation with the applicant down.