In recruitment, we come across more interview styles than you can shake a candidate at. Some useful, some painful and some so complicated that you wonder whether anyone still remembers the job.
You need to find out whether the person can do the work, what support they might need and whether the opportunity makes sense to them. A conversation helps. A conversation with no preparation can leave you with a pleasant hour and remarkably little evidence.
These are the practical habits I would keep.
Prepare questions, not an interrogation
Read the CV before the meeting. Agree what matters in the role and the evidence you need to establish.
I have suggested preparing five questions from the CV and five beyond it. Use that as a preparation exercise, not a quota you must force into every interview.
Alongside those individual questions, agree core role-related questions for everyone. That gives you a consistent basis for comparison while leaving room to explore each person’s experience.
The conversation can flow. The criteria should not change halfway through because somebody mentioned a hobby you happen to enjoy.
Help people explain the work they have done
A comfortable candidate is more likely to explain their experience clearly. That is why I prefer a conversation to a performance across a desk.
Ask what they personally did, how they approached it and what happened. Follow up when an answer is vague. Do not assume “we delivered” tells you which part they owned.
People do not need to use your terminology to have relevant experience. Equally, a confident answer is not proof on its own. Give them the opportunity to show the substance behind it.
Put a real work question on the table
Instead of asking, “Do you know how to sell to large aerospace companies?”, describe the problem:
“We are looking to develop into the aerospace industry. We need somebody to help take that forward. What relevant experience would you bring, and how would you approach it?”
That was the example in the original article. The useful part is moving beyond a yes or no answer into how somebody thinks and what they have actually done.
Use a comparable scenario for other candidates and agree what you are assessing. If they need a question clarified, clarify it. A pause, or an answer that does not immediately sound polished, is a reason to explore rather than an automatic verdict.
This is a discussion of approach, not a request for confidential customer information from their current employer.
Ask open questions and listen to the answer
How? What? Why? Where? When? Who?
Those words can open a conversation. They do not improve it if you spend the answer planning what you want to say next.
Avoid rigidly repeating a question that has already been answered. Follow the relevant evidence, then check you have covered the same important ground with everyone.
Let the candidate finish. Your job is not to demonstrate that you already know the answer.
Choose a setting that helps
A quiet, private space is usually more useful than a noisy coffee shop. People need to hear the questions and be able to speak without an audience.
Tell them what to expect and ask whether they need adjustments to take part. In Great Britain, reasonable adjustments are part of a fair recruitment process; use the applicable guidance for Northern Ireland where relevant.
Be engaged yourself. Put the phone away. Do not treat eye contact, posture or a particular social style as a reliable test of somebody’s engineering ability. People communicate differently, and an adjustment may change how an interview works without changing what you need to assess.
Take useful notes without disappearing behind them
My original advice was to take fewer notes and pay attention to the person. The point was listening, not relying entirely on memory afterwards.
Keep concise notes of relevant evidence during the meeting, explain what you are doing and allow time to complete them promptly afterwards. If there is more than one interviewer, agree who covers which areas and how notes will be handled.
Keep records secure and proportionate. A factual note about experience is useful. A page of guesses about personality is much less useful.
Be honest about the opportunity
Explain the work, the manager, expectations and the difficult bits as well as the attractions. Leave room for the candidate to question you.
They are considering whether to join, not simply waiting for permission to be grateful. If the reality differs from the advert or an earlier discussion, explain why and establish whether it still works for them.
Friendly conversation is welcome. Questions about family plans or other irrelevant personal circumstances should not become selection criteria. You are assessing the person’s ability to do this job, not whether their life resembles yours.
Reflect before the next meeting takes over
Leave ten to fifteen minutes after the interview to write up the evidence and uncertainties. If you have several interviewers, compare what each actually observed against the agreed criteria.
Keep the number of stages sensible. A further meeting should answer something important that remains unresolved, not exist because the organisation has always enjoyed another meeting.
Tell the candidate the next step and when they should hear from you. Update them if that changes.
If you are assuming, ask
An old manager’s advice has stayed with me: if you have not asked the question and they have not answered it, everything else is assumption.
“They will get bored.” “They will leave.” “They will not fit in.” Based on what?
If the concern matters to the role, explore it fairly and consistently. Ask about the work they want, the responsibility involved and what they understand the job to be. Then make the decision using evidence, rather than turning an untested feeling into a fact.
That is what a good interview should give you: a better-informed decision, and a candidate who understands the opportunity.
For the wider assessment process, use Part 4 — applications and interviews. The planner and scorecard in the Employer Recruitment Pack can help you prepare.