Employer Interview Tips

8. Questioning

   Interviewer wants to obtain information about the candidate. Therefore, you must keep candidate talking approximately 70% to 80% of the time and the key to this is the type of questions, which are asked. Following are some types of questions commonly asked in an interview are:

   • Open Questions

     Open questions are designed to enable candidates to provide facts and information, to describe things, to express feeling of opinions and to get the candidate talking.

   • Closed Questions

     In the closed questions, the answers are in the form of yes or no. Some closed questions cannot be avoided during the course of an interview, but you should attempt to ensure that the majority of the questions are open ones.

   • Double-Headed Questions

     These occur when two or more questions are asked in one go. The candidate will either answer the questions they want to answer or they just might forget one of the questions. It is best for the interview to ask the questions one at a time.

   • Leading Questions

     The answer to these questions is given away in the question itself. This occurs when the interviewer prefaces the questions with information either from the job description or the person's resume.

   • Hypothetical Questions

     The interviewer describes a situation to the candidate and asks then what they would do. Avoid so many questions of this type because what a person says they will do in a given situation might be completely different from what they would actually do. It is much better to look at how the person has handled situations in the past.

   • Self-Assessment Questions

     The interviewer asks candidates to assess themselves. These are very difficult questions to answer. Once the interview is over, the interviewer has to decide, whether the candidate is suitable for the job or not.

9. Ending the interview

   At the end when the interviewer has completed his/her questions, an opportunity must be given to the candidate to ask questions about the job. When this is over, the interview should be formally ended. After the end of interview, the interviewer has to do some things like:

   • Tell the candidate when and how they will be contacted with a decision.
   • Thank them for their time, showing interest in the position and the organization.
   • Show them out of the room.

10. Taking decisions

    The interview is an information gathering exercise. When all the information has been collected together and evaluated, then the decision is taken.

11. Do's
    • Schedule the same amount of time for each candidate.
    • Choose an environment free of distractions.
    • Based on individual resumes/applications, prepare specific questions you want to ask the applicant to help you further understand his or her experience or knowledge.
    • Focus on learning about the person's experience, abilities, and personal qualities.
    • Ask open-ended questions.
    • Keep notes on candidate responses.
    • Use a rating grid to compare the candidates to the position profile.
    • Create a comfortable environment. Provide water, tea, or coffee. Anticipate nervousness.
    • Focus on questions that help you assess ability and fit with your organization.
    • Allow sufficient time to answer the questions.