A few weeks ago, the following tweet came up in my timeline:
The author raises a good point. There’s a lot of advice out there about how to prepare for and perform well in an interview. Even though I’ve been interviewing candidates for over 10 years, I can’t recall anyone ever teaching me how to prepare for and conduct a good interview. At this point in my career I definitely have an approach and style when it comes to interviewing candidates. Since I’m FUNemployed at the present, I thought I’d share some of my thoughts on how to conduct an effective interview.
- Like everything else in life, preparation goes a long way. Take a few minutes to read through the candidate’s application, resume, and cover letter. If they reference a web site, visit it. If they gave a talk at a conference, Google it. Try to find the slides or a video. If you prepare as though they will be your top candidate, they will walk away feeling valued and with a good impression of you and your company, regardless of the outcome.
- Review the job description before the interview. Make sure that you understand the required qualifications versus the desired qualifications. Condense this into a checklist if that makes it easier for you.
- Now forget about those qualifications for a moment: what can you glean from a 30–60 minute interview to get the best idea as to whether or not this person can do the job? With these things in mind, start writing your questions.
- Use a standard set of questions for all candidates. Doing this will allow you to compare apples to apples and to give a fair interview. It’s OK to ask follow-up questions, ask for clarifications, or go off-script if necessary. Conversations rarely go the same way with different candidates. Embrace that and use it as a way to engage the candidate in a meaningful conversation.
- Questions should be open-ended and designed to get the candidate to talk about their experience, how they have (or would have) handled specific situations, or how they would choose between multiple undesirable options. As a candidate, I do not like trivia questions. Don’t waste your time asking questions where the answer could be Googled in three seconds. It’s more important to get an idea of how the candidate thinks and if they know what resources to access if they don’t know how to solve a problem. You only have a short amount of time with the candidate. Make every question count.
- Pay attention to non-verbals. How does the candidate sit? What do they do with their hands? Are they uncomfortable? Sweating? Are they touching their face or neck? Non-verbal communication provides excellent insight into what the candidate is thinking and feeling. It helps put answers into context and provide a more complete picture of the candidate. For roles that require some degree of customer interaction, I also try and evaluate the candidate’s communication style, of which non-verbals are an important consideration.
- It’s normal for candidates to be nervous. Don’t hold this against them. I’ve seen incredibly nervous candidates do very well and calm, confident candidates fail at every question. If you can take a moment to make a nervous candidate feel a bit more comfortable, you may be able to put them at ease. Making a joke or talking about something unrelated to your questions (where they went to school, how was traffic, etc.) can momentarily make them forget about their nervousness.
- Always ask if they have questions for you. Answer as honestly as you can without divulging confidential information about your employer.
- I am not great at taking notes during an interview. I like to pay attention to the candidate, specifically what they are saying with their words and non-verbals. To compensate for this, I write down my impressions as quickly as I can after the candidate has left. I use a (+) or (-) designation to record the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate.
- I often ask others to interview the candidate so I can get different perspectives when making a hiring decision. If you do this, give those interviewers some direction on what you’re looking for as well as a standard feedback form. This way you get a standard set of feedback for each candidate, making it easier to compare candidates.
- If you’re the last one to interview the candidate, offer to walk them out. Thank them for their time and even if it went really bad, make them feel better for having met you and for taking the time to apply and come in for the interview.
- Depending on your company’s processes and HR policies, you may be able to provide feedback to candidates, especially to candidates who are not going to get an offer. This can be very challenging but as a candidate, I always appreciate honesty and a human closing the loop rather than an emotionless “thanks for your interest” email. You never know how you will cross paths with a candidate in the future so treat them with respect by giving them as much honest feedback as you are permitted.
My favorite part about being a manager is being able to interview and hire candidates. Giving someone an opportunity through a job offer is a privilege. If you have a good process for vetting and interviewing candidates, you can maximize your time with them and hopefully make better hiring decisions.
Two final notes:
- While I’ve mostly interviewed people in the field of information security, I tried to write these considerations so that it can apply to any industry.
- I did not address bias in selecting candidates for interviews. I will try to address that in a future post.
