Conducting my first ever interviews on Monday - Any tips?

[HospitalHassler]

Never conducted an interview before. I'll be on a panel with two other, more experienced members of staff.

I know some of the candidates, but don't know the rest. I'm worried I'll be biased, or ask leading questions from the candidates that I know because I know they will know the answers!

I'm also concerned because I was way more generous with the shortlisting than the rest of the panel, and I'm worried I'm a bit too soft.

Any tips on how to be a fair, nice interviewer without being too soft?

Anything I should / shouldn't do?

You need to ask them all the same questions and then use an objective scoring system. That way at least you'll be equally soft with them all In all seriousness, there's nothing wrong with being a nice interviewer as long as you ask the right questions to gauge skills, experience, suitability and fit and apply your criteria objectively. You will then be able to feedback honestly and constructively to the unsuccessful candidates too. Hope it goes well for you.

Good advice Cheerup thank you.

We will have set questions and a scoring system, so that's good.

I guess it would help to set out my criteria beforehand, and perhaps agree those with the panel.

I'm looking forward to it as a new experience, just hope I do it well!

Remember you are looking for the best person to do the job, and this might be someone you have never met before.

Ask the standard questions, and then dig deeper to clarify once they have answers. Anything that strikes you, dig deeper. If they can't answer a question, rephrase it or give them time to think and remember to note down anything that is if interest and to score based on their answers only.

Eg, 'they visibly flinched when we mentioned spreadsheets' for an office job is not a good sign.

Hopefully you have been on some sort of 'what is and isn't allowed' training, so only ask about things to do with the job, not about childcare, family etc.

Have the job description, and all the docs they would have seen on you, and copies of their app forms/cvs. Read these through before you let them in the room. Discuss each candidate briefly as soon as they have gone and note down your initial thoughts.

Hopefully you have been on some sort of 'what is and isn't allowed' training - you would think so, wouldn't you - but nope. No training at all. And I work for local government!!

I'm pretty aware of what is and isn't appropriate though. Won't mention anything personal.

We have allocated 15 mins between each candidate, with about an hour at the end to make a decision. Will that be enough?

In the last interview I had, I was given a written copy of the question once the interviewer had said it verbally. Really helped me stay focused on what they were asking.

Gosh that's a good idea PoloMint - the last interview I had, I had to ask several times "what was the question again" after I'd rambled for a while (still got the job, amazingly)

Good reminder to bring print outs of the job description and their application too. And perhaps go through them beforehand and highlight anything I want to pick up on.

Glad I found this thread, I'm also interviewing for the first time on Monday, slightly smaller panel thou as it's me and 1 other (company director so plenty of experience).
Any one else got some good tips for the op (and me)?

I'd always sleep on it before making a final decision. In fact we would convene the next morning to discuss our thoughts. Then decide.

You're on the interview panel because you're bringing some insight and talent to the room - don't forget that .

In terms of being "nice but not soft" - introduce yourself, take your time, and give the candidates time to think about their answers. Show that you're listening, and don't be afraid to ask follow up questions if you need to get more detail. It shows you are taking them seriously.

Definitely focus on the particularly important skills and experience in the job description, and take the opportunity to ask deeper questions about things in the CVs.

Where possible, I've found it useful to ask people situational-based questions in interview, along the lines of:

• Can you give me an example of a time when you had two equally high priorities and you had to find a solution to managing them?
• Could you tell me about a time when you had to resolve a conflict at work?

This way, you're asking all the candidates the same questions (so acting fairly) but also you are more likely to get personalised answers, which will make it easier to distinguish between the candidates!

Be prepared to be tired - interviewing is hard work, because you are interacting quite intensively over and over again. I hope you find the right candidate, and that the experience is really positive.

Fantastic advice, thank you.

You recommend sleeping on the decision Funky - I'm not sure, as the last job interview I had was on a Friday, and they didn't tell me until the Monday, and it was torture. Since then I vowed never to do that to anyone, and would always endeavour to let them know as soon as possible. Conversely, I've also had job interviews where I've been offered the job whilst on the way home from the interview. Way nicer!! So I'm not sure sleeping on it is fair on the applicants... I can see how it would be good for us though, to give us some time to ponder.

I think our company like to use pre-set questions (set by the panel, not standard questions), for fairness and to keep things running smoothly, but is it ok to go 'off script' if there's anything specific I want to dig deeper into?

I'm actually quite looking forward to it.

Yes definitely sleep on the decision. It is better to be sure than to offer it to the wrong person. Sometimes you pick up on something during the interview that you need reflective thought about.

And yes, although you have set questions, further questions relating to the general answer are to pick apart some aspects that aren't covered by the original question. Sometimes you find out additional skills that they didn't think were important that actually could be very useful to the overall team.

Definitely sleep on the decision.

Ensure you have a transparent scoring system in place
Be prepared to give feedback on both application and the interview to candidates
Be nice, smile, introduce yourself, give people time to answer, rephrase questions if necessary, be clear at the end when the decision will be made.

the best advice I've been given is that the interviewee should do 70% of the talking.. So if you find that you're saying too much, or even if you're just having a nice normal 50:50 conversation, check yourself! I'm sure you'll be great, and don't worry if you are softer on shortlisting or even on the day - the reason for the 3 person panel is exactly to get that kind of diversity of thought. Maybe you'll be the one to make them feel at ease and do their best