An interviewer’s job is not easy at all. He/She has to find the perfect candidate in a pool of applicants without the benefit of knowing them personally. The task has to be done on the basis of test results, personal record, offered credentials and the all-important face-to-face interview.
Interview Tips to Determine the Right Job Applicant
Sort the papers of applicants according to their fitness to the job in relation to required qualifications. This will ensure that the most qualified gets to be prioritized over the less qualified. However, it is not wise to immediately disqualify any applicant based on submitted papers without the benefit of even a preliminary interview except if their offered qualifications are blatantly inferior to that which is being required by the employer.
The interviewer should focus on the critical aspects of the job to determine how a particular applicant will measure up to the need. The main purpose of an interview is to gauge whether an applicant’s offered qualifications are the very qualifications sought by the employer. It is important to determine whether an applicant is simply bluffing with his or her capabilities. The right questions can expose applicants who are merely exaggerating.
Closely related to determining an applicant’s professional capabilities is determining the capability to fit in with the existing culture of a company. It is not enough for an employee to know what to do in a job. It is equally important for every employee to be part of a team. This can be gauged by asking pertinent questions that would reveal a part of the applicant’s personality. An applicant’s grooming and appearance can also be used as a measure of fitness to the job especially for jobs that require carrying a specific image. It is possible that an applicant with some appearance issues can still be considered if his or her qualifications are difficult to ignore. Companies who find such applicants can choose to gamble by investing on some makeover for the applicant to resolve the issues.
Without resorting to illegal questions that violate personal rights, an interviewer should try to gain further information with regards to the gaps seen in the curriculum vitae. There will always be information that will not be volunteered especially since all applicants would like to put their best foot forward. It is up to the interviewer to find out the relevant ones that will affect an employees’s performance in work.
About the Guest Blogger:
These interview tips are provided by Helen, a long-time Human Resource Executive of a multi-national company.
Originally posted on October 4, 2012 @ 9:58 am