As a hiring manager, preparing yourself for interviewing candidates is a pre-requisite so you can conduct meaningful interviews that will lead to finding the best candidate for the position. It can be challenging to choose the top candidate due to many unknown variables, but here are five helpful strategies that can help you to prepare for interviews:
Research about the Position
Be well-informed about the job position or role you are interviewing the candidates for. Read the job description and thoroughly familiarize yourself with the job duties, even if you are filling a job position that has been around for years. You also should make a list of skills that you are hunting for to ensure that your final selected candidates have specific skills for the job. Make sure not to miss out on any other candidate selection criteria while researching for the position.
Know about the Workplace Environment
As a hiring manager, you must understand your own organization’s work environment. If you and the new hire will be in a different department, be sure to learn about the workplace environment that the new hire will be located. Not only that, but you also need to be thoroughly familiar with all the implications of working in your organization or company, including different incentives, rules, and policies. Your in-depth understanding of the workplace will allow the candidates to ask you any questions regarding the policies, etc. and you should be able to answer them during the interviews.
Know the Organization’s Goals
It is important to familiarize yourself with your organization or company’s overall goals and objectives before interviewing candidates. You must understand what your organization is looking for candidates regarding abilities, technical skills, and the work experience required for the job position. Moreover, you need to evaluate how each job candidate can fit into the team, work culture, and the overall organization’s goals.
Research about the Candidates
Upon reviewing the resumes received, you should look closely at each candidate's work history and how long this candidate holds each job. You also can check each candidate's digital footprint and see what kind of work they do. Having a pre-hand knowledge about the candidates may help you to interview them better as you will already be acquainted with each candidate’s background and history.
Prepare your Interview Questions
Brainstorming all possible questions that you are going to ask will help significantly to ensure that you will hit all the target skills that you are looking for in candidates. Be sure to narrow them down to fewer questions, so the candidates would not become inundated with too many questions. Make sure that your interview questions are specific and precise. Most importantly, do not ask any misleading or illegal questions. If you, as a hiring manager, are unsure about your interview questions, you should consult with your Human Resources Department. Finally, you must avoid asking hypothetical questions as responses are rarely accurate in real-life situations. Instead, ask the candidate questions related to their past performance and work experience which are the best indicators of the hiring decision.
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