There are some questions you aren't allowed to ask. These include inquiries about race, weight, religion, citizen status, marital status, children, gender, and disabilities. "If you don't ask all candidates, it's probably some sort of discrimination," Whitaker says. "And if it's not specific to the job, [in employment law what is known as] a bona fide occupational qualification or BFOQ, in other words if it's a question that has nothing to do with job requirements, most likely it's discriminatory."
Dig Deeper: Job Interviews, Microsoft Style
How to Conduct a Job Interview: Interview Structure
Experts suggest that, if possible, more than one person interview each candidate. Essentially, their reasoning is that two heads are better than one. "When you have multiple interviewers, you're looking for consistency of the answers, you're looking for trends," Whitaker says. "If different people ask about the same skills, then they can compare."
Each interview should go something like this:
Part one: Introduction
Set the candidate at ease with a couple minutes of small talk. Ask about the weather or traffic (but avoid questions about children or anything else that could be considered discriminatory). Ask some general or factual questions. Explain how the interview process is going to work.
Part two: Behavioral Questions
Most of the interview should be spent asking specific behavioral questions based on the criteria you have outlined.
Part three: Wrap-up
Give the candidate the opportunity to ask you questions. Describe what the next steps are in the process and when you plan to follow-up. Thank the candidate for coming in, and walk them to either the lobby or the next interviewer.
Consider adding a test
"You can improve your batting average in selection if you use the interview and supplement it with other selection methods," Turner says. Depending on the job, supplemental methods could include a personality inventory, an aptitude test, a writing test, or having the candidate give you a presentation.
Dig Deeper: The New Science of Hiring
How to Conduct a Job Interview: Have a Rating System
Inexperienced interviewers might be tempted to use the initial impressions that each interviewee gave them in order to compare candidates against each other. This is dangerous for several reasons. One is what Sullivan refers to as "falling in like." You're looking for someone who can do the job the best, not your next best friend. Failing to rate each criteria for each candidate before comparing candidates can lead to selecting someone who is amiable, but not necessarily right for the job. There's also the risk of picking a candidate who isn't qualified simply because they are the most qualified of those candidates that you interviewed. Without evaluating each skill against a standard, Turner says," you might find yourself being pressured in your mind to pick the best of a bad lot instead of running the whole thing over again."
An effective evaluation rates each candidate in each success factor and compares him or her against a set criteria. For example, you might say that you want a candidate who can type at least 50 words per minute. Other skills might appear harder to quantify, but Whitaker says that it's just a matter of thinking about them differently. For a leadership criterion, for instance, you might set a standard of having managed a certain number of people or a project of a certain complexity.
Don't compare candidates against each other until you have compared them against this standard. After this is done, all the interviewers can come together to compare notes and discuss selection.
Dig Deeper: How to Improve Your Hiring Practices
How to Conduct a Job Interview: Tips for Success
• Do your homework. Study the candidate's resume before the interview. Sullivan also sometimes Googles names and checks LinkedIn profiles for more information.
• Be nice. Use nonverbal gestures like smiling, leaning forward, and nodding your head to make the candidate feel comfortable. "The more comfortable they are, the more rapport that you can build that is positive between the interviewer and interviewee, and the more information you will get from the interviewee," Turner says. And information is kind of the stock and trade of the selection process that makes decision-making easier.
• Take notes. After several interviews, it's easy to get candidates' experiences mixed up. Make sure you write them down.
• Use the whole interview to evaluate each criterion. Just because you asked a question that is intended to evaluate one factor, doesn't mean that the answer to that question can't be used to evaluate other factors on your list.
• Don't talk too much. "You can guide them to specific information you are looking for, but the candidates should do most of the talking," Whitaker says.
Resources
View sample behavioral interview questions, organized by skill.
The U.S. Equal Employement Opportunity Commission's list of prohibited employement practices.
Figure out the Cost of a Bad Hire with this calculator.
