If you conduct job interviews can you give me tips on interviewing people.

[ItchyScratch]

I am going to be responsible for taking on a new accountant at the accountancy practice I work at (I am a team leader not a manager but the manager is trusting me to do it)

I have narrowed down 6 interviewees from their CVs

I have interviewed people before but its always been with someone higher than me and it’s now been 2 years since I did them.

Please can you give me your best questions to ask at an interview. And maybe even which not to ask.
Just so I can get the best out of the time I have with each applicant so I can decide who should be offered the job.

Thank you!

Ask a nice generic opening question and mostly ignore the answer...not completely but just give a nice starter to settle the nerves and let everyone get into a rhythm of it, people often get much better as the interview goes on and everyone has calmed a little

What’s in the job spec? Design questions based on that so you can see if they are a good fit. No point asking random things that won’t give you info you’re looking for.

Ask open ended questions to which the interviewee cannot just reply yes or no. Good eye contact but don't stare.

Try to get a bit of personality out of them. I had two interviews last week that I got offers from and I had made them laugh a bit (not too much).

It's a log time ago, but this is my recollection:

Do not ask

• do you have children
• do you have caring responsibilities
• are you planning on getting pregnant

Think carefully what skills / attributes / experience you want and ask questions to check them.
Try to give neutral responses to their answers, not 'good' as it might build a false sense of expectation they will be offered the job.
Take notes so you have a clear record of how you made your choice in case anyone complains.

Thank you for these tips

Also don't fall into the trap of thinking 5 years' experience is better than 2.

If people don't learn from their experience (eg by active reflection) they can effectively have the same 1 year's experience 5 times rather than 5 years of building experience. (I used to be responsible for improving ways of working in a s/w organisation).

So think what you might expect to see from that 5 years or whatever and ask questions to ascertain they are really there.

If they are supposed to have experience in doing "X", ask "When did you last do "X"? Tell me how you set about organising it. Did "Y" happen? how did you deal with it?

There are people who think they are capable of doing "X" when they have read a book about it, heard about it, or been on a course, but never actually done it.

I would also try and work into the interview a ‘not an interview’ bit, if you can do a tour of the workplace or something where you are just chatting rather than sitting across from them asking questions.

Not to trip them up or anything but some people are nervous and then on a tour they’ll ask interesting questions or show you a bit of their personality.

My field is entirely different from yours but I find this invaluable as I need to know that they’re enthusiastic and love what they do.

Also I like to get someone else (preferably quite junior) to get them from reception and then ask that colleagues thoughts. It’s a ‘guard down’ moment that can say a whole lot.

Could you design a matrix and score the candidates on their responses to your questions. You’ll know what you want the answers to be. If you score out of five, for example, you total the numbers and the one with the highest gets the job.

Of course, that doesn’t allow for gut feeling etc, but you can show that it’s a fair process and you can show your manager or anyone else,how you arrived at a decision.

There will be skill based attributes necessary for the role and personality based attributes (reliable, able to work in a team, without much supervision, how to they respond when things go wrong?).

One of the key things I look for is whether the answer questions with “I” or “we”. We can indicate they were part of a group, so follow up by asking what their role was in it. It can indicate that they had a very minor role or they are completely underselling their involvement.

With a short list of 6, I’d phone screen first. Then interview. I also like to take candidates out for a coffee at some point. Team fit is really important and a more casual chat is a good way to gage this.

Start by putting then at ease and let them know the format and that you will be taking notes. Print a sheet with your questions and space for notes. Score the answers afterwards.

Tell us a summary about your career to date.

Why do you want to work for us.

Talk me through an example of xxx (whatever is fundamental to the job)

Tell me when you have applied your skiils in xxx.

What experience do you have of xxx.

You are looking for detail- situation, what they did, what the outcome was, and whether they can show they possess and can apply with effect specific skills of the job, analyse and solve problems etc., and what sort of qualities they have.

Ask them if they have questions at the end too.

It's always nice to end talking about the culture of the office, benefits you offer, as they are sussing out if its right for them too.

I would say, do your best to put them at their ease. Many interviewees will be nervous and no one benefits from that. Welcome them, smile and be friendly.

Remember that often, it's not the specific answers which matter, but the way that they interact with you and show qualities such as consideration, resourcefulness and flexibility. People can learn a lot on the job but you want someone you can enjoy working with day in day out.

If possible, take them for a tour round. It'll help them to get a feel for the place and gives you an opportunity to interview them without seeming to be interviewing them. Having a drink or meal together outside of the interview room is another good way of doing this.

I would give them a piece of relevant work to do. Lots of people claim to be PC literate, for example, but many aren't. You need to screen for anything you haven't got time to train them on. Depending on the work, you could give this to them before they come in (which you could then discuss) or you could get them to do it during the interview.

Definitely take up references - try to speak to previous employers as well as getting something in writing.

Have a good probationary period and use it. If someone is slacking (or whatever) early on, when they should be on their best behaviour, it probably won't get better.

Oo! I forgot to say, ask the receptionist (etc) how they came across to them.

If you're interviewing alone, can you involve others in different ways? I get a trusted colleague to do the office tour, and sometimes a second colleague to introduce the test / assessment. Then I get their views too.

Depressingly, quite a number of "friendly, flexible team players" treat people quite rudely when they think they're very junior (we don't give the role titles). That quickly rules them out as a) it's poor judgment not to realise you're being assessed during ALL parts of an interview, and b) they're showing themselves up as potentially difficult to work with.

Definitely be friendly, open body language, smile. Ask a non-interview question or make a comment to start with - about their journey in, the weather, compliment their scarf, whatever. You’ll always get a better idea of people’s abilities if they can shake off the nerves. If you know from their CV you have something in common then mention it early on while settling in - same uni, same former employer, anything that helps relax them.

Have a list of central questions that you ask all of them - the really crucial stuff, like experience with specific programs, skills in key areas etc - that you can mark and rank. Make a list of more peripheral questions that will help you gauge their personality and competency. For each candidate, note down any queries you have about gaps in their experience or skills after reading their CVs.

Come up with a few “what would you do if...” scenarios to throw at them, relevant to the role.

If you are able to set up an informal test, do so - some people are excellent bullshitters but then useless, others perform poorly in interviews but will impress with their skills.

If you’ve selected them for interview it’s likely they have the skills and experience to fundamentally do the job. You need to work out, outside of this, what attributes are really important in a new hire - maybe you have a team with some tricky personalities and you need someone easy going, maybe you need someone who can work well with a specific team member so they need to complement their skills, maybe it’s someone who is used to working independently with little oversight and therefore has really good time management and self motivation skills... whatever it is, figure out what you need and the questions will become clear.

And don’t ask what their weakness is - it’s a stupid question that’s never answered honestly, gets a rehearsed response and is just pointless.

I second Sandandsea , our receptionist always had a major impact on my choice of staff, I never employed one she didn’t like! She’d let me know if they were nervous...., but if they had a bad attitude to her, they were toast.

Ask tell me about a time when...questions. Do listen for what they learned from these experiences and whether they have the skills and competence you need rather than just a list of their skills with no proof they can actually USE them off paper.

Does your employer not offer any interviewer training? Preparing for and attending an interview is time-consuming, stressful and expensive. Interviewees deserve to have their interview conducted in a professional manner by people who know what they're doing. A poor interview experience doesn't reflect well on an organisation.

One if my favourites is 'How would other people describe you?' I've had some great responses to this (and some terrible ones) but it usually relaxes them as its talking about themselves.

Think about the cure qualities you need from them and ask questions that test whether they have them.
Always ask what they perceive their own greatest weakness to be, and ask how they handled a work situation that went wrong/ a time when they made a mistake or messed up.
Always ask why they want the job. A good candidate will tell you what they can offer you. A weaker one will tell you what they want from you.

core not cure.

Concentrate on the skills that you want and get the interviewees to explain how they have them? Then matrix score the answers and see which is closest. Mix competence and 'how would you' questions.

Just be honest and sincere. Don’t ask trick questions. It sounds like you are taking the responsibility seriously, so I’m sure you’ll do fine. Good luck! I hope you find the right person.

Always ask what they perceive their own greatest weakness to be

This is such a 'everyone has a prepared answer' cringeworthy question in my opinion.

Alongside 'why do you want it' well for the money obviously but I'll talk about progression and exciting opportunity because that's what I have to say.

'Where do you see yourself in 10 years' Well hopefully I'll have won the lottery but tbh these days no one has clear career paths do they as so much changes?

The very worst clicheed question being 'why are you the best person for the job' erm well as I don't know who the other candidates are I'm not so arrogant as to assume I am.

If people based an interview on the above sit would really make me wonder whether I wanted to accept it even if it was offered.