Recruitment is a two-way street – and interviewers are on trial too. So are you impressing job candidates or putting them off with these silly mistakes?
3. If you don’t at the very least
read your candidate’s CV
and cover letter, it will be so
obvious in an interview and
it gives an awful impression
of you and the company.
4. It’s so frustrating – especially when the
candidate has spent loads of time
preparing.
Recruitment is a two-way street.
5. 3 tips for preparing
(properly) for
interviews…
6. 1. Prior to interview, identify the
key skills and competencies that
the perfect candidate will possess.
Create a checklist and tick off
each point when a candidate
evidences it.
7. 2. Come up with a list of
questions you’d like to ask
(see our
10 essential interview questions
for some more ideas)
8. 3. Research questions that the
candidate may ask you and
consider how you will answer
them
(we recently wrote a blog about
some interesting questions they
could use to impress you).
24. You must never ever ask
questions or make
comments that could even
remotely be
.
25. No matter how well you
get on with a candidate,
such topics could
and have
26. Topics to avoid…
• Age
• Sexual orientation
• Marital status
• Cultural issues
• Disabilities and illness
• Previous criminal convictions
• Inappropriate jokes, innuendos and anecdotes
37. 1. Be polite and ask follow up
questions to keep the
conversation going.
38. 2. If you need to dig further do
so in a friendly way…
‘it sounds like you know where
you’d like to be in life, but why
choose this job in particular?”
39. 3. If there is an awkward
silence at any point, fill it.
Ask your next question!
41. Some interviewers will
purposely ask a question they
don’t expect the job candidate
to know
to see
whether they try and blag it
under the pressure.
42. This technique will simply make
your candidate feel
, and stop them
from showing off their
.
43. Stress interviews won’t work for
your nervous, shy or confidence-
lacking candidates (but that
doesn’t necessarily mean they’re
not right for the job!)
44. Make a real effort to ease your
candidate into the interview before
bombarding them with difficult
questions.
52. It is pretty that
you’re prepared to answer most
(if not all) questions.
If a candidate has that
you don’t manage to confront and
quell, then they’re much more
likely to your offer.
61. If you interview someone
that you get on
with, then you’re
likely to feel a in
their favour.
62. This of course means that your
next interviewee will find it
to impress you so
to find the for the
job, you’ll need to
as much as humanly possible.
64. 1. Go in with a clear and open
mind.
This next candidate really could be
better than the last!
65. 2. Try not to run interviews one
after the other, in swift
succession.
The chances are that your brain
will still be focusing on the
previous candidate.
66. 3. It’s always a great idea to host a panel
interview, especially in the later stages of
recruitment.
Different people have different opinions,
making it easier to pinpoint the positives and
negatives of an individual.
67. So there you have it… 10 of the
most common mistakes
interviewers make!
Are you one of them?
68. If you’d like to read more
articles about recruitment
and HR in general – check
out the rest of our blog
here.