How to conduct a job interview

Personnel policy is a topical area of modernity. Fundamental in it is the selection of personnel. Here it is necessary to know how to conduct an interview when hiring new employees. The future of the enterprise, organization, company depends on this. Below we will provide a step-by-step algorithm for conducting a conversation, as well as a list of basic questions that you need to ask the applicant to understand how suitable he is for you.

Contents

Choice of concept
Western model
The golden mean
What an employer should always keep in mind

Choice of concept

Before starting the interview, you need to decide on the concept of the interview. In fact, there are only two of them:

Based on advanced western standards and regulations;
Optimal, maximally practical, it can be called the golden mean.

It's worth stipulating right away that both concepts have advantages and disadvantages, so the rational decision is to take the best of both to have the most appropriate conversation for your circumstances.

Western model

The application of this model is based on certain knowledge and involves the use of special techniques. It is a whole system of rules that is designed to select the best of the best. There is even an algorithm for conducting a telephone interview.

Hiring qualified and morally stable personnel really determines systemic success in the work of any structure, especially a commercial one. But what looks great in theory often fails in practice. And holding a conversation according to new standards does not always give the desired result.

An example of such a failure can be seen on the example of a soccer team with only stars. It would seem that it should win match after match, but in fact only unimpressive performances. And all because everyone pulls the game on himself, as he wants to confirm his star status and as a result there is no team play. The team is the same team and its coordinated work should bring results. In a team where all the professionals are professionals there are inevitable clashes on this ground, which badly affects the performance.

There are many algorithms for conducting a Western-style interview, so let's consider an average variant that applies to all professions: manager, salesperson, lawyer, accountant. This option involves answering a series of questions or requests:

A story about yourself, where the employer should catch all the nuances during the candidate's narration: the peculiarities of speech (confident tone or inaudible babbling), the style of the story (formal or free) and take them into account;
Why interested in the offer? It is believed that a highly qualified specialist will move away from a template answer about the desire to work and benefit the company, to grow and develop, and will tell something new;
Talk about the benefits, why the person will be useful in the position. A reasoned answer is appreciated here. But at the same time there is no guarantee that after admission all the listed pluses will disappear and disadvantages will come out. Many are guided by the rule - the main thing is to get in with one foot and for this purpose are ready to praise themselves. Hardly anyone will say that he is a chronic or drunken alcoholic;
A tale of weaknesses. Needless to say, here the vast majority squeeze their shortcomings, and about many simply keep silent, so that the hiring goes smoothly;
Why the previous place of work was left. The answer to this question is very important, it will help to a certain extent to understand whether a person is conflictual or not.

Next, here's what to ask:

What changes does the job seeker plan to make after hiring? It should be understood that zealous transformation of one employee can lead to the failure of the entire system;
How does the applicant see himself/herself after 5-10 years in the company? This question is not relevant, especially in such difficult economic times, when companies and firms are rapidly going out of business;
A question about hobbies and pastimes concludes the interview and is both a defusing, logical and enjoyable end to the conversation.

Conducting a qualification interview according to such a step-by-step algorithm is rather a formality, because the employer gets standard answers to standard questions, and to get useful information it is necessary to study behavioral schemes, physiognomy, psychology. But not everyone has the time for this, and, most importantly, the desire.

Often the conversation is followed by a second part, where it is necessary to pass tests that include questions on logic. For the quality of this part, it is necessary to employ a specialized specialist who is able to conduct this kind of analysis, which is disadvantageous for a small business.

The golden mean

This is a set of questions and actions aimed at objectively assessing the qualifications of an applicant for a position without additional involvement of specialists. To conduct a conversation in this way is to learn useful information about the candidate.

The algorithm for conducting such an interview includes the following steps:

Question about work experience, qualifications (education);

Question about previous employment, if any. Here it is advisable to find out the contact information to ask about the qualities of the applicant from the former employer. This is one of the best characteristics that allows you to effortlessly identify all the negative sides of the candidate for the position;
Aptitude testing. It is necessary to properly create, simulate a situation in which the specialist must demonstrate his professional skills. A manager or a salesperson must convince a potential client to buy something, an accountant, as well as a lawyer can review profile documents, find an error in them and correct it.

These 3 points will give enough knowledge to the employer, reduce the interview time and save money. The minus of the algorithm is insufficient emphasis on the personal characteristics of the applicant, which does not allow you to create a psycho-emotional portrait. But, on the other hand, the main thing in hiring is qualification or education.

Attention! Why you should not be afraid to hire young professionals! In today's labor market, there is such a concept as a burned-out employee. This is a specialist who knows that he or she has reached his or her maximum and will not be able to achieve more. At the same time, he knows the nuances of work and is able to shirk some of the responsibilities, which reduces the effectiveness of labor in general. This will not happen with a young specialist, he will try to gain precious experience and is willing to work for a small fee.

What an employer should always keep in mind

A job interview is not a panacea or contingency insurance - it's a preliminary introduction to a prospective employee.
You can really get to know a person only during work, no tests will not reveal him as a specialist, as practice will do it.
Conducting an interview over the phone is hiring a cat in a bag, even logic questions will not save you. Here is important visual contact and live communication, although at the same time communication via Skype is becoming more and more popular and no less effective, because you can conduct a conversation remotely and at the same time to observe the emotions of the applicant. Very often Skype interviews are carried out when hiring the head of an enterprise, if he lives in another city or region.
Blind application of new-fangled trends leads to bloated staffs and growing bureaucracy, and consequently to higher costs.
You can have a conversation with an applicant in 2 minutes. The appearance of candidates can sometimes reveal a lot of useful information. Therefore, a personal meeting is very important.
The hiring should be based on the data obtained and the personal opinion of the employer. This will condition the mutual understanding between the employee and the supervisors in the future.

Conclusion - the main thing is to conduct a job interview with the maximum benefit for the employer, and this is not always due to the application of fashion trends. Of all their variety, it is necessary to choose only relevant for specific cases schemes. We hope that thanks to our article you were able to decide what questions to ask when interviewing a candidate and what to pay attention to.

Lastly, we recommend you to watch useful video tutorials on the topic: