For many job seekers, an invitation to interview is a welcome chance to meet with a prospective employer. Nevertheless, for recruiters and hiring managers, it is often a difficult decision deciding which candidates to interview. To make the hiring process productive, the human resources department should prepare a selection procedure that is fruitful for both the company and candidates.
1. Determine the selection process that works best for your business. Establish minimum criteria for available positions, and adhere to your guidelines for selecting qualified applicants. Prepare an interview process that you will use for all candidates. Human resources interviewing techniques vary from one employer to another. However, some practices are common among interviewers and hiring managers.
2. Develop specific interview criteria for all positions within the company. You may want to have administrative level or support candidates interview once with a human resources recruiter and once with the department hiring manager. For supervisory positions, the candidate may be required to interview with the recruiter, the department manager and even meet briefly with employees in the department. Panel interviews consisting of human resources staff and departmental peers may be a suitable interview technique for manager or director-level candidates.
3. Assist the candidate in preparing for the interview. Confirm the interview date, time and location. In addition, provide her with information about the interview process, the number of interviews necessary for consideration and the names and title of the people with whom she will be interviewing. This gives the candidate a sketch of what to anticipate, and may even provide her with enough information to conduct background research on the interviewers.
4. Provide interviewers with copies of the candidate’s resume and test scores, if applicable. Ensure they receive this information early enough to complete a thorough review of the candidate’s qualifications. If your human resources department permits interviewers to develop their own questions, sufficient advance notice gives the hiring manager sufficient time to craft relevant questions for the candidate.
5. Assemble notes from all the interviewers–recruiter questions, as well as questions and notes from department managers, peers and employees who met with the candidate. Don’t store these notes in the candidate’s file because they may contain statements and assessments that are personal opinions, and are not germane to the selection process.
6. Confer with the interviewers to get their impressions on whom they believe is best suited for the vacancy. Since most interviews involve more than one interviewer, a discussion to reach consensus is the ideal way to make a hiring decision. If you cannot reach a consensus, consider a follow-up interview with candidates on your short list.
