What are the characteristics of a good interviewer?
Someone who is well prepared and objective. They should be an excellent listener, have the ability to think on their feet, be able to ask probing questions, and build a rapport quickly with a candidate.
Remember, an interview is a two-way process and a candidate will also be assessing your company and whether they want to work for you on the basis of their interaction with you.
What key questions should recruiters always ask?
There are no set-in-stone key quest-ions – they should change depending on the role and organisation.
What’s your view of killer questions – are they necessary?
Killer questions must only be used to sift out candidates on fundamentally important information.
If used correctly at the application form or preliminary telephone interview stage, killer questions can reduce time and cost for recruiters and ensure candidates know about the requirements for a role so they can self-select out if they choose to do so.
What is likely to be the most challenging aspect of getting the selection process right?
The key challenge is to avoid subjectivity in interviewing and move towards a more objective and consistent process to select people.
Subjectivity in interviewing can lead to poor decisions, which in turn results in poor performance, extra cost and management time.
Has the way in which candidates and interviewers interact changed in recent years?
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More organisations now use competencies, and the competency-based interview has become the norm in many companies. This has led to more formal and structured interviews.
Ameet Thakkar is senior consultant psychologist at Capita Resourcing, a provider of assessment, recruitment and managed services
