One of the key components of the interview process is actually figuring out which candidates will be brought in for interviews. One of the first things that should be done is looking at candidates’ hard skills. Hard skills include education and skills revolving around technology and other tangible things. By first seeking out those with superior hard skills, it is likely that during the interview process, at least one of these candidates also will possess leadership qualities or other soft skills necessary for success in the workplace. Of course, there is definitely room in the interview process for those with outstanding soft skills and not extraordinary hard skills, it often is best to largely choose those with hard skills noticeable on a resume for the majority of interview slots.
Hard skills represent the technical skills, education, and/or experience that a candidate must have in order to be considered for a position. Many times we simply accept the hard skills that a candidate lists on a resume or application. However, the interview process and any subsequent reference checking should be designed to verify these hard skills. For our purposes below, I will not be addressing education, but only addressing technical and experience skill sets.
I have included on the CD that accompanies this Program a sample document, Hard Skills Checklist Sample. This document is designed for you to list specific technical or experience skills that a candidate must have in order to effectively perform your open position. This sheet requires a candidate to identify the number of years of experience that he/she has utilizing each skill and his/her opinion as to the level of proficiency on each skill. The sample form on the CD is a checklist for an administrative position that lists the common Microsoft Word and Excel functions that a person may need to know to work effectively in a position. All you need to do is replace the WorFd or Excel skills in the Sample with the specific skills required for your open position and provide the form to your candidates to complete. At the onsite interview, I would either use a test or ask a series of technical questions in order to verify that the person has the hard skills that he/she claims.
After these candidates are chosen, it is essential to test their other skill sets in the structured interview to make sure that they are a suitable candidate for a position. By doing this, it will become much easier to find a candidate with the proper mix of soft and hard skills needed to have success in the workplace. Therefore, it is essential to check leadership qualities, co-worker relationship history, and other social skills while interviewing a candidate.
Many candidates for jobs are nervous during the entire interview process, and when their structured interview comes, their anxiety level is at its highest. It is very important to quickly try to lower this anxiety while interviewing a candidate because of how greatly nerves can detriment a candidate’s ability in an interview. Consider the following interviewer skills and techniques to lower this anxiety.
I also try to relax the candidate by seeing to his/her personal comfort.Offering water or coffee, changing the temperature in the room, adjusting blinds to prevent a glare, etc. are all ways to help the candidate be at his/her best.
(COMMENT: It has been many years since I have taken a job interview.However, I do make sales calls to prospects, which is similar to a job interview.At this stage of my life, I’m comfortable enough to ask a prospect to close some blinds or to ask for some water if I’m thirsty.I suspect most senior-level candidates would have the presence to realize that their personal comfort will help them look better and will make appropriate suggestions to ensure their comfort.Candidates with lesser experience or individuals with personality types that are more accommodating will often not be as forward, which means that the hiring manager needs to be attentive enough to ensure a candidate’s comfort.There are some interviewers who believe that purposely stressing a candidate by making the candidate uncomfortable is a good tactic to identify the best of the best.Personally, for the vast majority of positions, I think you run a greater risk of disqualifying a good candidate than finding the best candidate.I’m referring here to those employers who like to play psychologist by concocting some homemade stress test that they believe will allow them to distinguish the winners from the slackers.)
Another good technique for easing the nervousness of the candidate as well as positioning your organization is to give the candidate a brief (less than 10 minute) overview of your organization and any future growth plans.This overview should contain those talking points that would send a signal to a quality candidate that the organization represents a real opportunity.If, on the other hand, the organization is like thousands of other organizations that are in good, solid, stable businesses that are not offering tremendous growth opportunities, then I will devise some talking points that refer to the stability of employment and other issues that will appeal to quality candidates.The thing to remember with these talking points is that these points represent the strongest reasons that a quality candidate would want to work for my organization.
By calming down a candidate before actually engaging in the interview process, many candidates will have a great emotional lift even if their composure during the interview does not reveal a change in demeanor. The answers you will receive will be accurate representations of a candidate’s feelings, not just rushed and anxious answers that do not reveal a candidate’s full potential.
