The Interview - How to Identify High Performing Candidates, Part 2

So far we have discussed three useful interview tips to help companies recruit suitable candidates for their company.

Today we will look at three more great interview tips.

4. Have a second interview with a maximum of three different people. This will help you achieve another perspective on the candidate. For example the interview could be held in a more social environment (not a noisy pub!) to check that the candidate is a good cultural fit.

5. Always check references. If the candidate is not prepared to give recent references then beware. Also, if a candidate says that they left their last job because of a personality clash with their boss, this could be a sign that the candidate is unmanageable and uncoachable. Drill down on these responses and ask candidates specifically what they mean and what the problem was. You may notice how using the word ‘specific’ will cause the interviewee to shift in their chair. If a glance to the right follows then the whole truth may not be forthcoming!

6. Perform some sort of Psych Test. These can be very elaborate or they can be simple and quick. At Conduit Recruitment we use a handwriting analysis which is less than $250 per go. This involves a trained document profiler and psychologist examining a page of the candidates’ handwriting to test for the required competencies and any troublesome traits. It is amazingly accurate, and provides an excellent source of information about a person’s potential management capabilities and motivations. When you know what motivates a person, you will be able to get the best from them.

The Interview - How to Identify High Performing Candidates

I recently wrote an article for The Building Economist on how to find potential candidates for your business. This article discussed the importance of spreading your net far and wide in finding the right candidates. It also mentioned the high cost, of both time and money, for businesses when recruiting the wrong person and having to replace them. This cost can be anywhere between $30-50k AUD.

When you have found your potential candidates you need to have a robust and meaningful interview process that enables you to ‘screen for the gold’ and pick out the talent that will fit into your office. So many companies have interview processes that do not challenge interviewees because the questions are weak and allow candidates to dodge the sticky questions. This makes it difficult for interviewers to make an informed decision about choosing the right candidate.

Over the next while I will discuss useful interview tips for companies and employers that can be implemented to prevent this.

1. Have two people in the first interview so that you obtain two points of view and ensure that these two people are competent at spotting different things. For example, have a right brain person and a left brain person.

2. Have a pre-designed, structured and measureable interview sheet prepared that can be filled out by the interviewers. This will help the interviewer to highlight the core competencies that you are seeking. For example, when interviewing candidates for a Quantity Surveying position you may have 5 sections labeled: Technical Abilities and Accuracy, Communication, Project Experience, Teamwork Abilities and Negotiation Skills. Have each section scored out of 10 and then totalled for a score out of 50.

3. Ask Behavioural Questions as part of the interview. These are questions that require the candidate to think of previous real life situations that will demonstrate a particular competency. They cannot simply state that they are great in that area, for example, “Yes I am a great negotiator”. How do you know they are?! It is difficult to be 100% sure but you can ask a question that asks them to describe a previous example. Try asking a question such as “Andrew, could you tell us about a time when you had a particularly difficult variation to negotiate and how you fared in the final result. What techniques did you use to achieve this great result for your client?” If they cannot describe a situation or their answer is weak and flaky then perhaps they are not such a great negotiator! There are loads of great books available on this type of behavioural questioning as well as a good website: www.emurse.com/blog/2007/05/21/complete-list-of-behavioral-interview-questions/

Stay tuned for more useful interview tips that will help you recruit the right candidates for your business.