Interviewing & Selection Techniques
Potential employees often are anxious during an interview, but interviews can be nerve-wracking for the person doing the hiring as well. It's up to that person to make the right decision about whom to select, and a mistake can cost the company in terms of money and efficiency. A bad hire can affect morale among other employees, lose customers and drain productivity. Careful screening during the job selection process can eliminate some of this risk. It's important to ask the right questions, double-check the facts on a resume, and follow up with references to make sure a candidate is honest.
Instructions
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Interview Techniques
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Screen candidates with an initial telephone interview. If you've winnowed down the slew of applicants to five or eight potential employees, give each one a call and ask some basic questions. This might help you narrow the field further, and it will give you some background for your face-to-face interview.
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Choose how many people you want to participate in the interview. You can interview the candidates alone, or you can use a panel approach, in which several people participate in an interview. A variation of this technique is to have several people talk individually with the potential hire; coordinate beforehand so that people aren't asking the same questions.
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Ask a variety of questions during the interview. Examples include open-ended questions such as "Tell me about yourself" and closed questions, including "What was your most recent job?" In general, ask questions that are related to the job for which you are interviewing, and ask the candidate to be specific.
Selection Techniques
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Test candidates on the skills specific to the job. For instance, have a candidate answer a few customer service calls or write a memorandum.
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Administer personality tests to the candidates to see which has the right attributes for the job. This is especially useful if candidates seem equally qualified in terms of experience and abilities. For example, a personality test can suggest whether a person is sociable or has initiative. See References for a list of some tests.
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Verify a candidate's resume by calling references. This can provide a unique insight on how co-workers and others view the candidate, which can be a deciding factor for a hire.
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Tips & Warnings
Federal law requires all potential hires to be treated equally. Employers cannot exclude a potential hire because of her sex, religion, ethnic background or color.
References
Resources
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