When you’re preparing to interview a potential candidate for a job, what do you do? Do you look over the job description, and try to get a feel for what you client is looking for? Do you use a general set of questions designed to screen applicants for a variety of jobs, or come up with questions catered to the specific job at hand? Does your company have a complex interview structure you’re expected to follow, or are you generally free to decide what to do as you go?
When it comes to interviewing, most recruiters and hiring managers will agree that the best policy is to keep the interview structured, yet not too complex. This article from Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) suggested that conducting a structured interview is vital to finding the best candidate for a job. By keeping the interview process structured yet simple, you can ensure that your fellow recruiters or hiring managers at your company will follow the correct interview process. Finding an effective interviewing process that works best for you, your company or your client can help you find those candidates defined as “high achievers”, who can really help your team excel.
The article went on to say that high achievers aren’t only defined by an impressive skill set, but also by their attitude. I’ve always considered attitude to be an extremely important aspect, one that shouldn’t be overlooked in interviews. After all, a great skill set or an impressive work history doesn’t mean much if the candidate in question doesn’t have the right attitude to effectively put that knowledge to good use. SHRM says that high achievers have three common characteristics:
Attitude: “I can figure out a way to achieve this!”
Passion: “I love doing this!”
Skill: “I have the skill to do this!”
Essentially, high achievers adopt a “can do” attitude, and are confident that their solid skill set will enable them to succeed in the position. Finding out if a person truly possesses this “can do” attitude isn’t always easy, but it is possible-with the help of well-thought-out interview questions.
The next time you’re faced with finding the perfect candidate for a job, make sure that you’re prepared to conduct a structured interview. First, make sure that you are 100 percent clear about what exactly your client or company is looking for, and clarify any questions you might have. Next, make sure that you’ve prepared a list of questions that ask not only what a candidate can do, but what motivates them to do this. As I always say, recruiting is all about finding a candidate and a team that fit well together-so, never underestimate the importance of making sure that a candidate’s motivations and goals match the team’s motivations and goals. In doing so, you can make sure that you place a person who really has the right attitude to get the job done!