Job Interview

Interviewing is one of the most common methods of selecting and evaluating staff. Despite the external simplicity of the process, it is one of the most time-consuming processes that requires mandatory training of the employee who conducts it.

Interview and its main goals

The main purpose of the interview is to get information that will allow you to:

1) Evaluate the candidate's suitability for the proposed position (assess the applicant's professional suitability: professional knowledge and skills, business, individual psychological and psychophysiological qualities);

2) Determine how this candidate stands out from all those who have applied for the vacant position (which qualities and skills prevail, and which, on the contrary, need further development; how important these qualities are for the vacant position; whether it is possible to hire an employee with the condition of further growth; whether the vacant position will be a "step forward" for the applicant or he has long "outgrown" the intended position);

3) Determine whether the information provided by the candidate is reliable (meaning only the initial assessment of the reliability of the information).

In recent years, more attention is paid not only to determine conformity of the candidate with the requisite qualifications, but also figuring out how the new person fits in with the corporate culture of the organization, will he be able to take active in organizations principles and standards of conduct.

Preparing for an interview

Conducting an interview requires careful preparation. This section covers some of the activities that will allow you to best prepare for the interview and conduct it with the greatest benefit for the company. It should be noted that the activities described below are referred to as "preparatory" only within the scope of this article. In the system of recruitment and evaluation of personnel as a whole, each of them takes its place and performs its specific function.

To conduct a high-quality interview, you will need:

Biographical questionnaire. It is also possible to use other questionnaires that provide not only biographical information, but also an idea of the candidate's personal qualities or professional views.

Job description or qualification characteristic, personal specification (a document describing the parameters that a person must have to successfully complete the job). In some companies, a document called "application for selection" is used, which lists the knowledge, skills, skills and qualities that a candidate must have in order to successfully work in the proposed position. Documents of this kind usually specify both mandatory requirements and desirable ones.

A number of companies use another document, most often referred to as the "selection scheme", which describes the procedure for conducting an interview: who among the employees and at what stage is involved in the interview; how responsibilities are distributed among the company's employees in order to ensure the best selection of specialists; what tests, questionnaires and business games are used. Of course, you will have to work on creating this document. However, it will subsequently provide significant time savings when preparing materials for evaluating applicants.

It is advisable to develop another document to reflect the results of the interview. In some companies, information about the results of the interview is included in the form of the questionnaire, and sometimes it is included in a separate document. In any case, information about the results of the interview should contain information about who and when conducted the interview with the applicant; the opinion of the employees who conducted the interview about this candidate; how the candidate corresponds to the declared position, whether it is possible to use the candidate in other jobs; what decision was made (about hiring or refusing to accept).

Before starting the interview, it is advisable to once again review the application form or resume of the applicant and note the questions that should be clarified during the conversation.

Classification of interviews

In order to make the selection process the most optimal, it is advisable to use various options for conducting interviews. The ability to conduct various types of interviews will provide you with additional opportunities for the correct assessment of applicants, as well as allow you to achieve high results.

According to their structure, interviews are divided into:

Tough (structured) interview

The main feature of this type is a pre-made plan, which defines topics for conversation and questions for the applicant. This type of interview is recommended for evaluating professional skills. When preparing questions for a structured interview, an employee of the company uses the job description for the vacant position and in the course of the conversation "point by point" scrupulously finds out whether the applicant meets the established requirements. The downside of this interview is that some of the questions related to, for example, personal qualities, habits, motivational orientation, will remain "outside the scope" of the conversation.

Free (non-structured) interview

This type of interview is more like a small talk, in which the interviewer is assigned the role of a guide. Only the main topics are usually planned for its implementation. However, there is always a danger that the "peaceful" and "free" course of the conversation may lead far enough away from the main topic of conversation and, in the end, the interviewer and the applicant may be left with a sense of a pleasant time spent, but with a lot of unclear questions.

Combined interview

A combined interview is optimal for the most complete assessment of the applicant. With a pre-developed plan, it is possible to evaluate the professional knowledge of the applicant, skills within a strictly defined framework, and in a free conversation to clarify what universal values the potential employee recognizes.

Organizations are distinguished by their form:

Individual interview.

In an individual interview, one interviewer works separately with each new applicant, which allows you to establish the most solid contact. With the right approach, a trusting relationship develops between them, which contributes to a detailed and thorough discussion of all the necessary topics. However, there may be a situation when interviewers, being under the impression of previous candidates, incorrectly, subjectively evaluate the next applicant, because against the background of their predecessors, he may look "pale" or, on the contrary, too "bright".

There is another point that is often forgotten. Often, applicants who are not very suitable for the stated position come to the interview. But their skills and experience can be useful in other areas of the company. It is very important that the employee conducting the interview is oriented in advance to the "parallel" selection of such candidates, is aware of possible and planned changes in the organization, is informed about the needs of various structural divisions in personnel (if the interview is conducted not by the personnel Department, but, for example, by a line Manager) and does not treat the work too "formally". This will allow you not to miss a valuable candidate for the company and, ultimately, save money on the selection of specialists of different profiles.

