Effective Interviewing

 

Effective Interviewing

For most people, conducting an interview is almost as nerve racking as having one!  We all automatically assume that because we are a Manager, we must be good at Interviews.  Not so.  However, not many senior people will admit to being a poor interviewer, just like we don’t admit to being poor drivers.

As an interviewer, whether it is for recruitment, career counselling or appraisals etc., you want to get as much information as you possibly can.  The best way to do that is to make sure that your candidate is relaxed.  And the best way to achieve this is to be relaxed and friendly towards your interviewee.

As always, preparation is the key to success.  Know what you want to achieve and then make a note of the questions in advance that will help to tease out the information you need.

Establish the climate

In order for the interview process to be effective it is essential to create a positive climate where the interviewee feels relaxed and able to concentrate on the process.  This is partly done by the first three actions; those of establishing identities, purpose and structure.  To a large extent these will already have established a positive climate and this can be reinforced by the way that these are described.

There are a number of other important ways to help create an appropriate climate.

  • Attitude -  Respect Courtesy, Interest, Warmth, Sincerity, Attention
  • Language - Thanks, Explanations, Recognition of common-ground (e.g. parking, travel)
  • Non-verbal signals - Eye contact, Smiles (if appropriate), Open gestures.

Avoid sitting across a desk and allowing the desk to become a barrier.

Effective Questioning Techniques

It goes without saying that your best tools are active listening and asking the right questions.

There are a range of different kinds of questions, each of which has advantages and disadvantages.  The problem is to know when to use a particular kind of question and to use a question sequence that will provide you with evidence you can assess.  

Open Questions

Open questions are questions that encourage the interviewee to expand on a topic rather than directing them towards a specific response.  For example:

“Tell me about a major strategy that you have either led or have been actively involved in during the last year?”

A potential drawback to asking an open question is allowing a particularly talkative interviewee to ramble on, which is where the active listening comes in.  Make sure that the candidate is on track and if not, be prepared to step in and say something like, ‘that’s interesting but can we focus on …..’.

Closed Questions

Closed questions require a specific answer.  They narrow the range of possible answers and focus on a specific point.  They are particularly useful to confirm the outcome of a topic before moving to the next.

Examples of Closed Questions:

  • What is the value of your current spend?
  • Do you have a second language?
  • How many strategic suppliers do you currently work with?

Ask too many and the conversation will become very stilted.  They will provide a yes or no type of response and will provide a platform for you to probe further.

Probe Questions

A Probe question is one that asks for more information or a more complete explanation of what has just been said.

Types of Probe questions:

  • Who? Who did you have to sell your strategy to?  Who else was involved in the cross functional team?  Who was your main internal stakeholder? Who, if anyone didn’t buy into your strategy?
  • What? What were your principal objectives?  What analysis had you done of your portfolio?  What barriers did you have to overcome?  What were the key deliverables?  What have you achieved?
  • Where?  Where did the problem occur
  • When?  When did the problem occur?
  • Why?  Why did the problem occur?
  • How?  How did the incident happen?  How has your stakeholder responded?   How have your suppliers responded?

Questions to Avoid

  • Leading
  • Hypothetical
  • Multiple
  • Ambiguous
  • Jargon loaded questions

Leading

Avoid leading your interviewee to accept your point by turning a statement into a question.

Hypothetical

Unless you want to test out a thought process, avoid using the ‘Would’ word.  It will often provide very little useful information.  ‘What would you do if ….?.  Most people will tell you what you want to hear but in reality may do something quite different.  It is always better to ask ‘What have you done?’

Multiple Questions

You will confuse the interviewee and he or she will answer the easier question and generally ignore the one that you really wanted information about.

Ambiguous

Again designed to confuse.  Be clear and specific, otherwise the evidence you get back will not be.

Jargon Loaded Questions

You know what you mean.  Often your interviewee will not.

GATHERING AND EVALUATING EVIDENCE

Gathering evidence

Write brief notes during the interview.  This is an art in itself and you must find the right balance.  What you don’t want is to ask a question and then find that the interviewee spends time speaking to the top of your head.  It’s important to try and maintain a good degree of eye contact, as previously indicated.  However, it’s also important not to rely on memory.

Evaluation of evidence

Evaluate all the evidence against the identified criterion.  Decide which side of 'adequate or inadequate' the candidate falls and compare candidates if appropriate.  For example, if you want someone who is persuasive, you should ask a series of questions of him or her around this particular criterion and you should only stop the questioning sequence once you are satisfied with the evidence you have gathered.  Remember what you are questioning for is evidence of past behaviour.  Interviewers should avoid reading more into the evidence than it can tell them.