You want to hire the top talent in your field, which will require multiple rounds of interviews. But too often hiring managers make the mistake of thinking the burden of passing an interview lies on the shoulders of the candidate. The truth is, making critical mistakes as an interviewer can cause you to lose out on talented individuals who will take a job elsewhere and are also likely to pass on their opinion of your company to their friends, peers, and co-workers. The job market is turning around, which means talented individuals have multiple companies recruiting them, and you don’t want to lose out. Here are 3 interview mistakes to avoid as an interviewer if you want to hire talented individuals:
Being inconsiderate
You’re busy, sure, but that is no excuse for being rude to a job candidate. Neglecting to return phone calls, showing up late for an interview, or worse cancelling an interview at the last second, suggest to the candidate that they are dealing with a company that is disorganized and a hiring manager who doesn’t value their employees. If you must change the time of an interview, call with as much notice as possible, and be flexible when working with the candidate’s schedule. Don’t check your phone during the interview, and take the time to listen to candidates instead of brushing them off. If you find yourself continuously rushing through interviews, it’s time to reevaluate your interviewing process.
Talking too much
It’s easy to get carried away by giving a lot of detail about your company, the position you’re trying to fill, and the company’s goals. But talking too much about yourself and/or your company is a big mistake. At the end of the interview, you will find that you really don’t know anything about the job candidate outside of what is printed on their resume. Develop short descriptions of your company along with a succinct job description. Follow this up with specific questions that ask the candidate how their experience will lend itself to the company and the job you are hiring for.
Asking yes and no questions
Ideally a top job candidate will be able to expand beyond “yes” or “no” when faced with one of these questions, but the stress of the interview can cause candidates to freeze up. Further, yes or no questions don’t do much to tell a candidate what you are looking for, and they certainly don’t tell you anything significant about a candidate. Instead, ask for descriptions of a time when a candidate had to handle a high pressure situation, or simply ask them for a rundown of their typical workday to get an understanding of how they work. Be sure to ask follow-up questions instead of nodding and moving on to the next topic.
The role of interviewer is as important as ever as more and more jobs are opening up for talented individuals. Avoid these mistakes during your next round of hiring to attract, hire, and retain top talent. For more ideas on how to interview potential employees, contact us today.