When searching for the ideal job, there are plenty of things that can go wrong for the average candidate. They might mess up their cv by covering it with accidental spelling mistakes, or you struggle to make the right impression when meeting a potential boss.
One of the biggest sources of anxiety for job-seekers is the interview stage. However, it’s worth noting that hiring managers can make mistakes just as easily as job candidates.
While working with the right specialist manufacturing recruitment agency can help you to narrow down which candidates you should invite to your interview stage, hiring managers also need to work on their interviewing techniques if they want to make the right impression. The last thing you want is for your questions to convince your ideal candidate to reject your job offer.
With that in mind, we’re going to cover some of the most common interviewing mistakes hiring managers make, and how you can avoid them.
1. Being Unprepared
Potential employees aren’t the only people who need to prepare for an interview. Hiring managers also need to take the time to think about what they want from their candidates, which skills, behaviours and competencies to look for, and what past experience they need their employees to have. Don’t be one of those people who only read CVs during an interview. Be prepared.
2. Focusing on the Future More Than the Past
It’s easy to get caught up in the potential that a candidate could bring to a position. Unfortunately, it’s hard to cultivate an accurate opinion of a candidate based entirely on what they “might” do in the future. Rather than asking whether an employee would be willing to work overtime to get a task done in the future, ask them to describe a time when they have gone over and above to get the job done.
3. Making Snap Judgements on Surface Qualities
Snap judgements are easy to make in any situation, but they can be particularly dangerous for interviewing managers. Don’t decide on a new employee based on surface attributes like your candidate’s mannerisms, or the way that they dress. Instead, think carefully about your ideal candidate, and search for the skills, knowledge and attitude to ensure you’re picking the right talent for your team.
4. Failing to be Thorough
Even with a specialist recruitment agency at your side, you could find that you need to go through several interviews before you discover the perfect new employee. Since a series of interviews can easily eat up your entire day, it’s tempting to cut them short. Unfortunately, the best questions are always thorough. Make sure that you probe into the details of the claims that your candidates make, and look for real, measurable facts that they can back up with examples.
5. Being Tricked by the “Halo” Effect
The halo effect is a common problem for interviewing managers. Simply put, it refers to a situation wherein an impression created by one area influences the rest of your decision. For instance, you might decide that you like a candidate because they gave you a firm handshake and support the same sports team as you. That sense of affinity might then colour the rest of the interview, allowing you to be swayed in the wrong direction. Be careful not to let the halo effect blind you.
6. Over-Emphasising the “Can Do” instead of the “Will Do.”
Finding a candidate with the right skillset in terms of an educational, or technical background is important. However, remember not just to focus on what your potential employee “can do”, but what they “will do”, by looking at their temperament, their attitude, and the things that motivate them towards success. For instance, what examples can they share of how they have overcome setbacks?
7. Failing to Communicate with Co-workers
If you’re conducting a group interview with other hiring managers on your team, make sure that you all know what roles you are playing in the interview situation for instance who will be responsible for certain lines of questions.
The last thing you want is for everyone in your group to be so focused on finding out about a candidate’s education that no-one asks questions about key personal characteristics that might be crucial to how they will fit into your company’s culture.
8. Answering your Candidates Questions for Them
Leading questions like, “Maybe you left your last job to pursue better opportunities?” might seem like a good way to make an interview move along more smoothly. However, it just means that you’re putting answers into your potential employee’s mouth. This won’t help you to uncover key details about candidates that might be essential to your hiring decision.
9. Overselling the Job Position
You want skilled employees to be eager to join your team – but that doesn’t mean that you should convince them the position is more than it really is. Being honest and open with your candidates is crucial when you’re starting a new professional relationship. If you oversell the role available, then you could end up with an employee that leaves when reality doesn’t meet the expectation you have set.
10. Making the “Best of It.”
Finally, a lot of hiring managers feel under pressure to fill their vacant position as quickly as possible. That means that they might choose the best of a bad lot just to say that they’ve done their job. Unfortunately, this habit generally leads to problems with increased turnover, a disjointed company culture, and other issues that might cost you more in the long run. If you don’t find the right candidate the first time around, talk with a different specialist recruitment agency who might have access to a different talent pool.
Best regards,
Sigma Recruitment
We are ‘South Wales Recruitment Specialists’ based in Cardiff, Wales.
We offer a full range of permanent recruitment solutions to many of South Wales’ and the South Wests’ leading manufacturing, technical, automotive and life science organisations. This includes companies in Cardiff, Swansea, Newport, Ebbw Vale, Port Talbot, Bridgend and the surrounding areas in South Wales.
Sigma Recruitment has one of the largest and most comprehensive recruitment candidate databases in the area. To get in touch with our team call us now on 02920 450 100. Alternatively, contact us here.
