It naturally starts with knowing what competencies you are looking for. Although it may be tempting to copy-paste the job description from last time, it is rarely a good idea. One of the challenges in recruitment is that as a manager, you must be able to analyze what competencies the company will need in the future. Once the job description is in place and candidates start applying, the next step is figuring out what the candidates can actually do.
Don’t fall in love
Many bosses are not particularly experienced in the discipline of hiring. Therefore, it might be a good idea to seek help from HR or an external recruitment partner. Prepare a structured questionnaire in advance so that all candidates are asked the same questions. Otherwise, it’s impossible to compare them afterwards.
The difficulty in an interview is to remain objective and view the candidate with neutral eyes. In reality, you should approach the task like a bit of a detective, investigating what the candidate can do, and not let first impressions influence you. It’s important to give the candidate a chance. It’s also not a good idea to get excited because the candidate also plays golf like yourself or otherwise be charmed by the candidate. The task is to stay objective and delve into the candidate’s knowledge and experience and relate this knowledge to the specific position.
Professional and personal competencies
The classic questions are to ask what the candidate can do professionally and what kind of person and colleague they are. Much of this is already apparent from the candidate’s CV, so questions should instead focus on examples where the candidate has the opportunity to showcase their skills. However, it’s important not to start asking the candidate how they would solve various tasks in the new job, which they have no way of knowing anything about at the time of the interview. In other words: don’t set traps, but try to get the candidate to reflect on different situations.
It may also be a good idea to ask about the development opportunities the candidate sees for themselves in the job. This is a better question than “why do you want this job?” To this question, the candidate can only answer something along the lines of: because I find it very exciting or similar. It’s also important for the leader to share how they are as a leader and to inquire about what makes a good leader for the candidate. This way, you can see if you share the same values and generally would be a good match for each other.
The future
In the interview process, the company should be mindful that they are hiring for the future. Therefore, it’s necessary to uncover the candidate’s development potential. This could be done by giving the candidate a case to answer or by asking for the candidate’s input on some situations that the company knows it will face in the future. And finally, the company must remember that it’s a sales situation, where both parties should like the product they see.
