The importance of a strong Face to Face interview
With the current state of the market in the UK, an interview is as much about securing the candidate as it is the candidate securing the role. The entire hiring process will go a long way between deciding if the candidate comes on board or not – nothing more so than the face to face interview itself. I would love to do away with the word interview (but I neither have an alternative nor vocabulary to come up with a better name) as for me it sounds rather impersonal – and a conversation between two people really should be personal if they have reached the final face to face interview.
By this stage you will have vetted CVs and had either a telephone interview yourself or received an interview kit from a recruiter telling you about the candidate – so you should have a basic understanding if they can do the job or not at this stage. The next steps here are finding out if they are the right person for the job – and by this I don’t necessarily mean the most qualified or most experienced. When It comes to hiring the right person there is so much more to consider. Ability Is a huge factor yes but there is also cultural fit, long term plans and eagerness to join and be part of your team to consider.
So what are the things to consider at this stage of the process? I think what you are looking for are 3 key areas. Their ability to do the role, how well they fit the culture of the team/business and can you see them having a mid to long term future with the company. To do this you need to employ a number of different techniques that allow your candidate to showcase ability whilst still being able to put a personal spin on proceedings. My advice for this is the following:
- Start with 4-5 questions ready that are more traditional interview questions. If you are hiring a Nursery Manager ask them about the size of their nursery and teams or specific scenarios they may have had to deal with. You’ll know from the level of detail they answer these questions with if they are able to do the job to the level you need. If they give concise answers, telling you about their achievements and fills you with confidence – you should be able to rest easy. I would limit this to 4-5 questions (you can have follow up questions throughout) so that it doesn’t become too boring of a process or feel like you’re trying to catch out the candidate – remember in a candidate driven market it’s as much about the experience for them as it is for you.
- Next at this stage, I always like to see a presentation. The reasons behind it are threefold 1. The amount of effort someone puts in is usually a good indicator of how much they want the job (or if they’ve done the presentation at all!) 2. Another indication of their ability to do the job 3. It gives opportunity to let them showcase some personality. How they present is a direct reflection of them as a person, have they made it fun? Do they make it very serious and to the point? This is a great way to get a feel if they are a cultural fit for you. We recommend giving everyone the same task (you don’t want to compare apples to oranges) but leave it quite ambiguous for example ‘mystery shop, present the weaknesses in the process and how you would look to improve the process’. With questions like this you’ll see if the candidate is people or process orientated and the level of detail they can go into. Also if they can use powerpoint.
- Finally I always look to come away knowing something about the candidate on a personal level and why they go to work. You are potentially going to be working very closely with this person for hopefully a number of years so it’s in every bodies best interests to make sure there is some common ground. Without going too David Brent interviewing Karen Roper (niche reference there) you want to ask questions and let them talk about themselves, you’ll find out how willing they are to open up, if you have things in common and your compatibility. Make it a two way conversation and be willing to open up too. This also gives the candidate a chance to relax and not come away from the interview felling like they’ve had a grilling and leave an overall positive feeling from the process – they’re much more likely to accept a role with someone who they feel like they know and have shared interests, than another role where they’ve had to answer questions as a tick box exercise.
Nowadays more than ever, candidates have a larger number of opportunities available to them so you need to do what you can to convince them your organisation is the right place for them, without compromising anything you need to find out from them, whilst making sure everyone leaves happy. Walk in the park!
