This document provides guidance on conducting effective interviews. It emphasizes that interviewing is both an art and a science that requires preparation, structure, and consistency. Key recommendations include defining interview objectives in advance, selecting interview questions to evaluate essential skills, building an interview team for balanced perspectives, following legal guidelines, comparing notes after interviews, and creating a positive impression of the organization through a professional process.

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2. Interviewing has been called an ART, and there is no doubt that it calls for
insight and creativity. But it is also a SCIENCE, and in order for it to achieve
truly and effective results for the organization, it requires:
• Process
• Methods
• Consistency
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3. “Having a preplanned structure ensures you
are asking the right questions,” says Shelly
Goldman of The Goldman Group
Advantage, a Reston, Virginia, executive
firm.
Whether she’s recruiting 50 entry-level
workers or just one C-level executive, Ms.
Goldman takes the time to lay the
foundation before beginning to interview
candidates. Shelly Goldman
President, The
Goldman Group
Advantage, Reston,
Virginia
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4. At the end of this presentation, participants will be know and understand
the following:
• Purpose of the interview
• Types of interview
• How to interview candidates
• Preparation and Interviewing tips
• The interview process and beyond
• Legal interview questions and hiring guidelines
• Interview bias
• Mastering the fine art of questions and answers
• The different types of questions
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5. The purpose of the interview is two fold: The employer wants to find out if:
1. The interviewee is the best candidate for the position
2. If this is a good opportunity for the candidate.
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6. Screening: The employer
interviews, often by phone
by a human resource
person or by an outside
recruiter hired by the
employer, in order to
check for initial
qualifications.
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7. Traditional: The
candidate sits and talks
with the interviewer
usually at the company’s
facility. Questions are
focused on the
candidate’s attitudes;
values, and traditional
skills.
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8. Behavioral: The
candidate is asked to
perform a task or take a
battery of tests for the job
and to answer questions
that focused on how
he/she may handle actual
situations or would handle
future situations.
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9. Technical: The candidate
is asked questions that
specifically relate to the
job requirements and
have right / wrong
answers.
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10. Phone or Computer:
Candidates answer
questions via phone, e-
mail, or online form.
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11. One-on one: This is the
most common type of
interview, where the
candidate is interviewed
by an individual.
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12. Team or Committee: The
candidate is interviewed
by a number of people at
the same time. Some
organizations refer to this
method as “Panel
Interview.”
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13. Group Interview: The
employer interviews a
group of candidates at the
same time.
This type of interview is
rarely done by most
organizations these days.
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14. Multiple Level: The candidate is interviewed
individually by different people in a planned
series of interviews.
Directive: This is a very controlled interview
which is guided by the interviewer with
predetermined set of questions asked of all
candidates.
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15. Non-directive: The
interviewer asks broad
questions and allows the
candidate to guide the
conversation. This may
produce a great deal of
information about the
candidate’s
qualifications, but it is difficult to insure
consistency in questions for all candidates.
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16. Patterned: This is structured to cover specific areas
related to the job requirements. The interviewer will
cover each with all the candidates, but may also ask
different questions.
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17. Stress: The interviewer
subjects the candidate to
intimidating questions to
demonstrate how the
candidate will handle stress in
the position.
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18. Tip # One: DEFINE YOUR OBJECTIVES BEFORE YOU START.
Even if you think you are an expert interviewer, a “seat-of-the-pants”
approach can backfire. Take the time to clearly define what you are
looking for before you begin recruiting.
• Describe the position’s duties and the technical knowledge and
skills required to do the job.
• Identify success factors: How did previous top performers in this job
behave?
• Establish performance expectations: What do you expect this
person to accomplish?
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19. Tip # Two: SELECT YOUR QUESTIONAIRE IN ADVANCE.
Don’t rely on a job description and a candidate’s resume to structure
the interview. You’ll get much better information if you carefully pre-
select questions that allow you to evaluate whether a candidate has
those skills and behaviors you’ve identified as essential for the job.
You might include some or all of these types of questions:
1. Icebreakers: As their name implies, icebreakers are used to build
rapport and set candidates at ease before beginning the formal
interview. Examples:
– Did you have any trouble finding our place?
– Before we start, would you like a cup of coffee or a glass of water?
– Tell me about yourself. 19

20. 2. Traditional questions: With these, you
can gather general information about a
candidate and their skills and experience.
Because these questions are asked
often, many candidates will have
prepared answers to them, so they can
be used to help candidates feel at ease
in the early stages of an interview.
