10 main questions in an interview with job
applicants
The Human Resources decide
everything, as is well known. Or almost everything. An interview with the job
applicants and assessment of their compliance with requested position is the
most important phase of the personnel selection and the most important task for
an internal recruiter (HR-manager) of any enterprise. As to a small enterprise
– the task of its manager. The better is recruiter’s knowledge about an
applicant, the better he is "armed” for taking the proper decision. WHY the
applicant searches for a new job? An answer to this question is the key moment
for the recruiter.
A lot of guides is available on how
to perform an interview: some of them are too academic, others are behind the
age. Our everyday practice has elaborated 10 key subjects to be cleared up by
each recruiter at any price.
- All
details of the compensatory package at the last job site. It is necessary
to know exactly what the applicant’s earning structure consists of. The
salary’s basic part is frequently only a tip of the iceberg. Get knowledge about his bonuses and credits.
Compose a full list of all additional earnings of the applicant and his
payments for credits. If your company is not able to ensure better terms -
you are losing your time…
- Travel
to the job site and back. By what kind of transport, with switches or
without? It is especially actual for a big city. At present the duration
of the "life inside transport and street jamming” is one of the "life
quality” indices. If the applicant’s travel to your company is more
exhausting then that to his former job place, tell him about it directly
and analyze his reaction. If the new travel is shorter or simpler, underline
this advantage and use it for "selling” the vacancy.
- A
difference between "I want…” and "They propose…” . Nobody changes its job for no
special reason. Quite opposite, everybody would like to improve something,
to get more or get anything missing. It can be named as "point of
support”. Find the key reason – why
the person would like to change its job and determine, if your company
has THIS for him. It gives you
possibility to select further tactics of negotiations.
- In
which environment he works best of all? Separately or in a team, in the
morning or evening, in a separate room or noisy office etc. Is he able to
perform monotonous routine job? You have to know in advance the working
conditions and specificity of department, into which the applicant is
invited. Will he fit in with future
colleagues, will he accept the "rules of play” ?
- All
the strong points and basic
weaknesses. And also the possible objective restrictions. The strong
points and weaknesses are quite natural, everyone has them. Our task is to
determine them and assess their possible impact on future results. Ask yourself: what kind of work is disliked
by you? What functions are unpleasant for you? Very rarely we make the unpleasant things
qualitatively…
- What novelties are expected at the new work
place? Sniff out, get down to
bed-rock. Put open questions and press for concrete answers. It is
problematic to present a position without understanding the applicant’s
desires.
- Has
the applicant other job proposals
at present? Is he passing through other interviews these days? Avoid
surprises for yourself and protect your management against them. Always
ask the applicant, which proposals are still being considered by him. If
he has 3 options now, and another 2 meetings are expected tomorrow, the
decision "to propose– not to propose” shall be taken very promptly.
- What
is required to "close the vacancy”? This question is concretization of the applicant’s answer to the question 6.
For instant, if the main goal of the applicant is the higher salary, you
should know - how many? Or, if the
question 6 reveals that the applicant tries to find "manifold work” with
frequent change of projects, it is necessary to know what kinds of
projects are interested for him and what does the "manifold work”
represent for him. How frequently our speculations about such simple
subjects disagree with true position!
- Is
the applicant able to carry out THIS work? In any case you have to draw
such conclusion. And not on the
basis of so called internal sense, but on the basis of the real-world
information obtained in course of an interview. You have to use successful
results achieved by the applicant at similar job and/or in similar
environment. "Dig deeper” and do not complete an interview until
generation of considered opinion on this.
- Will
the applicant fit in with corporative
culture of your enterprise?
The fortune-telling is an useless business; however the applicant’s
chances for acclimatization shall be assessed by somebody. It is common recognition that not each
person making his work excellently climbs the ladder successfully. Not
only work exists in the life, but also colleagues and relations, both of which
are integrated into the said "corporative culture”. For instance, the insurance company’s
regular habits differ drastically from those of a young PC company established
by friends-schoolmates etc.
Such are 10 key subjects, on the basis of which
the recruiter’s everlasting question "to be or not to be” shall be answered:
"to accept or not to accept” this concrete person?
Sergey Belyaev,
NAVIGATOR HR-company,
www.navigator.lg.ua
www.personal.net.ua |
