How Recruiters Can Improve Their Candidate Interviewing

One of the essential tasks of working as a recruiter or an HR executive is conducting interviews for vacancies. While employees may come and go the process of interviewing candidates never comes to a halt. Different recruiters have their methods of conducting interviews with potential candidates, but a systematic approach to recruiting a candidate is missing these days.

After a while, taking interviews become dull for recruiters as they seem to think they have mastered the art. However, this task isn't only about asking questions. Instead, it is more about choosing the best candidate who is appropriate for the job role. An interview is not just an exchange of information but building a strong understanding with the candidate to get to know more about them. It’s a two-way process.

It is also recommended that a recruiter should be familiar with the organisation's working as he is representing the company in front of an applicant. So, when an applicant cross-questions him, he should be able to clear any doubts.

Here are a few tips to help you improve your interviewing skills as a recruiter.

Try Interview Speed Dating with an Employee

Nowadays, many companies prefer to get to know their candidates by conducting a speed interview involving their employees, that lasts for about 10-15 minutes. The candidate spends a few minutes with each employee who have different questions and can rate the candidate. This way, an employer meets around 15 candidates in a day and get use their own employees as a useful resource and indicator of whether the candidate will fit in with the team. The importance of this process is to help the employer filter his search for the perfect candidate, they may be qualified but especially in a small team if they don’t fit in, it can be counterproductive for the rest of the group and the atmosphere within the company. UK based, veterinary recruitment company, Vet Finders, who recruit for smaller teams, in veterinary practices, know how useful this can be when recruiting small team vet jobs , even conducting online video interviews using the same concept but using breakout rooms.

Let's suppose an employer wants to hire a content writer for his firm. He posts a vacancy for the same on a job portal/social media platform. Based on the requirements, 4-5 candidates are called for the speed interview. Simultaneously all the candidates attend the speed interview, and the employees can share their experience later on. It can get to see if the candidate was consistent in what they said, how genuine or rehearsed answers where. The process also acts as a team building exercise for the team where there may be some room for reflection on how to be a more valuable employee.

An added benefit would be that the person who you eventually employ has a head start on getting to know the company and the team and can reduce the stress of that first day and general integration time.

Try Group Interviewing

Group interviewing is another prominent technique to help you find the most suitable candidate for your business. To carry this out, the interviewer needs to understand when this technique would be beneficial. When you have many candidates for the same post, you can use this way to select the best candidate for your company. In this process, the candidates sit in front of a recruiter, and the candidates are briefed about the round. The candidates start by introducing themselves and telling them why they are fit for the job.

Furthermore, the executive gives a topic for the group discussion , which puts the candidates' speaking skills and confidence to the test. The recruiter then ends the group discussion by asking some questions. So, if you are looking forward to building a team or hiring several candidates at one time, this is a great method to choose.

Focus on Company Values

While hiring the candidates, emphasis must be laid on company values. Hiring candidates with the same vision as you will only help your company more universally in the same direction, hopefully forward. These core values will also help your potential employees to work efficiently, have better problem-solving skills and autonomy in doing so.

If you have made the employees understand your organisation's values effectively, you will eliminate upcoming obstacles for your organisation, such as poor time keeping and motivation. This, in turn, will help the candidate understand what is expected of them and leads to better candidate retention.

Test the Skill

They say actions speak louder than words. It is easy for a candidate to speak about themselves for an hour or so, especially when they are comfortable conversers. But the real test for a candidate is when their skills are put to the test. You may have already shortlisted the candidates based on their skills experience, but this will help you rate their skills.

If you wish to hire an embedded software engineer, the candidate should be asked to give a quick demo. A small issue with a piece of embedded software and you can watch not just if the candidate can solve the issue but their process. An essential piece of information for those needing embedded software recruitment solutions but might not have to skills themselves to judge a CV. This can also be a talking point for the rest of the interview and test how exaggerated, or not, their CV is. It will give you a flavour for how to judge the rest of what the candidate has said about themselves.

Speak to Candidate Reference before the Second Interview

A reference check should be the last spot before coming to a decision. These checks are taken lightly nowadays and are usually not included as a part of the hiring process. While some claim that a reference check can sometimes be biased, one must not forget that it is an essential aspect for many reasons.

Firstly, it helps you verify the person's experience as sometimes the information on the CV is inaccurate. Secondly, it helps you determine how well the person performs the job role. Lastly, it helps you determine if the person is interpersonally, you wonder if House MD would ever have been hired had they followed up on his references. If you do this in between the first and second interview you can talk to the candidate with the context of what they’re previous employment has actually said.

To sum up, we can say that hiring the most proficient candidates can be an asset for your organisation. An employee can make your business prosperous or even bring it to a standstill. While we can say choosing the right candidate is a daunting task, utilising the methods as mentioned above will help you simplify it. Additionally, look for good team players as they will help run your business process smoothly.