The Role of Interviews in The Recruitment Process 

An interview is a process where question answering and interaction is done between an interviewer and a job seeker. This is primarily for the aim of knowing whether the job applicant can be employed in the organisation.

Job interviews are a crucial part of the selection and hiring process.

The applicant’s suitability can be clearly evaluated via this process. The interview is a necessary step in the recruiting process. This is because the interview process also includes several other steps that help the interviewer to identify the best candidate for the job. 

The Interview Process

A typical interview process is usually broken down into five different stages, as follows:

1. Introductions. This is where the applicant and the organisation make their first impressions. 
2. Small talk. After the introductions are complete, it is a good idea to conduct a little bit of small talk with the candidate. Small talk is one of the best ways of fostering a healthy working relationship and building rapport. When it comes to choosing topics for this particular stage of the interview, find something which the candidate is interested in.
3. Information gathering. Ask the applicant to present their elevator pitch. This is an essential step since it showcases how unprepared or prepared the applicant is. It also tests their capacity to think on their feet. As the applicant presents his/her pitch, it is imperative to pay close attention: does the applicant sound confident about their qualifications and abilities? Is their speech well-organised? Is it succinct? What is their body language while speaking?
4. Question/Answer. An interview is basically a two-way exchange of ideas, and the applicant will be interviewing your organisation just as much as you will be interviewing them. Create standardised questions that interviewers might ask the candidate. 
5. Wrapping up. Closing the interview is just as critical as the other stages. Having a good first impression is important, leaving the applicant feeling great about the organisation and its culture is key when it comes to hiring the best talent.

Some of our Favourite (And Interesting) Interview Questions

When you are interviewing applicants to join your team, you will have to get a little bit creative. There is only so much that questions such as “Are you a team player” and “What’s your biggest weakness” reveal about your candidates’ true nature. The next time you are interviewing a potential job candidate, here are a few questions that you can ask them:

• Tell me about a time in your life when you set difficult goals.
• Tell me about the relationships that you have had with the people that you previously worked with.
• Pitch our business to me as if I were a customer buying a product or a service.
• What have you done professionally that is an experience that you do not wish to repeat?
• What project would you consider to be your most noteworthy career achievement to date?
• In just five minutes, can you explain something to us that is complicated, but you understand it well?
• Is it better to be perfect and late, or be good and on time?
• What is ‘hard work’ for you?
• Tell us about a time when you made a mistake at work, and how did you manage it?
• If we polled everyone that you have recently worked with, what percentage would be your raving fans?

You can find more great interview questions from Indeed here, and the expert team at Glassdoor here.

Our Top 5 Tips for Conducting Good Interviews

1. Prepare well. Unprepared interviewers risk looking indifferent. By failing to prepare well, you may not be able to assess the candidate well or persuade them to take the job offer.
2. Quiet location. Choose a quiet location for the interview, preferably in the conference room or the manager’s office.
3. Improve your judgement. Unconscious biases can cloud your judgment and make you make the wrong decisions. Combating these biases is important for interviewers to conduct a good interview. 
4. Be methodical. Unstructured interviews which feel like a free-flowing conversation which do not have agendas can easily get non-job related and subjective. Unstructured interview can help the job applicants feel more comfortable; however, they do not result in the best hiring decisions.
5. Show you care. Caring about your job applicants makes for very good candidate experience, and it also boosts your employer brand. Even if the job applicant does not get a job offer, they can still feel good about the business which treated them well.

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If you are looking for some assistance with your Recruitment processes, we can assist. From position description creation, to interviews and references checks, to your onboarding and induction processes. Chat to our team today via email at projects@commongoalconsulting.com.au, or visit our website at www.commongoalconsulting.com.au/recruitment.