On a daily basis, I deal with clients who are recruiting staff. Despite seminars, articles and many books on the topic, it seems there are some common mistakes that employers make when interviewing. Make sure that you are not committing the following fatal errors when recruiting.
1) Not being prepared. Make sure you have an up to date job description and that you have read through the candidate’s cv before conducting the interview. Have a list of specific questions you would like to ask the candidate in the interview.
2) Feeling sorry for the candidate. I have spoken to so many clients who have fallen into the trap of feeling sorry for a candidate because they have heard about the candidate’s bad luck or personal problems. Just be careful as people take their problems with them wherever they go and you don’t want to have to take on someone with an inordinate amount of baggage.
3) Not being comfortable with silence. When you ask a candidate a difficult or thought-provoking questions, give them time to think about the answer. Don’t fall into the trap of wanting to save them from discomfort and answering your own question.
4) Believing the salary that the candidate said they have earned. Many candidates inflate their earnings to hopefully attract a job that pays a lot more than they are already earning. When you interview a candidate, ask them to give you their last three months’pay slips. This is particularly relevant for sales reps whose earnings fluctuate. Many reps will tell you about their best month or their biggest pay check and will neglect to tell you about their bad months where they have not earned commission.
5) Assuming that something that is not written on the cv is actually there. If a candidate has not written down a skill or a computer package, you can be assured that it was not by accident. You can be sure that it is because the candidate doesn’t have that skill.
I hope these tips will help employers be a bit more aware of some of the common errors that many interviewers make so that they can avoid making the wrong hire.
