COMMON MISTAKES WITH THE JOB INTERVIEW PROCESS
Hi, I’m Sharon Johnson and I’m an interview specialist.
In this post I’m going to give you an overview of the job interview process and some common mistakes interviewers make, so that you know how to avoid them.
The job interview process is broken down into 3 distinct sections:
1. Before the interview 2. During the interview 3. After the interview.
Here’s what should be happening at each stage of the interview process:
1. BEFORE THE INTERVIEW
Prepare your panel
Prepare your questions
Prepare your day
2. DURING THE INTERVIEW
Chair the interview
Interact and extract
Observe and record
3. AFTER THE INTERVIEW
Evaluate your interviews
Select the best person
On-board your new hire
COMMON INTERVIEW PROCESS MISTAKES
MISTAKE NO.1. BEING UNPREPARED
I always recommend pre-qualifying candidates so that time isn’t wasted interviewing people who can’t meet the requirements.
It’s important to establish job and person criteria before the interview so that there are standards to measure the candidates to. You need to prepare really relevant questions based around this.
To protect yourself from legal disputes, the process needs to be consistent and free from discrimination. You have to generate accurate interview records that clearly show why a hiring decision was made.
If you’re in Ireland, seemingly innocent questions such as
“Are you married?” or
“Do you have children?” could land you in hot water.
It’s illegal to discriminate on the grounds of marital or family status in Ireland; therefore these types of questions should be avoided.
The environment needs to be right too. Interviewing someone in a cafe is a bad idea as it’s full of distractions and your candidate may be on edge in case someone from their current workplace walks in.
MISTAKE NO. 2. JUDGING DURING THE INTERVIEW
One of the biggest mistakes interviewers make is to judge (evaluate) during the interviews rather than waiting until after the interview to evaluate.
This leads to confirmation bias, which is the tendency of human brains to unconsciously search for evidence that suits our original judgement. Our brains filter out evidence that doesn’t suit the narrative and most of the time we’re unaware of it.
Confirmation bias leads to hiring mistakes. Never offer the job during the interview.
We need to observe and record only during the interview. Save your judgement for the evaluation session after the interview.
MISTAKE NO. 3. FAILING TO EVALUATE
Evaluation will enable you to make better hiring decisions by considering each candidate’s interview performance objectively against the criteria.
Our brains can only hold so much information at one time. Going back over the interview to evaluate will remind you of the parts of the interview you’ve forgotten about.
You can ask yourself “”To what extent did the candidate meet my expectations?”” in each area.
Comparing candidates with one another is another common mistake. All candidates should be compared to the criteria standards, not to each other.
MISTAKE NO 4. GETTING ON-BOARDING WRONG
It’s important to be prepared for your new hire in so many ways.
From knowing what to do if your candidate wants to negotiate salary to preparing their induction training and probationary objectives. There’s a lot you can do to get your new starter off on the right foot.
It’s helpful to take up references and collect their qualification certificates.
Don’t forget to verify their original ID documents to prove that they have the legal right to work in your country.
In ‘How to interview candidates for a job’, you get checklists for the HR file and induction training so that you don’t forget a thing.
You also get an interview questions template to populate with your questions as we walk through, so you can be sure you’re all prepared and asking the right questions.
Visit www.bosslevelleadership.com for more info and join my mailing list.
Thanks for reading.
With Big Boss Level Love from,
Sharon Johnson
Interview, Leadership and Management Specialist at Boss Level Leadership.
https://www.bosslevelleadership.com
https://www.facebook.com/BossLevelLeadership
@Bosslevellove