How to Interview Candidates

If you want to hire the perfect person for a position, you need to have a really good description of the position. Don't get caught up with lots of bullet points, like "Office Experience," and "Computer Skills."

A good description shouldn't over-describe. It should focus on what is absolutely necessary for someone to be successful in the position, and describe what success looks like over specific periods of time — typically 30, 90, 180 days, and 1 year.

For example, if you've determined that customer service skills are essential, you'll want to create questions related directly to that. How do they define customer service? What is the best customer service experience they've ever had? Review all your essentials in the description and build questions directly related to them.

You might think you can remember all of your interview questions, but the reality is that the greatest weakness of most interviewers is exposed when they try flying blind. Write down your questions, and be sure to give yourself enough blank space to jot down notes.

Doing this in advance and using the same set of questions for each candidate will make the interview process flow much more smoothly. As an added bonus, sticking to the same basic documented script will also help you avoid any potential problems with job seekers who try to claim that they were discriminated against.

This is especially important if you're interviewing a number of candidates. It can be easy for them to become sort of a blur after you've done too many. Keep notes on each one, then type them up after the interview, and you'll not only have a reference that helps you keep candidates straight, but you'll be more likely to remember the details about them unaided. Doing this will also make the next step easier.

Unfortunately, people often exaggerate or invent details to try to impress an interviewer. How can you cut through to the truth? By asking specific questions and following up. How many people did they oversee in their management position? What were their sales numbers last year?

Get numbers, dates, and other concrete details, then ask about them again later in the interview, or in subsequent interviews. People will almost never remember numbers they invented off the top of their head.

The easiest way to do this is to directly ask what they're currently making, and what their expected salary is. If what you can offer is below what they currently make, or well below what they're expecting, this probably isn't a match.

People almost never want to go down in salary from one job to another. And, if they agree to a salary that's well below their expectations, they'll probably start looking for their next job the day after they start.

Short-term roles, especially more than one of them, can be a sign of problems. Ask questions about why they left. This can tell you a couple of things. If they start complaining about colleagues and bosses, it's a red flag that they might be hard to get along with.

Also, if they talk about issues they had that will be the same with the position you're offering, you know it's probably not a good fit. For example, if they left because they had to work weekends, and you'll need them to work weekends.

When the candidate is nervous, as is usually the case, and you're feeling relaxed, it can be easy to take over the conversation and do too much of the talking. Remember, you're interviewing them.

You should do some talking, and answer questions about the business, but listen carefully, pay attention to what they're saying, and keep the interview focused on the candidate. Taking notes will actually help with paying attention quite a bit.