{"id":6768,"date":"2015-05-04T13:50:36","date_gmt":"2015-05-04T20:50:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/recruitloop.wpengine.com\/?p=6768"},"modified":"2023-05-12T12:15:08","modified_gmt":"2023-05-12T19:15:08","slug":"4-traps-to-avoid-when-interviewing-candidates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/4-traps-to-avoid-when-interviewing-candidates\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Traps To Avoid When Interviewing Candidates"},"content":{"rendered":"

As\u00a0a business owner or hiring manager, have you ever really stopped to think just how important it really<\/em> is to find the best people for your business?<\/p>\n

Not just someone who submits their application and who happens to be immediately available or who you just think looks too perfect on paper to possibly let get away.<\/p>\n

Having personally helped hundreds of businesses\u00a0build their teams over the years, one thing I saw happen far too often was\u00a0just how reactive (not to mention how extremely rushed) the recruitment (and in particular the interview) process was within so many organisations.<\/p>\n

Weeks would\u00a0go by with a position still unfilled, and the hiring manager would suddenly start\u00a0to panic. Then someone would apply who almost<\/em> met\u00a0the criteria set out in the job brief (and by almost<\/em> I mean aside from having a pulse and a clean shirt was so far off the mark it wasn’t funny) and they would get\u00a0hired.<\/p>\n

Here are a few tips to avoid what, in the recruitment world, is often referred to as a \u201cbums on seats\u201d or \u201cchurn and burn\u201d approach to hiring.<\/p>\n

Free Interview Template:<\/strong> Use this template to run a consistent interview process every time and to make better hiring decisions. Download Your Copy<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n

1. Never\u00a0settle for second best<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It’s so important to wait for the right<\/em>\u00a0candidate to hire and not just a candidate who happens to be available ‘right now’.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s much better for the business in the long run to wait a bit longer to find the perfect person, than to fill the vacancy with a poor hire.<\/p>\n

There are certainly many traps or temptations a hiring manager can fall into. Fortunately the majority of them can be avoided by taking the recruitment and interview process seriously, looking at potential candidates objectively<\/a> and most importantly not rushing through it.<\/p>\n

2. Don’t always listen to your gut<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Well not when it comes to your first impression anyway. Research shows that the majority of recruiting errors<\/a> are due to the hiring manager (or interviewer) relying too much on personal biases, opinions, gut feel or first impressions.<\/p>\n

It is critical for any hiring manager to control their emotions during an interview. Don\u2019t let your emotions take over. Don\u2019t hire in your own image (easier said than done).<\/p>\n

And never\u00a0make a decision based on non-job related criteria such as where a candidate lives, where they went to school, what they\u2019re wearing etc.<\/p>\n

During an interview try to spend at least 30 to 40 minutes assessing the candidate\u2019s previous work history in terms of key competencies<\/a> and accomplishments. Looking back at past performance is the best way to determine how someone will react in a similar situation in the future.<\/p>\n

3. Avoid hypothetical questions at all costs<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Over the years I have been on the receiving end of some pretty strange interview questions. \u201cWhat modern pop song can you relate to most, and why?<\/em>\u201d \u201cIf you were stuck on an island, what three possessions would you want to have with you?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Ineffective. Pointless. Futile.<\/p>\n

Whilst the answers to these questions may be interesting, in no way do they help you accurately assess a candidate\u2019s past behaviour, core competencies or ability to in fact do the job in question.<\/p>\n

Gone are the days of just asking about strengths and weaknesses. And hypothetical questions are a thing of the past. The only way to determine how a candidate will perform in a role, is to ask questions around how they performed a similar task in the past<\/a>.<\/p>\n

By asking these types of questions, not only will you get a far better feel for whether they would be right for your business, but they will also get a good feel for whether your job is right for them \u2013 potentially saving everyone a lot of wasted energy and frustration.<\/p>\n

4. Don’t go into sales overdrive<\/strong><\/h2>\n

You need to ascertain exactly why your\u00a0candidate has chosen to meet with you. Far too often a hiring manager will be\u00a0so excited by the fact that someone has actually applied for their role, that they fail to find out what happened in their last position, or more specifically what they are hoping to gain out of their next career move.<\/p>\n

When this happens the interviewer spends far too much time selling the benefits of their company and the role that the candidate can walk away feeling that they were unable to contribute to the interview at all.<\/p>\n

A successful interview is one where the interviewer spends 20% of the time talking and 80% of the time actively listening to the candidate sitting in front of them. These (and many other) common recruitment and interview traps have always been there \u2013 and will always be there. It\u2019s up to you to steer well clear of them so you (and your business) don\u2019t get burnt.<\/p>\n

* \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 * \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

Any guide designed for candidates<\/em> reinforces the fact that a job interview is really their one chance to make a lasting first impression.\u00a0It\u2019s just as important for any employer to appreciate that the interview is their opportunity to create a lasting first impression too. Nobody is disputing that you are an expert in what you do in your business.<\/p>\n

But when it comes to recruitment, all of a sudden you are expected to become an expert recruiter \u2026 a specialist in personality assessment<\/a>, organisational psychology, and behavioural analysis.<\/p>\n

How can you really identify the ideal candidate? What should you really be looking for during an interview? How can you really distinguish between the candidates\u2019 skills and competencies?<\/p>\n

Your pulse rate and blood pressure are probably increasing just thinking about it.<\/p>\n

The war for quality talent is fierce. So if you are lucky enough to have identified that \u2018diamond in the rough\u2019, and you have them sitting right there in front of you, you need to ensure you make the most of the situation \u2026 and not waste either party\u2019s time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are a few tips to avoid what, in the recruitment world, is often referred to as a \u201cbums on seats\u201d approach to hiring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[99,112],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n4 Traps To Avoid When Interviewing Candidates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here are a few tips to avoid what, in the recruitment world, is often referred to as a \u201cbums on seats\u201d or "churn and burn" approach to hiring.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zippia.com\/employer\/4-traps-to-avoid-when-interviewing-candidates\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"4 Traps To Avoid When 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