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Planning
The Interview After you've clarified your hiring objective, you can now review each resume and prepare for each interview with a greater sense of purpose. You will save both yourself and the candidate's time if you know what you are looking for. Eliciting information. As you plan for the interview, consciously consider what judgments you are making based on the candidate's resume. Again, an interview is about eliciting information, not affirming judgments. What aspects of the candidate's background do you want to address? What qualities seem to jump out at you? Keep in mind that these qualities are your assumptions based on the resume. Think about what questions you can ask to independently confirm these qualities. Easing tension and clarifying purpose. Interviews are stressful, so start the interview by helping the candidate to relax. A welcoming approach and brief small talk will help establish rapport and ease tension. You will elicit information from a candidate more effectively if you make him feel comfortable. Outline for the candidate what the interview is meant to accomplish. However, do not describe the job in detail. State why the candidate is interviewing and what kind of information you want from the candidate. For example, "We are interviewing for an Executive Producer. And what we want to learn today is how you believe your experience and personal strengths will make you effective in this position." Staying
organized, professional, and natural. At this point, let's take
a step back and discuss the importance of staying natural. Yes, effective
interviewing requires an organized and systematic approach. However,
you are not an automaton and you should not act like one. If you have
planned for an interview, it should flow very naturally because you
know what you want. Remember to be yourself when stating the purpose
of the interview and when asking the questions. This is not Mrs. Brooks'
second grade class and you're not reciting the Declaration of Independence
or reading an essay on how you spent your summer vacation. For example,
in a recent interview for an animator position, the interviewer, in
an uninspired and monotonous tone, read a list of stereotypical questions.
At the end of the interview, he asked the animator to send in some samples.
Later, when this animator spoke with his recruiter, he said he felt
it was pretty clear the guy interviewing him was not interested. The
candidate felt like it would just be a waste of his time to send in
any samples. The recruiter had received this same feedback about this
particular interviewer from other candidates. The fact was, despite
the uninspired questioning, the company was very interested in this
animator. In short, be organized, professional, and natural. Avoiding position details early on. Next, be aware that it is a tactical mistake to reveal details about the position early in the interview because a shrewd candidate will interview in a way that is calculated to give the impression that they match your criteria for the job. Moreover, the more you talk, the less time you have to elicit information from the candidate. Listening To The Candidate You must let the candidate do the talking. Everything you say should be designed to get the candidate to talk. Experienced job seekers will get you to do the talking so they can assess how to answer your questions, or shift the focus of the conversation toward their strengths. Do not let the candidate control the interview. Rather, jot down their questions and tell them that you will answer them at the end of the interview. Stay focused on your objective - that is, to elicit information from the candidate. You will probably interview several candidates for one position. Odds are that you'll forget the details of each interview, and at evaluation time you're just left with a "gut" feeling. Evaluating The Interview At the end of the interview, write a brief evaluation of the candidate. In particular, note what struck you as the candidate's strengths and weaknesses relative to the requirements of the position. Did you get sufficient coverage in terms of the candidate's technical skills? What about the candidate's work ethic and values? And what did you think about the candidate's personality? Next, turn the pencil on your performance during the interview. Did you obtain the information you needed? Did you listen enough? Did you stay in control? How might you adjust your technique for the next interview? This exercise will improve your interviewing skills exponentially. And as your interviewing skills improve, most likely your hires will improve. ________________________________________________________
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