Interviewing is not hard. But like so many things its success comes down to preparation. You need to carefully consider who you need to complete your team. Identify your requirements under these headings:

• Natural skills and talents
• Leant skills and experience
• Attitude and approach to work
• Team fit in terms of what is currently lacking in the team (for example you may need a detailed, completer, finisher or a creative, ideas person)
• Personal passion and enthusiasm

Once you have fully identified what is needed next scope out the interview questions to ask. This is simple. Ask for specific examples of where and how they have demonstrated the attributes that you want. For example, you need someone with great customer services skills in difficult circumstances. You then would ask the following questions:

Have you ever been in a situation where you had to handle a really difficult and irate customer?
What was the situation?
What was your exact role?
What did you do exactly?
How did you do it?
What were the results?

When it comes to the actual interview conduct it in two distinct halves. Often managers are very warm and welcoming at the beginning of an interview, keen to tell the applicant all about the job. Unfortunately, this gives the applicant who is good at interviews, but hopeless at the job, all the information they need to sell themselves back to you.

So the first half the interview is politely cold and uninformative. Greet them. Ask them about their journey. Offer tea, coffee as you would do normally but do not be overly warm. Introduce yourself, the other interviewers and state that you have a series of questions to ask.

Run through your questions. Give no indication whether they have given a good answer or not. Simply make your notes. Do not be concerned if there are any silences. These can be very valuable as some applicants fill in the silence by sharing more information about themselves. I have had applicants start talking about the divorce they are currently going through or how they hate their current boss.

When you have completed all of your questions set aside your formal pieces of paper and sell the company, team and job to them. Here you are allowed to become as enthusiastic and as animated as you wish while you outline what you want the job holder to achieve and how the organisations operates. Your goal here should be to give the individual as much truthful information as they need to make their decision whether your job is the right opportunity for them. Do not be tempted to oversell or hide unpleasant facts for a good candidate. They will find out the truth when they join and the good candidate becomes a disgruntled employee. If you have facts about your organisation you are tempted to hide at interview then this is a sure sign that you need to do something about them.

Following the steps above will increase your chances of a positive hire. However, remember even the most extensive hiring process employed by the big corporates still make hiring mistakes. If you find you have made an error speak up and act quickly. For your benefit and theirs.

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Interviewing made easy…

It is frustrating when you have given what you believe to be perfectly reasonable feedback and the response you get back is tears and accusations. But here are some simple steps to take to avoid this painful outcome.

In the trailer, the boss is sitting behind a desk with the girl standing in front. This is a classic ‘headmaster’ type of body placement which immediately places the staff member in the role of child, increasing the risk of a childish response.

The answer? Get out from behind the desk and sit alongside them at a table or desk so creating more of a ‘colleague to colleague’ dialogue.

Start the conversation by showing them that you know them, value them and believe in them by saying ‘I know you enjoy customer interaction most in your job and I also know that you want to do a really good job, only last week I saw you ….’ This builds great connection with your staff and balances out any negative feedback you are about to give. Word of caution though, the positive feedback must be completely genuine. It can not be contrived as they will sense manipulation and become wary and sceptical of anything you say later.

Now give them the necessary feedback under the assumption that they have no idea that they are doing anything wrong. ‘I need to talk to you about something you are probably not aware that you are currently doing’. Detail it and provide examples. They will very likely disagree with you here as this is the natural reaction to hearing criticism. Listen to and respect their response. Then say ‘As I said, I don’t think you are aware of it. We all do things habitually without thinking and I believe this one such example for you. Sadly, I have witnessed it on several occasions (giving more examples)’.

They might then hold firm and continue to deny any wrong doing. You then have two options open to you depending upon the seriousness of the issue. If it is serious and you feel you need to make a point you may have to insist that your feedback is correct ‘I do hear what you are saying, however this is a serious matter and I must ask that you ….’ Be aware of your tone of voice here. It could be that they have used an emotional tone of voice to you and in these circumstances it is natural to respond to them with the same degree of emotion. But resist the temptation and make your statement with a calm, neutral and factual tone.

If the issue is less serious you may choose to give the staff member time to consider your feedback and observe themselves in action with this information. If so tell them ‘I appreciate this is new to you. I suggest you think it over, perhaps even checking with colleagues who you are certain would tell you the truth, and that we meet again in two days to discuss this further’.

Whenever the conversation is completed be sure to define exactly what you do want in GREAT detail. Do not assume they will know what you mean by simply stating ‘Don’t do that again’ in all likelihood they will not.

And finally, share your belief and assumption that they will make the necessary changes by telling them ‘You can do this!’ and be sure to congratulate with a simple ‘Well done’ whenever you notice a movement towards the new behaviour.

That’s it! Simple.

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You are picking on me!

Interviewing for skills and experience is relatively easy but we all know that a skilled person who does work effectively within our culture can mean trouble.

There two things to consider when interviewing for a culture fit.

1. What is the purpose of your company? The right applicant needs to get excited about whatever you deliver to the customer. You might think it is the manufacture of widgets but actually it is the production of top-quality products, or cost effective prices, or immediate delivery. What products and services are you selling in addition to widgets?
2. Your pace of work and how you achieve the above. Some companies are very family orientated with a strong emphasis on time keeping and working steadily though the day. Others are much more flexible with regard to time and focus, yet they would expect staff to work at overtime and weekends if necessary. What is your approach?

Remember to conduct the interviews in two halves. The first half is politely clinical and cold, where you ask questions of the applicant whilst giving nothing away about what you are looking for. This is to avoid good interviewees picking up subtle cues and telling you what you want to hear rather than their truthful answers. During this part of the interview the types of questions you want to ask are:

‘What attracted you to this role / company?’
‘What gives you the greatest satisfaction from work?’
‘Why have you chosen this career?’
‘What are your greatest strengths and personal attributes?’
‘What are your weaknesses?’
‘Describe to me your ideal job’
‘How would your manager describe you to me?’
‘Describe to me your average working day / worst working day’

During the second part of the interview put aside your questions and sell the job to them. Become warmer, more animated and authentically yourself. Answer all of their queries and truthfully, yet positively, describe what it is like to work within your company and what you expect from your staff. This will give the applicant all the information they need to determine whether you are the right cultural fit for them.

If you want to discover more about an individual do not be afraid to extend the interview into a drink at the pub or a meeting over lunch, where applicants often become dangerously relaxed and you can learn so much more. Alternatively ask them to come back and spend some time meeting the team, or even working with them for day. Your existing workforce will undoubtedly give you their opinions as to whether they will fit in!

The main point to remember is do not be pressurised into offering a job to someone ‘who will do’. If you a lucky it will turn out OK but often you are simply creating future problems for yourself. It is understandable to feel this pressure when work is coming in through the door and you need an extra body now. And for this reason recruitment must be viewed as a full-on, top priority task because when it is right it will feel SO right and the successful applicant will hit the floor running.

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Hiring for the right cultural fit