Introduction

In an effective interview you need to find out how capable the potential candidate is and how well they will perform. You want to pick from your selection of candidates the best person for the job and therefore the first principle of the interviewer is to ascertain ‘if the candidate is capable of doing the job to the required standard’. This should be a non-negotiable factor when making the final selection but a survey has shown that on average, interviewers reach final decisions about applicants after only 4minutes of a 30 minute interview. These first impressions are particularly influential because interviewers engage in hypothesis confirmation strategies that are designed to confirm their initial impressions. (Dougherty, Turban, & Callender, 1994)

In our experience many interviewers do not carry out the necessary preparation to ensure they can select the best candidate. The best interviews are structured to find out if each candidate can quantitatively perform to the required standards (the job specification) and qualitatively perform to the necessary behavioural standards expected of them (the person specification or profile).

What is your ideal candidate?

Interviewing Preperation

In order to prepare properly for an interview you will need certain types of information. These will help you either define the job or learn about the applicant, or match the two together.

Requirements

You are about to be promoted. Your boss has asked you to list at least ten requirements which you feel your replacement should possess.

State only quantitative, not qualitative requirements. For example, if you want to list “leadership” (qualitative) as a requirement, restate it as “manages 15 people” (quantitative).