Have you ever wondered why interviews have become the mainstay of any recruiting process, even sometimes making up the whole process? The answer is simple, really. Interviews have proven to be effective in helping employers understand the kind of candidate they could be bringing in to join their organization.
However, there is one crucial point you must know. An interview is only as good as the interviewers who oversee the process. Interviews have evolved beyond merely sitting in front of candidates and asking them few technical questions.
The qualities of a good interviewer must come to the fore to ensure that only the right candidates are hired. After all, every organisation, yours included, wants to be able to attract the best talents that will effectively contribute to its short-term and long-term growth.
With that said, let us examine what the qualities or characteristics of a good interviewer are and how they influence talent acquisition.
What are the Qualities of a Good Interviewer?
1. Understanding the Competencies Required for the Job
A good interviewer knows what it takes to succeed in a role, as well as the specific traits and attributes an organization is looking for in a potential recruit. The interviewer knows the key competencies required, and as such, will only look out for the candidates that match these requirements when conducting the interview.
These competencies are usually contained in a success profile. A success profile is a template that interviewers create, and it contains the major requirements needed by an employee to be competent and successful in a specific job role.
Therefore, by building a success profile, it will make it easier for your interviewers to assess the candidates and choose the right ones for your organization.
2. Asking the Right Questions
One of the things that separate a good interviewer from an average one is the ability to ask the right questions. This involves carrying out research and developing questions that will not only test whether the candidate is professionally qualified for the role, but also whether he or she can easily adapt to the role as well as the culture of the organization.
By asking the right questions, your interviewer will not be left in doubt about any issue concerning the competence of the candidate.
3. Listening for Evidence
Another characteristic of a good interviewer is that they must first be a good listener. This way, the interviewer will be able to get the necessary answers to the questions asked. The interviewer will also be able to decipher if the candidates can adequately back up the qualities they claim to have on their CV. By listening attentively, they also get to discover more information that could have been missed during the conversation.
4. Going Beyond the Surface
As with anything that requires strategic planning or thinking, a good interviewer can dig deeper and bring out facts that are not easily noticeable.
When interviewing candidates, you must be able to make the necessary enquiries without making it feel like it is judgment day for the candidates. You must also understand the candidates, including their qualities, preferences, and habits, having previously studied their CVs, cover letters, and other relevant application forms. This will help you to accurately assess the qualities of the candidates.
5. Being Conversational
A good interviewer does not conduct an interview in a rigid or programmed manner. The interviewer allows the atmosphere to be as comfortable as possible for the candidates.
If you are interviewing a candidate, you can achieve this by being as conversational as possible without losing track of the main goal of the interview, which is to be able to get all the relevant information about the candidate that will help you make an informed decision on whether to hire the candidate or not.
Listen to the candidate’s responses and even ask further questions based on them. Also, often allow candidates to ask questions of their own as it will help you further assess how intelligent or curious the candidate is.
6. Being a Good Communicator
According to a research by Albert Merahbian, communication is 7% verbal, 38% tone of voice and 55% body language. This means that studying the way a candidate communicates goes way beyond just what he says. A good interviewer is able to judge based on other things such as the candidate’s reactions, facial expressions, and overall body language.
As an interviewer, It helps to better inform you of the level of interest of the candidate in the job, his/her confidence level and whether he/she has a good command of the English Language, especially in an atmosphere like that.
Also, with interview sessions now going virtual, studying a candidate’s body language is not as easy as during a physical interview. However, a good interviewer is still able to assess the candidate through his/her tone of voice, and sometimes, the facial expressions.
7. Assessing Candidate’s Character and Motivation
Beyond knowing whether a candidate can carry out a proper research, draft engaging emails, draw out an effective marketing strategy or close a deal, it is also important to understand what drives such a candidate. It also includes the things that get the candidate to work extra hard and think better, as well as things that keep him/her up at night.
Also, a good interviewer can also adequately assess a candidate’s principles and motivations and whether they are just what the organization is looking for. This way, not only the qualified talents will be recruited, but also the ones who can easily imbibe and adapt to the organization’s culture.
8. Being Able to Quantify Evidence of Competence of a Candidate
One of the qualities of a skilled interviewer is their ability to attribute performance ratings to candidates based on how they performed during the interview. This way, the candidates can be ranked from top to bottom and the best performing talents get to move on to the next stage of the recruitment process.
The inability to quantify the competence of candidates makes it difficult for decision-makers to select the most qualified candidates. This could either lead to wrong selection or selection based on personal sentiments.
9. Being Able to Write Summary and Recommendations
At the end of the recruitment exercise, a great interviewer drafts a summary of the whole interview process and provides recommendations based on his experience with the candidates. This especially comes in handy when the organization is spoilt for choice and is undecided on who to choose between two or more quality candidates.
When an Interviewer is ineffective…
On the other side, when an interviewer is ineffective, it can lead to:
- Recommending the wrong candidate: When an interviewer is ineffective, it will affect the organization negatively as he/she will be unable to appropriately recommend the right talent for the role. This is because he/she cannot fully tell what a role is about, nor do they understand the candidate’s perspective and cannot tell whether they are fit for the position.
- Biases towards some candidates: An ineffective interviewer is unable to eliminate biases or sentiments when interviewing candidates. This will lead to hiring candidates based on mere preference and not on qualifications.
- Negatively Affecting Brand Growth: It is well noted that the most essential element of growth in any organization are the people in that organization. An ineffective interviewer will recommend candidates that are not the right fit. This will affect the output of the organization. The organization’s ability to attract talents will also be questionable.
Conclusion
Interviews, when conducted properly, have proven to be one of the most important aspects of a recruitment process. That is why when your organization is recruiting for new talent, they need to be thorough and ensure they have the best hands taking charge of the recruitment process. Using professionals who have the right interviewer characteristics is therefore very important.
