How to Ensure a Consistent Interview Process Every Time

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Recruitment process, interview process, key selection criteria, benchmarking, competency based interview.

Impartiality is not just an ethical issue in recruitment. If an appointment is seen as unfair or a complaint is made it could also become a legal matter.

Therefore, it is important to observe and maintain consistent standards when interviewing and evaluating candidates at all times.

Key Takeaways:

• Create a key selection criteria for when you are looking at applications.

• Avoid rushing to make a hire, make sure they are the right candidate even if it takes extra time.

• Ask the same questions to all of your candidates to accurately rate each response on an even scoring process.

How to Ensure You Have a Consistent Interview Process

1. Key Selection Criteria

   Rather than looking at candidates from a subjective point of view, you should evaluate every candidate equally against a set of pre-determined key selection criteria. These criteria could include:

   • Application documentation: the contents of the candidates’ CV and covering letter

   • Knowledge: the knowledge required to successfully perform the role

   • Skills: the necessary technical skills

   • Education: the qualifications necessary to perform the role

   • Experience: including relevant industry, career or management experience

   • Personal suitability: how close a ‘fit’ they are with the team dynamic and company culture

   Consistency in candidate evaluation can best be achieved by developing the selection criteria prior to the job being advertised. It can then be clearly seen that the selection criteria determined the outcome of the hiring process and the successful candidate was selected in a fair and transparent manner.

2. Never Rush Making a Hire

   It is also important to never make a rushed or on the spot decision. The results of candidate evaluation should be discussed by everyone involved in the recruitment process, notes compared and references checked before any decision is reached.

   If several candidates are a close match, be sure to conduct a second round of interviews. If none of the candidates seem suitable, don’t just select the best of a bad bunch. Rather re-advertise the position and start again.

3. Benchmarking

   If you are lucky enough to have identified more than one candidate to invite in for interview, you must ensure that you have some structure around the interviewing process.

   There is no point asking one candidate a series of behavioral- or competency-based questions and then asking the other candidate(s) an entirely different set of questions. Each candidate being interviewed for the same position must be asked exactly the same set of questions.  Then you can actually rank each response based on an even scoring process.

   Think of an airline hiring a new team of flight attendants, or a bank putting on a new shift in their call center. The dedicated recruitment team will interview dozens (if not hundreds) of candidates for these roles and each candidate will be asked exactly the same set of questions.

   Assuming you are not an airline, bank or hotel chain, even though you might not be looking to hire a group of people, you still need to ensure you have a fair assessment and benchmarking process in place so that ultimately you end up hiring the candidate who literally ticks all the boxes.

Consistent Interview Process FAQ

1. Why is a consistent interview process important?

   A consistent interview process is important because it creates uniformity within the interview process and it can help determine which candidates need to be quickly eliminated. Without a consistent interview process, you can unintendedly bring along the under qualified candidates to the end and accidentally eliminating the qualified candidates.

2. What are 3 keys to success in an interview?

   3 keys to success in an interview would be to be prepared, be aware of your body language, and act interested. Being prepared with having the candidates application reviewed and having a copy of their resume will help you from asking basic questions. Candidates want to feel as if their time is not being wasted. Your body language can also determine how the candidate feels during the interview so be aware of that.

   Closed off body language can make you seem uninterested in the candidate and end the interview before it has a chance to get started.

3. How to ensure that the interview is effective?

   To make sure that your interview is effective make sure that you are asking open-ended questions and that you are listening more than you are talking. Asking open-ended questions will ensure that you are getting an in-depth answer and you are getting a better understanding of how the candidate thinks.

   Listening more will also help you get a better understanding of the candidate. You should be paying close attention to your non-verbal cues and if they have done research on the company or not.

4. How can you ensure a fair hiring process?

   To ensure a fair hiring process make sure that you are creating inclusive ads and implementing a ‘blind hiring’ process. Blind hiring reduces any bias and allows interviewers to make a decision without any preconceptions. Inclusive ads will also reach more candidates giving you a bigger applicant pool.

With over two decades of experience in the recruitment and human capital industry, Paul Slezak has established himself as a transformative force in the realm of leadership and career coaching, group facilitation, and talent acquisition. His unique perspective, drawn from his early career as a leader in global recruitment firms and his entrepreneurial success with his own start-up, has enabled him to make a significant impact on leaders, teams, and organizations across the world. Paul's passion for helping others achieve success and high performance is evident in his commitment to transforming leaders and their teams at local, national, and international levels. He specializes in promoting the importance of human-centered intelligence, focusing on soft skills such as authenticity, transparency, and trust to complement business-centered acumen and drive better workplace outcomes. As an impartial facilitator, Paul brings his expertise to team offsites and strategy days, ensuring alignment on goals, values, and culture while keeping participants on task. His engaging and energetic presence, coupled with his unique "entertraining" and "edutaining" delivery style, enables him to connect with audiences both large and intimate, sharing personal and professional anecdotes that inspire and energize.

Author

Paul Slezak

With over two decades of experience in the recruitment and human capital industry, Paul Slezak has established himself as a transformative force in the realm of leadership and career coaching, group facilitation, and talent acquisition. His unique perspective, drawn from his early career as a leader in global recruitment firms and his entrepreneurial success with his own start-up, has enabled him to make a significant impact on leaders, teams, and organizations across the world. Paul's passion for helping others achieve success and high performance is evident in his commitment to transforming leaders and their teams at local, national, and international levels. He specializes in promoting the importance of human-centered intelligence, focusing on soft skills such as authenticity, transparency, and trust to complement business-centered acumen and drive better workplace outcomes. As an impartial facilitator, Paul brings his expertise to team offsites and strategy days, ensuring alignment on goals, values, and culture while keeping participants on task. His engaging and energetic presence, coupled with his unique "entertraining" and "edutaining" delivery style, enables him to connect with audiences both large and intimate, sharing personal and professional anecdotes that inspire and energize.