10 tips for effective interviews Birmingham AL

All employers are searching for the very best employees available, but very few know exactly how to increase their odds of finding just the right person. These tips will help you sift through the available candidates and increase your odds of success.

1. Spend time preparing

   Set up a private space for interviews. Interruptions during the interview may cause you to lose your train of thought. Make sure the space represents your company well. A messy back room with old furniture and boxes of supplies piled up in the corners gives the impression of a messy business. Consider that your best candidates are also interviewing you and your business.

2. Read the job application carefully, before the interview

   This is a time saver. Frequently a candidate looks good on paper, with great job experience and excellent earnings, right up to a crucial question, for instance: "Do you have a valid drivers license?" You can save a lot of valuable time by reading all the way through the application before calling the candidate for an interview.

   And remember, when making notes, write them on a separate sheet of paper. Notes made on an application become part of the application and can become evidence in an EEOC claim or a discrimination lawsuit.

3. Never interview without an application

   There are questions on a good job application that are never addressed in resumes. Resumes almost never specify earnings in previous jobs. They never address previous criminal convictions or driving records. And they certainly never specify whether the candidate was terminated or left a previous job voluntarily. Interviewing from a resume leaves too many questions unanswered.

4. Ask the same questions of every candidate

   When we are interviewing several candidates for one job, this is the way to be certain that we are comparing apples to apples. It might seem boring, but it is very efficient. It allows us to compare several applicants fairly, based on their answers to questions you formulated for the particular job they are applying for, even if the interviews take place over several days.

   It also helps to make employment decisions based on facts rather than a 'feeling' we may get from the candidate. You might even want to score the applicants based on their answers to each individual question and come up with a total score for each interview.

5. Consider panel interviews

   Having several managers sit around a table with the candidate avoids having to spend time asking the same questions over and over. It allows managers to discuss the candidate directly after the interview, knowing that everyone has the same information and saw the same behaviors.

   It is also a good indicator for candidates applying for jobs requiring good stress management. Panel interviews, generally considered more stressful than individual interviews, allow us to see the candidate under stress. A panel interview will also give us insight into the thought processes of our fellow managers, as we assess the candidate in a group forum.

6. Ask open-ended questions

   Avoid "yes" and "no" questions, and concentrate on those that allow the candidate to express himself or herself. Good communication skills are important in most jobs and the interview is the ideal time to assess grammar, pronunciation, tone of voice and gestures. Discussion questions also allow us to assess clarity of thought and mental organization skills.

7. Ask situational questions

   Placing candidates in hypothetical situations and asking them to explain how they would handle themselves is an excellent way to assess traits that are difficult to assess otherwise. Some examples include judgment, empathy, quickness of thinking and teamwork skills. Situational questions also come as close as any instrument to giving insight into the candidate's ethics and principles.

8. Avoid the "like me" error

   It is just human nature to believe that people who are like us will behave as we behave. Since interviewers are usually top performers, it's easy for us to develop the attitude that people who are from similar backgrounds, with similar educations, or even people who look like we look and dress like we dress, will be good employees. This is patently inaccurate and can eventually lead to a stagnant work force.

9. Don't make physical assumptions

   The Americans with Disabilities Act forbids making decisions about a person's ability to do a job based on either age or physical disability. Even more important, these kinds of assumptions are just wrong.

   For instance, many women can easily lift 100 pounds, and we know a master technician who has been partially paralyzed on one side since childhood. There are legal methods we can use to determine a candidate's ability to physically perform a job. We should know what these are and use them wisely.

10. Remember that training has limitations

    No matter how effective your training program is, you cannot teach a candidate social skills that his or her parents should have taught. And you can't train someone to have a good attitude. The candidate you see in the interview is on his best behavior, with his best foot forward, and will never look better. Don't choose a less-than-ideal candidate expecting to change him or her into the ideal employee with training.

    Following these simple tips will assure that you present your company and yourself in a professional light and give you good information on which to base a hiring decision.

Betty Mills consults RV dealerships on human resource management for Marzahn and King Consulting. In the course of her career she has interviewed and hired more than 3,000 job applicants. Contact her at betty@marzahnandking.com.