Examples:
– What are your greatest strengths ?
– What are your experiences that are related to
the position for which you are being
interviewed?
– Why do you want to work for us?
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21. 3. Situational questions: Ask candidates what they would do in a
specific situation relevant to the job at hand. These questions can
help you understand a candidate’s thought process. Examples:
– How would you deal with an irate customer?
– If we were to hire you, what would be the first thing you would do?
– How do you deal with stress on the job?
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22. 4. Behavior-based questions: These require candidates to share
a specific example from their past experience. Each complete
answer from a candidate should be in the form of SAR response
– Situation, Action and Result. Examples:
– Tell me about a crisis you could have prevented. Did you do anything
differently after the crisis had passed?
– Tell me how you resolve crises by deploying your team members. Give
me a specific example.
– Crises usually require us to act quickly. In retrospect, how would you
have handled a recent crisis differently, if you had been given more
time to think before acting?
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23. 5. Culture-fit questions: These will help you select candidates
who are motivated and suited to perform well in the unique
environment of your organization. Examples
– What gave you the greatest feeling of achievement in your last job?
Why was it so satisfying?
– Why did you choose this type of job?
– What motivates you to work hard? Give me some examples.
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24. Tip # Three: BUILD AN INTERVIEW TEAM.
Whenever possible, have more than one person interview candidates;
you’ll gain a balanced perspective and be more likely to have a fair
hiring process. In addition to the reporting manager and a Human
Resources representative, think about including some of the people
who will be working with the new hire.
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26. Before the Interview:
– Put candidates at ease: Interviewing can be stressful, so do your
best to help candidates relax. Make sure candidates are greeted
and escorted, if necessary, to their interview location. Start with
low key questions.
– Don’ judge on first impressions: We’ve all met them --- people
who don’t make a great impression but end up being great
employees. To make sure you don’t overlook these diamonds in
the rough, withhold judgment until you’ve had the chance to
thoroughly evaluate a candidate’s capabilities and potential.
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27. During the Interview:
– Tell the candidate a little about the job: While you don’t want to
dominate the interview time, you should start with a brief
summary of the position including the prime responsibilities,
reporting structure, key challenges, and performance criteria. This
will help the candidate provide relevant example and criteria.
– Don’ be afraid to improvise: Plan your questions, but don’t feel
you must ask only those you have chosen in advance. Shelly
Goldman, executive recruiter with The Goldman Group
Advantage, says, “Be responsible for what the candidates tell
you, and build new questions based on their answers.”
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28. During the Interview:
– Take notes: While you won’t have to transcribe everything the
candidate says, do write down important points; key
accomplishments; good examples, and other information that will
help you remember and fairly evaluate each candidate.
– Invite candidates to ask questions: This can be the most
valuable part of the interview. Why do they want to be here---is it
the challenge of the job? The advances in the industry? The
prestige of the organization? Is it the paycheck?
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29. During the Interview:
– Follow legal interviewing guidelines: It is critical that you
understand and follow legal hiring guidelines. The easiest way to
keep your interview fully compliant is to ask only questions that
relate to the job, thus eliminating the potential for bias by not
introducing questions or scenarios that will illicit irrelevant
information.
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30. After the Interview:
– Let the candidates know what
they can expect: Always end the
interview on a positive note, but
be genuine. Don’t tell candidate
to call you if you don’t mean it. If
the candidate is a good fit, be
clear about what the next steps
would be.
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31. After the Interview:
– Compare notes and reach consensus. The post-interview
evaluation is the time to compare notes and advance the hiring
decision. Each interviewer should be prepared to back p remarks
and recommendations with specific examples and notes from the
interview.
– Deepen the questions as you narrow the field. Subsequent
interviews with finalists were valuable opportunities to learn more
about them.
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32. Create a Positive Image for Your Organization
• The job market is always competitive when looking for good
people. We need to realize that we're selling ourselves as much as
candidates are trying to sell themselves.
• It's important to treat people well during the interview process. I
never want to lose a potential customer or cause a candidate to
have a negative impression of our company.
• Your interview process reflects the value your company places on
each candidate and, by extension, each employee.
• Be a good ambassador for your company by conducting a
professional interview, communicating honestly, and basing hiring
decisions on an honest evaluation of each candidate's capabilities.
• Not only will you make great hires, but you'll build goodwill in the
community and enhance your future recruiting efforts.
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34. Definition of an Illegal Questions
Title VI, The Americans with Disabilities Act, and other Federal
and State acts forbid employers from discriminating against any
person on the basis of sex, race, national origin, religion or disability.
