Finding top talent can be tough these days. You’re competing with other companies to get the best people to fill very similar roles. A smaller company may find it difficult to compete. Even large companies are finding it more difficult to hire and retain the best people.
One of the biggest problems is cultural fit. The candidates might be experienced and talented, but they just may not see fit with your company culture and values.
Use these five job interview tips to hire more effectively.
1. Pre-screen
Before you invite candidates for interviews, pre-screen them. Pre-screening can take several different forms. You may search their applications for particular keywords or phrases. You could conduct telephone interviews before inviting them in for the in-person interviews.
For some positions, especially those with a particular skill requirement, you might administer a test before you select candidates for interview. Their performance on the test can narrow the pool of candidates.
If you don’t have time to engage in such rigorous pre-screening activities, consider working with a staffing agency for your needs.
2. Talk about Yourself
When you go into a job interview, be prepared to talk a bit about yourself as well as the company. Candidates should be encouraged to ask you questions about your role in the business.
It’s actually one of the more useful job interview tips.
Talking about your own role can give you a clearer sense of the company and even the kind of person you’re looking for. It also gives the candidate a sense of what kind of people work for your company and your corporate culture.
Be sure to keep this brief. A short bio about your job and history with the company will do.
3. Think about Soft Skills
Many hiring managers emphasize the hard skills required. This isn’t necessarily wrong. After all, you don’t want to hire a financial analyst to code your new website.
Nonetheless, you should also be on the lookout for soft skills during the interview. How do the candidates handle high-stress situations? Are they team players? Soft skills are incredibly important for virtually every role you’ll hire for. More often than not, they predict how well someone will perform.
4. Think about Corporate Culture
Although this is relatively common among job interview tips, it regularly makes the list because it’s so important. You need to think about corporate culture.
Why? Much like soft skills predict how someone performs within a role, fit with your corporate culture determines how someone will perform in your organization. You could hire the best and brightest job candidates in the field, but if their ethics and values don’t align with those of your company, they may not be happy in the role or stay with your company for the long term.
Before the interview, think about your corporate culture. This can include codes of ethics or values. It also includes the implicit, unstated values your corporate actions embody. Be prepared to talk about this culture during the interview. Gauge how the candidates react and evaluate how their own expressed values reflect your company’s.
5. Ask the Hard Questions
You may have a list of pre-determined questions to ask during an interview. However, you should go beyond the basic questions to learn more about candidates. Ask open-ended or odd questions to evaluate job seekers on critical and creative thinking. It’s one of the best job interview tips. Getting away from “the usual” job interview questions often means more candid, honest answers.
You should also ask the “hard” questions, including those related to the candidates’ past jobs. Why did they leave? Did they feel they were compensated fairly? What do they expect from this job?
Using these job interview tips, you should be able to hire top talent for your company.
