Step 3 - The interviewing process

The CV’s have come flooding in and you now need to decide who to interview.  This may be an easy process, or, due to volume and quality of CV’s, might actually be quite difficult – if so then click here for our selection process guide. Once you have made a choice of who you are going to interview,  you will need to: 

• Let them know when and where it will take place
• How to get there, directions etc.
• Any documents or identification that they need to bring
• Who they should ask for on arrival
• The names and job titles of who will be interviewing them
• Any test or preparation they need to do
• You should also ask them if they have any special needs that need catering for
   

It is important to prepare for the interview – this will make it easier for both you and the candidate, and a much better use of time.  Prepare questions that you will ask everyone as well as specific questions for each interviewee – these may be about information on their CV that you need to query - gaps in employment, things that don’t add up for example.  If two or more people are interviewing then decide who deals with what.  There are many standard questions that you will need to ask such as why are they looking for a new role, where do their strengths lie, what motivates them?  You may also want to take a competency based approach in the interview where the aim essentially is to find out about past work experiences in order to see better how they might perform in the future.  The following link will give you more information on the topic – competency based interviewing  - and this link will give you more ideas of interview questions
 

Prepare the interview room, allow time, provide drinks and come to each interview with an open mind.
 

At the interview itself your aim is to get quality information from the candidate so that you can assess them fairly and fully against your needs, and also the other applicants of course. So:

• Welcome them, try to put them at ease, offer them a drink
• Introduce yourself and anyone else present
• Explain the structure of the interview
• Outline the company, the role and where it fits into the structure
• Encourage the candidate to talk about themselves, their skills and experience
• Keep control, if it’s going off course then get it back and stay focused
• Ask open questions and allow them time to think and answer
• At the end, ask them if they have any questions or concerns, then deal with these if possible at the interview
• Inform them of any next stage and thank them for their time

Interviews are no longer a one-way street where the candidate is expected to sell themselves to you - nowadays it is as much about you selling them the role and the company.
 

You should keep records of the interview and what was said.  If you are doing a few then you might think you can remember everything but quite often facts and answers can get muddled!  You also need to make sure that the candidate can have no recourse for complaint through an employment tribunal.  For more guidelines about the legal side of things please go to UK Government discrimination guidelines for the latest legislation.