Therefore, an illegal question is any question pertaining to any
of these areas that could be construed discriminatory and is
completely unrelated to any requirement of the position.
Questions must be focused only to determine a candidate’s
capability to perform the essential functions you have defined for the
job.
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35. • Affiliations: Do not ask about clubs, social organizations, or union
memberships; do ask relevant professional associations.
• Age: Do not ask a candidate’s age other than, “If hired, can you
produce proof that you are 18 years of age?”
• Alcohol or drug use: The only allowable question relating to
current or past drug or alcohol use is, "Do you currently use illegal
drugs?"
Following are some of the key areas that are covered by fair hiring
laws. Essentially, you cannot ask questions that will reveal information
that can lead to bias in hiring, but you can ask questions that relate to
job performance.
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36. • Criminal Record: Do not ask if a candidate has been arrested; you
may ask if the candidate has ever been convicted of a crime.
• Culture/Natural Origin: You may ask if the individual can, "upon
hire," provide proof of legal right to work in the United States. You
may ask about language fluency if it is relevant to job performance.
• Disability: You may ask if candidates can perform essential job
functions, with or without reasonable accommodation; and you may
ask them to demonstrate how they would perform a job-related
function. You may ask about prior attendance records. And you may
require candidates to undergo a medical exam after an offer of
employment has been made.
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37. • Marital/Family Status: Questions about marital status and family
issues are discouraged except as they relate to job performance, as
in the child care example above.
• Personal: Avoid questions related to appearance, home ownership,
and personal financial situation.
• Race/Color: No race-related questions are legal.
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38. • Sex: You may ask if a candidate has ever worked under another
name. Be sure not to make gender-related assumptions about job
capabilities.
• Religion: If Saturday or Sunday is a required work day, you may
ask candidates if they will have a problem working on those days.
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39. You as the interviewer may unconsciously make assumptions about
some candidates based on the way they speak; their age; or any of
the background information that the candidates may have listed on
their Resume.
The following are some of the more common interview bias that
even the most seasoned interviewer sometimes fall into:
 Average/central tendency – The average bias becomes
apparent when the interviewer has difficulty deciding which
candidate is best and rates them all about the same.
Contrast – The contrast effect occurs when an interviewer
compares candidates to each other or compares all candidates to
a single candidate. If one candidate is particularly weak, others
may appear to be more qualified than they really are.
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40. • Cultural noise – Cultural noise occurs
when candidates answer questions based
on information they think will get them the
job or what they think the interviewer wants
to hear. For example, a candidate who has
been an individual contributor may tell an
interviewer that they prefer working as part
of a team.
• First impression – This bias can work
either for or against a candidate, depending
on the interviewer’s first impression. A
candidate who is very nervous and stutters
during the first few minutes may be viewed
as less qualified even if during the
remainder of the interview they are poised
and well spoken.
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41. • Gut feeling – The gut feeling bias occurs
when the interviewer relies on an intuitive
feeling that the candidate is a good or bad fit
for the position without looking at whether or
not the individual’s qualifications meet the
criteria established by the job specifications
and candidate profile.
• Halo effect – The halo effect occurs when
the interviewer evaluates a candidate
positively based on a single characteristic.
For example, a candidate’s self-confident
attitude may overshadow a lack of experience
in a particular requirement.
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42. • Harshness/horn effect –
Harshness or the horn effect occurs
when the interviewer evaluates a
candidate negatively based on a
single characteristic.
• Knowledge of predictor – This
bias occurs when the interviewer is
aware that a candidate scored
particularly high or low on an
assessment test that has been
shown to be a valid predictor of
performance.
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43. • Leniency – Leniency bias occurs when an interviewer tends to go
easy on a candidate and give a higher rating that is warranted,
justifying it with an explanation.
• Negative emphasis – The negative emphasis bias occurs when the
interviewer allows a small amount of negative information to outweigh
positive information.
• Nonverbal bias – Nonverbal bias occurs when an interviewer is
influenced by body language. For example, a candidate who frowns
when answering questions could be rated negatively even though the
answers were correct.
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44. • Question inconsistency – Question inconsistency occurs when an
interviewer asks different questions of each candidate. While this is
acceptable to a certain extent in order to delve more deeply into each
candidate’s qualifications, there is no baseline for comparison if there
is no questions that were asked of all candidates.
• Recency – The recency bias occurs when the interviewer recalls the
most recently interviewed candidate more clearly than earlier
candidates.
