Recently we hired two people and already I am looking for another person to hire. Because I have only limited experience in handling employees and hiring people (I only employed 1 person before), I decided to see if there were people who could help me.
So I contacted my coach and I asked around in my network for people with extensive knowledge on job interviews. A high ranking bank executive of a big international bank who is a friend of our family wanted to help me out. He has about 30 years of experience with hiring people, so this was a great opportunity.
Whether you are an employee or a business owner who has never had a job in his life, at some point you will be faced with a job interview. You are either holding the interview or you are there applying for a job. Either way, these tips will help you a lot!
Tip 1: Be prepared!
This is probably an open door if you are applying for a job, but it pays to be prepared. Visit the company website and look up information on the person you are being interviewed by. Try to avoid asking questions to which the answer is easily found online or that you should have just known.
When you are holding the interview you want to read the resume and mark things that need further investigation. If you are doing the interview with someone else, make sure you both know your role and who is leading the interview.
Tip 2: Find out something interesting.
When you are applying for a job, try to find out something about the company in the news. This is an easy opener for the conversation and can help get the job interviewer in a talkative mood.
If you’re the job interviewer, you might want to see whether there is something in the resume of the applicant that he or she would be interested in to talk about. Start with this to get them into a more relaxed mood.
Tip 3: The 2 most important questions!
After the preparation is done, there are 2 questions that you must be able to answer in any job interview (and you must ask these or find them out if you are the interviewer!):
- Why do you want this job / what is your motivation?
- Why do you want to work for our company?
I cannot stress this enough: if either of these questions are answered with a negative answer, your job interview is over. If you are holding the interview, make sure you get a clear answer to these questions!
Tip 4: Always ‘pair up’.
If you are holding a job interview and are in the lucky position like I am that you have a human resource (HR) manager, have them sit in on the job interview. They are accustomed to asking the right sort of questions.
As an applicant you can use this to your advantage. Try to direct questions towards the hiring interviewer, not the HR interviewer. The hiring interviewer is usually more into talking about the company, whereas the HR interviewer just wants to ask you the nasty questions you’d rather avoid.
Tip 5: Never ‘partner up’!
If, like me, you have a business partner, this is perhaps the most valuable tip I have got. Never hold a job interview together. I cannot stress this enough. NEVER hold it together.
The reason is that when you do, you will have the same feeling because you have the same conversation. If however you both have an interview together with an HR interviewer, then you can independently assess whether you think the applicant ‘has what it takes’.
This is a VERY powerful tool that is almost too easy to use…
Tip 6: Let the HR interviewer ask the nasty questions…
Let the other person, who is more accustomed to do so anyway, ask the nasty questions. What are nasty questions? Nasty questions are those that question the answer to a previous question in a polite manner. For example:
Q: What is your experience in software engineering exactly?
A: Well, I have designed a sales system, CRM system and an Internet application.
Q: Can you give an example of a problem you ran into when designing the CRM system?
As an applicant you should be aware of these sorts of questions. The best way to avoid them is to ask a counter-question and direct it at the hiring interviewer! An example would be:
A: We ran into many problems, some big, most small. All the problems were eventually solved and the customer was very happy with the design. Is there a specific area of the design you want to know more about?
This diverts the question from the ‘problem area’ and gets it into the more descriptive and technical details.
Tip 7: Ask for experience!
Never ask questions along the lines of ‘what would you do if’. Always ask for experience. This keeps the applicant from thinking up an answer.
Tip 8: Ask for a salary indication
When you have a job opening and you don’t give out a salary indication, it is always good to ask the applicant for one. What they earn now, at their current job. If the applicant is interesting you can ask them to prove their claim in a later interview by bringing a salary slip.
If you are applying for a job without a salary indication, ask for one. Also ask what the secondary benefits are like a phone, lease car and number of vacation days, etc etc.
Tip 9: When in doubt… don’t do it!
Simple. If there is even a shred of doubt, don’t hire the person (or don’t go work for this company). Simple isn’t it? But very hard in practice, trust me!
Tip 10: The last question…
Whether you are the applicant or the interviewer, there is one question which is a great closing question:
Q: Do you need anything more from me at this time?
This ensures that you have talked about everything the other party has wanted to talk about.
March 18th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
This is a great site post, im thankful I ran across it. Ill be back again down the track to check out other posts that you have on your blog.