Group interview.

In this case, several interviewers communicate with the applicant. Such an interview creates the most stressful situation for the interviewee, and this allows you to assess how he "holds the blow", how much pressure he can withstand. The need to conduct a group interview may arise when a vacant position implies the presence of highly professional knowledge that the employee of the personnel Department is not able to assess. In order to make sure that the applicant has the necessary knowledge, specialists of the Department where the candidate is hired are invited. In addition, group participation in the interview provides an opportunity to evaluate not only the professional, but also the personal qualities of the applicant and reduce the likelihood that the applicant will "not fit" into the new team.

Preliminary (screening) interview

The task is to identify and select from the entire mass of candidates those who will be invited to continue negotiations. Such an interview can be arranged in a variety of ways. Let's look at just a few of them.

Screening interview conducted over the phone. It saves time for HR employees and saves the office from a large number of visitors. At the same time, the interviewer will need experience in conducting telephone conversations, which will allow "in absentia" to conduct a preliminary assessment of applicants, thoroughness, scrupulousness, tact, since not every candidate can be called to a Frank telephone conversation.

A screening interview conducted in person. A brief interview conducted in the company's office, possibly with a request to fill out a questionnaire, will allow you to assess the candidate's image and those qualities that cannot be determined by telephone communication.

For a screening interview, it is necessary to determine which points in the applicant's assessment are most important. For example, you need an employee for work related to frequent business trips. Therefore, a candidate who does not have a family or has adult children and is willing to leave their home frequently will be desirable. It is necessary to find out whether the applicant meets the stated parameters at the first stages of negotiations.

Written screening task. In the context of universal computerization, many companies began to send applicants tasks based on which the initial screening is carried out by e-mail as a primary screening task.

Do not forget that regardless of what form of screening interview you have chosen, it is mandatory to provide the applicant with comprehensive information about the vacant position and the company itself. At the very least, this is dictated by the rules of business ethics.

Selection interview.

This is a crucial conversation that evaluates the candidate's qualifications. Depending on the necessary to practice a series of qualifying interviews during which the applicant speaks with various company personnel, starting with HR and ending with, for example, the CEO of the company (in the business literature this is called a "serial interview"). If the screening interview was conducted over the phone, then, as a rule, the applicant is asked to fill out a standard questionnaire before the first selection interview. Next, we will discuss possible techniques that will help you evaluate candidates for the vacant position in the most complete and thorough way.

The structure of the interview

The structure of the interview is the least susceptible to accurate description. This is primarily due to its deep "personalization". In the process, each interviewer works out well-known and develops their own techniques and tricks that allow them to best evaluate the applicant. At the same time, the HR specialist builds the interview structure based on their own ideas, based on their own experience of successful and unsuccessful meetings. Therefore, it is quite difficult to recommend a particular interview structure, but you can specify a few basic points that will help you develop your own strategy for evaluating the applicant:

The interview should be clearly planned and prepared. This is especially important for beginners. The more carefully thought out the stages of the interview and identified topics for discussion, the better the result.

It is necessary to keep the anonymity. All information obtained during the conversation must be closed to outsiders.

It is not allowed to use the interview and the information received for personal purposes.

Your behavior should be polite and considerate. This principle, for all its expediency, is often violated by employees conducting interviews

To conduct an interview, choose a convenient room where you will not be distracted by visitors and phone calls

Tune in to a positive attitude towards the applicant. Be prepared to listen to him and empathize with what he has heard, try to accept him for what he is. Try to focus on the thoughts and feelings of the other person: only if you have a genuine interest in the person sitting opposite you, you can adequately assess their professional and personal qualities. Among the attitudes that prevent you from listening and adequately evaluating what you have heard, you can call neglect, pronounced distrust, and aggression towards the candidate. Try not to allow "wandering thoughts"

A qualified interviewer listens attentively to the candidate for most of the conversation and speaks less himself. Try not to interrupt the applicant, listen to the answers completely, to the end, because only after the full answer may appear additional nuances that require clarification.

Make sure that the meanings of your words and gestures do not differ from each other.

Try to make sure that the candidate does not feel constrained during the interview.

During the interview process, record the information received from the applicant, otherwise it is likely that some important points of their biography may be missed.

Do not forget that during the conversation, you need to evaluate not only the primary data received from the applicant (answers to questions, completed questionnaires, letters of recommendation, and other documents that applicants often bring with them to the interview), but also secondary (nonverbal manifestations (language of movements), correspondence of answers to different questions, and the compatibility of tasks in different interview blocks).

Literature

1. https://zen.yandex.ru/media/id/5b5705f5602a1d00a8b40494/sobesedovanie-podgotovka-i-provedenie-5cb6e6f523aed400b46a1ddd
2. https://hh.ru/article/311426