I am constantly harping on the importance of conducting effective interviews. A key component of the interview process is time. Commit the time to the interview process; I cannot emphasize this enough.
Interviewing properly takes time. Sadly, it is not always a fun time. Sure, adding a person to your business can be exciting. Yes, you are doing well and you need to add someone to the team. You are adding someone to make things better. The idea of finding the right person for your team is the fun part. Finding quality candidates and interviewing to fill the role can be time consuming if, you do it right. It is very possible to go through several interviews and spend a great deal of time trying to find the right person. It can get frustrating, making it difficult to commit the time to the interview process.
You may be one of the lucky ones that lands the ideal candidate in your first interview. You may need to interview only one or two people to find that perfect fit. It does happen. If you find the ideal candidate, move quickly with your offer. Don’t let someone else beat you to the punch.
Sadly, more often than not, interviewing is a process, a time consuming process. The worst thing you can do is rush the process and settle on a candidate. If you find yourself saying: “This candidate is good enough” then keep interviewing. Never settle for good enough.
My interview advice: Commit the time, never settle. There are no absolutes when it comes to interviewing and selecting candidates.
One thing I know for sure is that your risk of making a poor hiring decision increases if you
- Rush through the interviewing process
- Settle on a candidate that is less than ideal
When it comes time to interview, there are a few things you can do to reduce your day-to-day business stress.
- Get ready for your interviews. Be prepared with questions for your candidate based on necessary skills and fit within your company.
- Block time in your schedule for the interviews and keep it blocked until all interviews are scheduled.
- Do not schedule more than one or two interviews within the work day.
- Do your best to schedule all of your interviews within the same week. If you can, schedule them within 2 or 3 days. Keeping them close together helps you remember.
- Be organized.
- Stay on track with your interview questions. You don’t have time to waste.
- Stay focused during your interviews. Your focus is necessary to learn about your candidate. If you are elsewhere, your candidate will sense it and may lose interest.
- Once your interviews are completed, make a decision. If you haven’t found the right candidate, make the decision to keep looking. If you have found the right candidate, move quickly with your offer.
I understand the commitment it takes for this process. I understand the pain involved with losing so much of your day to interviewing. That said, consider the alternative. If you make a poor hiring decision, you will likely have to deal with the poor hire by either several difficult conversations or worse yet, termination. If the poor hire results in a term, you have to start from the beginning. Take the time on the front end to hopefully avoid a hiring regret. A poor hire takes time away from your business.
Commit the time. Never settle.
You will be glad you did.
For more tips on conducting effective interviews, please check out my book: No More Hiring Regrets.
Available on Amazon.