5 Most Effective Ways to Become a Good Interviewer

Job interviews are a fundamental part of building an organisation. For hiring managers, this is one of the most pivotal steps in the recruitment process, as it offers an opportunity to learn more about the candidate in a one-on-one setting. Being a good interviewer is therefore important in bringing in the best talent for your organisational needs.

Learning how to be a good interviewer takes practice, know-how, and also some basic conversational skills. The goal is to be adept at strategic interviewing, which is the process of extracting as much relevant information from the applicant given the amount of time you have. This means being an active listener, absorbing the tiniest remarks to the most complex details. It also means having sharp observation skills and looking out even for non-verbal cues, such as the candidates’ tone, posture, or any behavioural signs that show the kind of person they are.

Overall, strategic interviewing involves creating an atmosphere where the candidate can be comfortable enough to offer a glimpse of their work ethic, strengths, culture fit, and potential for growth. It also involves asking the right questions. By posing the most strategic questions, you are able to effectively filter through your candidate list and avoid, or, at the very least, minimise, bad hires.

Here are some tips on how to be a good interviewer:

1. Let candidates narrate their work and other relevant experience

You must prepare yourself for the interview by going over the candidates’ resumes. They will serve as your guide or roadmap on how the interview process will go. Maybe there are details there that you find interesting and would like to devote more time to address. The items on the resume can also give you an idea of what you would like the candidates to expound on.

To give your interview a structure, it would help if you reviewed the candidates’ work experience as detailed in their resumes. Ask them about each experience, what their job entailed, and what they learned from each stop. Candidates can reveal so much about themselves as they narrate their work and other relevant experience.

From how enthusiastically they narrate each experience, you will be able to tell which jobs meant more to them. These could give you a clue into their strengths or what they value in a company. It also offers a chance to see what kind of work gives them pride, based on how they talk about particular experiences. If a candidate does not want to talk about a particular experience at length, then you can ask them why. From there, you can learn what they possibly dislike from that experience and what they might be uncomfortable doing in future jobs.

2. Find out what they are all about

“Tell us all about yourself” is one of the most common strategic job interview questions. It is an open-ended question, which gives candidates a lot of room to expound and reveal so much about themselves. It is like the conversational equivalent of casting a wide net – you have a broader possibility of catching something. 

However, what you may catch could vary from useful to trifling. Depending on how they answer the question, the applicants could tell you a lot about their qualifications right away or they could lead the conversation to somewhere unrelated to the job opening.

To get an answer that is more meaningful to you and the company, you could make the question more career-oriented. For instance, asking “what have you been doing since leaving your previous job?” could elicit more revealing responses. Their answers could tell more about their true passion. If they practise their craft, create personal projects, or enrol in training courses, then they have the potential to excel in the job they are applying for.

3. Learn about their strengths

As hiring managers, we always look for the best possible candidate for any position. The best way to do that is by determining a candidate’s strengths: what skills or traits do they have that set them apart from the rest? During the interview, you can ask candidates, “what do you consider your strengths?

Sometimes, however, people can be the worst judge of themselves. They lack the proper distance and objectivity to assess their level of proficiency. You could approach this question more strategically by asking, “what are some of your proudest achievements?”

By asking this, you are already giving candidates permission to build themselves up. Suddenly, they are in their comfort zone, talking about things they remember fondly. From the interviewer’s perspective, you are able to glimpse what their actual strengths are. These are not just things the candidate is asserting. These are projects or situations that have actually produced results, which indirectly show what the candidate really excels at.

What they consider achievements will also reveal a bit of their character. Candidates who cite a group project while also emphasising the importance of other colleagues’ work may be revealing themselves as effective team players. Someone who mentions a more abstract achievement, such as motivating an underperforming co-worker or subordinate, can be a potential leader, or someone who values people and relationships.

4. Test their knowledge about your organisation

How much your applicant knows about your company could indicate of how much effort they are putting into their application. If an interviewee demonstrates considerable knowledge about your organisation, like its history and culture, then it means they put the time and energy into researching. This could tell you how passionate the candidate is about the job and being part of your team.

You can ask the applicant, “what do you know about our company?” and possibly get straightforward answers. To get a response related to the candidate’s passion, you can also ask, “what made you decide to apply to our company?” The effect could be twofold: the question could lead them to any facts about your organisation that they know, while also encouraging them to talk about their personal values. Consequently, you may be able to see how their values align with that of the company.

Gauging a candidate’s knowledge about the company can tell you so much about culture fit. If they reveal ample knowledge about what you do and what you stand for while expressing enthusiasm about it, then you are possibly talking to someone who belongs to your team.

5. Ask them to sell themselves to you

A job interview is essentially an opportunity for an applicant to make a sales pitch to a hirer. To close the deal, candidates must be able to convince the interviewer that hiring them would be beneficial to the company.

Give applicants space to make this pitch by asking the right strategic question. “Why should we hire you?” is a good example of how to end the interview as an interviewer, as the candidate is allowed to close it by making a final pitch. You could rephrase this question to: “What can you contribute to our team?” This frames the question as a matter of culture fit and personal strengths, allowing the candidate to think about their pitch within the context of your organisation and its needs.

You can get more creative answers by asking, “If you were a brand, describe that brand to me.” This is especially appropriate for applicants in sales and marketing positions, as they are able to make their pitch while also testing their marketing skills and knowledge. This question can also resonate among Gen Z applicants who are comfortable navigating through social media and are therefore effectively managing their own personal brand every day.

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