Secrets of a great
employment interview
(Hint: Are you asking the right questions?)
By Joseph T. Sefcik, Jr., President, Employment Technologies
Still looking for that secret to a great interview?
Every recruiter and employer wants a great interview for hiring
great people. But what’s the secret? Is it finding that one secret
question that elicits the most information? Is it having a library of
600 questions for 600 jobs? Or maybe it’s bookmarking a secret
resource that provides a custom interview to fit every need. With
so many questions, how do you choose which ones to ask?
Do you ever wonder, “Am I asking the right questions?”
Before revealing our secrets to a great employment interview, I
want you to think beyond the interview questions themselves.
Maybe the secret to a great interview isn’t which questions we
ask the candidates, but more importantly, which questions we ask
ourselves. By asking yourself the following questions, you will not
only discover the secrets to a great employment interview, but
you can begin implementing those secrets today!
Are you optimizing your time and resources?
The purpose of an employment interview is simple: identifying
the right people for the right jobs. While defining the purpose is
easy, actually achieving it is a lot more complicated. The
interview process includes a variety of steps and roles—
ranging from scheduling and tracking interviews, to gathering
and conveying information, to evaluating candidates and
making hiring decisions. All of the steps are important and all
must be done effectively to achieve success. Unfortunately, the
first steps in the process often distract interviewers from the
most important step—evaluating and choosing the best
candidates.
So, the first secret to a great interview is to evaluate your
current process. Identify ways to streamline your interview so
that interviewers can focus on their most important role:
evaluating and hiring the right people.
© Employment Technologies Corporation. All rights reserved.
Secret #1:
Effectiveness.
Evaluate and
streamline your
interview process to
maximize results.
Do logistics undermine the outcome of your interviews?
Secret #2:
Scheduling, delays, no-shows, re-scheduling, overlap, travel,
traffic, weather, and time zone restrictions are some of the
logistics that can interfere with the smooth flow of job interviews.
When you have a specific timeframe for filling positions,
inefficiencies can result in scheduling nightmares and lost
opportunities. If you don’t have an efficient process, you may lose
your best candidates (to other credit unions that got to them first).
Efficiency
Are repetition and fatigue impacting your results?
Secret #3:
During interviews, candidates have the opportunity to share
information with the credit union, and the credit union has the
opportunity to share information with candidates. Ensuring that
information is exchanged in a highly consistent way is a critical
part of a good interview. Interviewers are only human, so they
suffer fatigue from the monotony of repetitious tasks. Because of
this, it’s difficult to ensure that the last interviews of the day
maintain the same quality as the first. The airline industry caught
on to the tedium of repetitive messages. They realized they could
keep the “fasten seat belt” speech fresher and more consistent
with a prerecorded message.
Consistency
Consider alternative
forms of delivery for
repetitive information
and messages.
How well do you control for initial impressions?
Secret #4:
Whether based on appearance, posture, a handshake, speech
patterns, etc., first impressions can be an interviewer’s worst
enemy. Impressions can cause biases that the remainder of the
interview serves to either prove or disprove. Either way, the
impression can have an undue influence on the decision about
the candidate’s qualifications, and therefore, can negatively
impact the accuracy and fairness of the interview. To minimize
opportunities for biases, use a standardized, structured interview
and evaluation process.
What impression does your interview convey about your
credit union?
Even in today’s economy, applicants are selective. They still shop
around for the best opportunity, the most interesting job, and the
most positive culture. The image that your credit union projects
during the interview process makes a strong statement about your
organization. To be known as a dynamic, progressive credit union,
you need to start building that foundation when you interview. What
candidates experience during the interview process will impact their
decision. So, it’s important to remember—not only are you
evaluating the candidate, the candidate is evaluating you!
© Employment Technologies Corporation. All rights reserved.
Use technology to
eliminate scheduling
hassles and to increase
access to quality
candidates.
Objectivity
Use standardization and
structure to minimize
opportunities for biases.
Secret #5:
Marketability
View the interview
process as a marketing
opportunity.
How accurate are your hiring decisions?
Of all the questions you ask, this one is the most critical. Accurate
ratings are the key to a great interview. You could ask your
candidates the best questions in the world, yet if you don’t
have an accurate way to evaluate their answers, you’re still
just guessing. Unfortunately, many hiring decisions are based
on little more than a guess, a hunch, or a “gut” reaction.
Improving the accuracy and reliability of your ratings is the key to
success and requires three components:
Secret #6: Accuracy
Improving your rating
process is the most
important secret of all.
1. Objective observation and documentation
2. A standard rating scale that increases the range of scores
from Low to High
3. The reliability and objectivity of ratings among interviewers
An interview is like a yardstick. If it isn’t calibrated for precise
measurement, then it offers no more than a wild guess. The more
you can improve your rating process, focusing on these three
key components, the more accurate your hiring decisions will be.
Secret #7:
So, are you asking the right questions?
Obviously, asking candidates the right questions is important. The
right questions elicit thoughtful responses and provide insight into
people’s attitudes, communication skills, and organizational fit.
While every aspect of the interview is important, remember: the
real secret to a great employment interview is not which
questions we ask candidates, but which questions we ask
about the interview process itself. By addressing these few short
questions, you can ensure that your interview is effective, efficient,
consistent, objective, marketable, accurate, and successful.
Success
For a great interview
with great results, ask
the right questions.
Joseph T. Sefcik, Jr., is the founder and president of Employment
Technologies, the world’s #1 provider of employment simulations. Mr. Sefcik
has over 30 years’ experience in employee selection and interviewing. He is
the pioneer of employment simulations and the phenomenal new EASyView™
Virtual Interview System. He can be reached at [email protected].
Discover how leading credit unions are using EASyView
Virtual Interviews to objectively prescreen applicants
so they can invest their time one-on-one with only the
most qualified candidates. For more information:
877.382.3279
getEASyView.com
© Employment Technologies Corporation. All rights reserved.
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