5 tips for conducting a successful job interview

Conducting a recruitment interview, whatever your position Manager of a company, Recruitment Manager within the Human Resources Department of a large company or Sales Director in an SME, requires extreme attention to the risk of falling in many pitfalls and to make errors, among the most classic:

• Hiring an inefficient employee who will unbalance your organization, or who will not commit over time.

• Don’t hire a successful person.

Passing an interview is a test for a candidate who discovers a new environment. In this context, his defenses translate into stress, reservations, even aggressiveness.

Here we recommend 5 attitudes to adopt. We were able to note them when accompanying our clients in recruitment interviews.

• Don’t wait for your visitor behind your desk! Do not hesitate to receive your candidate by picking him up yourself in the reception room, you will thus receive revealing information about him. Is his position standing, sitting, slouching? Is his occupation of the space in conversation or relaxation mode?

• Do not neglect the material conditions! Being in an armchair that marks your hierarchical rank is not suitable; nothing is more telling than seat parity. This symbolism is essential in order to adopt a win/win situation. A meeting table dedicated to the process is without hesitation welcome

• Do not give way to monotony and a monotonous tone! Your liveliness allows you to create the conditions for natural sincerity and spontaneity. It is important to express yourself with a catchy tone, to put humor.

• Favor exchanges allowing the candidate to justify these remarks! Facts, job descriptions and figures are the right elements to address because they alone can reliably validate the skills and behaviors of the candidate.

• While a candidate uses the imperfect to describe their successes, your position as an evaluator should be to bring it back to the present tense. For example, when a candidate says, “My team was having trouble overcoming social conflict,” don’t ask, “What did you do?” but rather “what are you doing in this context?”

• When a candidate expresses himself in the present tense, his delivery speeds up, he places dynamic intonations in his speech and leaves room for “himself”, action and life.