• Similar to me – The similar to me bias occurs when the candidate
has interests or other characteristics that are the same as those of the
interviewer and cause the interviewer to overlook negative aspects
about the candidate. For example, an interviewer who played college
football may select a candidate who did so even though the
candidate’s qualifications are not the best for the position.
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45. • Stereotyping – The stereotyping bias occurs when the interviewer
assumes a candidate has specific traits because they are a member
of a group. For example, an interviewer may assume that a woman
would not be able to successfully perform in a job that required
frequent lifting of packages weighing 50 pounds.
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46. • Stay focused – Even before you start to ask any questions, you want to
have a reasonably specific ideas of what information or insights you’re
expecting to gain from the interview based on your pre-interview
research and the hiring criteria
• Make every question count – Every question you ask during a job
interview must have a specific purpose. That purpose may by to elicit
specific information, produce some insight into the candidate’s
personality, or simply put the candidate at ease.
Here are some tips on how to master the fine art of interviewing:
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47. • Pay attention – Listening attentively is a difficult challenge under the
best of circumstances but is often an even tougher challenge during a
job interview. That’s because your tendency in a job interview is to draw
conclusions before the candidate has completed the answer. Yet
another tendency is to begin rehearsing in your mind the next question
you intend to ask while the candidate is still answering the earlier
question. Fight that tendency. Pour the full measure of your
concentration on the candidate and what he’s/she’s saying.
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48. • Don’t hesitate to probe – Whenever a candidate offers an answer that
doesn’t address the specific information you’re seeking, nothing’s wrong
with asking additional questions to elicit more specific answers. For
example, if a candidate talks about the money he saved his department,
ask how much and how.
• Give candidate ample time to respond – The fact that a question you
ask doesn’t produce an immediate answer from the candidate doesn’t
mean that you need to rush in with another question to fill the silence.
Give the candidate time to come up with a thoughtful answer. If the
silence persists for more than ten seconds, ask the candidate if he/she
wants you to clarify the question. Otherwise, don’t rush things. Use the
silence to observe the candidate and take stock of where you are in the
interview. Remember that the interview is a time for you to listen, not
talk.
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49. • Suspend judgments – Doing so isn’t easy, but try to keep your
attention on the answers you’re getting instead of making interpretations
or judgments. You’re going to have plenty of time after the interview to
evaluate what you see and hear. What you don’t want to do is prejudice
yourself in the beginning of the interview so that you fail to accurately
process information that come later.
• Take notes – Our memories can do tricky things to us, leading us to
ignore what actually happens during an interview and to rely instead on
general impressions. Taking notes helps you avoid this common pitfall.
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50. • Close Ended Questions - Questions
that call for a simple, informational
answer – usually yes or no
Example: “How many years did you
work for ABC?”, “Did you enjoy it?”
This type of question works best if
you’re trying to elicit specific
information or set the stage for more
complex questions. Pitfall to avoid:
Asking too many of them in rapid-fire
succession, thus making candidates
feel as though they’re being
interrogated.
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51. • Open Ended Questions – Questions
that require thought and oblige the
candidate to reveal attitudes and
opinions.
Examples: “Describe for me how you
handle stress on the job.” “Can you
give me an illustration of how you
improved productivity at your last
job?”
This line of questioning if often used
by employers, but coupled with
closed-ended questions Pitfalls to
avoid: Not being specific enough as
you phrase the question and not
interceding if the candidate’s answer
starts to veer off track.
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52. • Hypothetical Questions – questions
that invite the candidate to resolve
imaginary situation or react to a given
situation.
Example: “If you were to take over
this department, what’s the first thing
you’d do to improve productivity?”
This is very useful if framed in the
context of actual job situation. Pitfalls
to avoid: Putting too much stock in
the candidate’s hypothetical answer.
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53. • Leading Questions – Questions
asked in such a way that the answer
you want to hear is obvious.
Example:
“You know a lot about team-building,
don’t you?” “You wouldn’t dream of
falsifying your expense accounts,
would you?”
This should rarely be used, if ever.
You’re not likely to get an honest
answer – just the answer you want to
hear.
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54. The main topics covered in this presentation were taken from the following
sources:
How to Interview Candidates
Louise Kursmark
Monster Contributing Writer
Texas Job Hunter’s Guide
OSU Career Service:
Legal vs Illegal Questions Ready Reference
This presentation has been put together solely for the purpose of training the
Managers and Supervisors of Letstalk.com and not for the infringement of
copyright laws.
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GPC
Training and Development