In our business, we talk to business owners every day. They tell us that finding good employees is getting more difficult. The labor market is more competitive than ever.
Optimizing recruiting is vital. Let’s talk about a vital component: how to conduct hiring interviews.
What Are Best Practices For Conducting Interviews?
Any employer can master the art and science of interviewing. Here are the critical steps:
Know The Job Description
In small companies, the same person often writes the job description and interviews job seekers. Regardless of how you do it, make sure you know what the job entails.
Use Structured Interviews
Structured interviews use a uniform set of questions. You follow the same script for each job candidate. The questions are chosen specifically for the qualifications required.
A structured interview system also uses a scripted rating scale. The rating system corresponds with the interview questions.
It reduces bias and helps you hire better employees.
Ask Behavioral Questions
Some employers focus only on skills and experience. This is vital. But ask behavioral questions also. Behavior attributes reveal things that are just as important.
Many business owners and recruiters use the STAR Method for writing behavioral questions. (There is no reason to reinvent the wheel when improving interviews.)
STAR stands for situation, task, action, result. The STAR method works best when you are specific as possible.
To write an interview question using this technique:
- Describe a difficult situation in the job role
- Describe the required task
- Identify what action is taken
- Identify the result
Common Behavioral Questions
- Tell me about a time you made a mistake. What did you do about it?
- Describe a problem at your previous job and how you solved it.
- Describe a situation where you had to resolve a conflict? What did you do? How did it turn out?
- Did you ever fail to meet a deadline? Why? What did you do about it?
ApplicantStack Recruit Structured Interviews
SwipeClock ApplicantStack Recruit has intuitive interview tools. Create structured interviews as part of your recruiting process.
Design:
- Job descriptions
- Questionnaires
- Use knockout questions to filter candidates
- Interview scripts
- Ratings scorecards
- Email templates
Most companies try to save money and improve efficiency by automating workflows. These workflows are part of the comprehensive ApplicantStack Recruit applicant tracking system.
Call SwipeClock today for more information about the industry-leading recruiting software for small to mid-size businesses.
UPGRADE TODAY
SwipeClock offers WorkforceHUB, the unified Human Resources portal that makes it easy to optimize the performance of your managers, employees, and business.
WorkforceHUB includes TimeWorksPlus, TimeSimplicity, TimeWorks Mobile, and ApplicantStack. We’ve just added recruitment, onboarding, benefits enrollment, performance reviews, and employee engagement! WorkforceHUB is created for busy employers like you who need to reduce cost-per-hire, streamline scheduling, automate time tracking, maintain regulatory compliance, and reduce labor costs.
How much can you save? Check our SwipeClock ROI Calculator.
We can get you up and running with Workforce Management Suite in minutes. Contact us today to set up a demo.
