When executed well, interviews are the number one predictor of job success. They deliver a set of real data based on a candidate’s competencies, rather than a gut feeling based on their alma mater.
But when executed poorly, interviews can be a huge waste of time for both the interviewee and the interviewer.
Interview failures, such as letting similarity bias in or using deliberately tricky questions, can be a double blunder, as they deliver little valuable information and also hurt your employer brand.
In today’s hiring landscape, there’s not much room for error. Here are four essential interviewer training tips to elevate your entire interviewing team.
1. Start Interviewing With the End in Mind
Who are you looking for? Which technical skills do they need? What soft skills should they have? If you can’t answer these questions, you’re not ready to interview.
Start by assessing the skills necessary to succeed in the open role. This will help you gather information about your candidates’ job knowledge and technical skills.
Then, add behavior questions — which focus on soft skills such as creativity and collaboration — to gauge a candidate’s reaction to practical situations.
When you know what you’re looking for, you stand a much better chance of finding it.
2. Ask Only Role-related Interview Questions
When it comes to interviewing, one size does not fit all.
Many interviewers use the same conventional questions for each and every position, leading to rehearsed answers that say nothing about a candidate’s actual skills or passions.
To find the right person for the job faster, and reduce hiring bias along the way, tailor your interview questions to each individual job role.
By asking job-specific questions to every candidate, you’ll give them the opportunity to show off their skills and watch how they handle real-life, job-related scenarios.
3. Standardize, Standardize, Standardize
After you gathered a set of questions that relate directly to the job role, it’s time to think about the way you present those questions.
It’s exceedingly common for hiring leaders to lack a consistent, standardized interview process. But unstructured interviews — which encourage free-flowing conversations and lead to subjective decisions — are one of the worst predictors of on-the-job performance.
On the flip side, structured interviews — where each candidate is asked the same set of questions, in the same way, and in the same order — help hiring leaders measure one candidate’s skills against another, allowing for much better decision-making.
4. Cultivate a Diverse Interviewer Team
When an interview panel shares similar backgrounds and lifestyles, it’s easy for unconscious bias to creep in, and for critical job-related skills to be overlooked. Not to mention, a largely homogeneous interview panel is a huge turn off to talented candidates who may not see themselves represented.
The majority of hiring leaders acknowledge hiring for diversity as essential to growing a more competitive, innovative team. However, despite knowing the facts, many companies still struggle to implement a diversity recruiting strategy that works.
Diverse Hiring Starts With Diverse Interviewers
When assembling your next panel, make sure there’s a variety of races, genders, geographies, and backgrounds represented. Then, conduct diversity and inclusion awareness training to help them understand common biases that may influence their hiring decisions. Finally, hold your interviewers accountable to ensure each candidate is being assessed fairly.
Get Interviewer Training Help
There’s no better time than now to re-examine every part of your interview process. And with technology on your side, you have the help you need to make better, more objective hiring decisions than ever before.
GoodTime Hire gives you one system that tracks all of your interviewers, making sure you can successfully evaluate candidates and scale interviewer training with ease. And with the Interview Analytics & Insights tool, you can identify opportunities to make your interview process as efficient as possible so you can hire the right people.
Remember: when it comes to interviewing, it’s not about trusting your gut. Mitigate bias and create true process with a tech stack that creates the best outcome for everyone.
Learn more from The GoodTime Guide: Returning to the Office.
