Top Five Habits of Highly Effective Interviewers

Armed with an updated job description and the job outlook form the hiring manager is ready for the interview. Below are some helpful ideas to help you make more high-impact hiring decisions.

5 Habits of Highly Effective Interviewers:

1. Develop a Job Outlook form – What does an A player look like for your company, region, sales team, etc. What are the top five core competencies you are looking for? What are the shared characteristics of your current A players?

Review the strengths and weaknesses of your existing team and determine how the new hire will positive impact your team’s talent.

2. Be ready – The candidate is ready, are you? Too often the hiring manager is fighting the pressure packed issues of the day and does not make the interview a TOP priority. Ever say to a candidate: “Please sit down while I read your resume.” You have to be more ready than the candidate.

3. Develop an Interview Evaluation Form – Use the information developed in the Job Outlook and the Job Description to drive the candidate evaluation process. The evaluation form should answer one question. Will this person take ownership of their new position?

4. Don’t fall in love –Investor’s Business Daily says that 41% of all hiring decisions are made on appearance alone. Is that any way to run your business? In today’s world, you cannot rely on the I’m a good judge of character hiring method. If you do, you can expect costly, time consuming employee issues that sap management’s time and takes the focus off your company’s goals and objectives.

5. Test – don’t guess – Scientifically valid pre-hire employee assessments are never a go-no-go gauge for a hiring decision. However, they are an excellent, objective, review of what the candidate is bringing to the job. Often they will develop company specific job benchmarks that candidates can then compared to. Additionally, they develop targeted, open-ended, behavioral interview questions for those areas where the candidate does not meet the benchmark profile.