HIRING MANAGER INTERVIEWING SKILLS: TIPS & STRATEGIES
By Leah Rubin and Marc Mencher

While the interviewee chair may be no bed of roses, the Hiring Manager’s Aeron certainly has its own thorny issues, and in an industry where the possession of very specific skills can make or break a project, no management function is more critical than hiring. Yet, despite the vital importance of hiring the right people, most hiring tasks are often pawned off and neglected. While you may think you simply don’t have the time right now to devote to putting together an organized interviewing program, you’ll have much less time when that only marginally qualified new employee you hired in desperation botches the job or simply walks out the door.

Having in place a structured interview process will save you countless hours, heartache, and headache, and could even avert a lawsuit, if you will simply devote even a modicum of preparation time. This article is designed to provide you with a set of guidelines to optimize your interviews and, consequently, your hires.

Know exactly what you want.
Hiring right in the first place avoids loads of problems in the long run. Before going into an interview, determine precisely what it is you’re looking for. Think of it like placing a personal ad to find the perfect mate. Do you just want a person who also "likes sunsets, long walks, and sleeping in on Sundays" or do you want a person "between the ages of 28 and 38, non-smoker, vegetarian, no kids, and loves curling"?

A 55 year old meat-eating smoker with three kids and an aversion to all ice sports, may also like sunsets, long walks, and sleeping in on Sundays. The point is the more general and vague your job description, the greater the likelihood of receiving thousands of responses, most of them unqualified. On the other hand the more specific and precise your job description, the greater the chance of pinpointing and getting a person with very specific skill sets.

In short, the more time you spend at the onset of the process, determining exactly what it is you really want and need, the less time you’ll spend wading through a sea of unqualified candidates.

Starting with the phone screen.
Once you’ve determined the precise qualifications of your ideal candidate, and placed your ad or job order detailing those qualifications, your next interviewing step is the phone screen. Beginning with this step, you should approach the interviewing process with the same respect you expect from the candidate. If you scheduled the phone screen for a particular time, be ready and give yourself enough time to conduct the phone interview uninterrupted. And don’t do anything else while interviewing. Don’t take other calls and no matter how quietly you think you’re typing, the person on the other end will be acutely aware that you’re attention is not entirely devoted to them. Don’t lose sight that you’re not just chatting on the phone, rather, this is someone you may want working for your company. Further, bear in mind that this candidate may be considering a life-altering decision by interviewing with your company, show them the same consideration you would expect if positions were reversed. The phone screen should last just 20-30 minutes and the same tips and caveats that will be discussed below apply at this stage.

Structure is a good thing.
As a member of the company, you will be one of the clues that the candidate looks at to determine how things are done. Be sure to come to the interview on time, and fully prepared. That is, be sure you have read the candidate’s resume, and you have drafted standardized, structured questions to ask.

According to the Harvard Business Review, since World War I, extensive research has been conducted on the efficacy of various evaluation methods – including interviews. Unquestionably, the research has shown that structured interviews are the most reliable of all techniques for predicting performance.

While structured interviews render the best results, most interviews tend to devolve into loose conversations. While this makes for a warm and fuzzy "interview" and the candidate strolls away relieved, what have you actually learned about this potential employee? And, as the Harvard Business Review also concludes, the costs of unstructured interviews are many, but perhaps the most damaging one is invisible; rejecting a highly qualified candidate who simply didn’t excel at chitchat.

Anatomy of the interview.
A structured interview entails a prepared interviewer, as well as pre-prepared and well-prepared questions. Further, these are questions that you prepare, not just a list of questions copied and pasted off a website. You’re going to get the right person for the job only if you ask the right questions for the job.

You know more about the job requirement than anyone else, so the job detail specifics are best left in your court. However, there are question basics to keep in mind including ways to best elicit the information you need and ways to not get the company sued. A truly structured interview is also much more than a series of questions, it’s about tone, tempo, body language and mindset.

Be prepared to play both sides of the desk.
During the course of the interview you must act as both participant and observer. You participate by asking questions, receiving answers, and probing for further clarity and truth to those answers. Further, you control the pace, integrity, content, length and quality of the interview. On the other hand, you must also observe by effectively remaining emotionally detached, by practicing "active" listening and assessing the interviewee throughout the entire interview.

Initial pleasantries set the tone.
Once you’ve pre-screened possible candidates based on their hard and soft skills, spoken over the phone, and determined that this person is worthy of a face-to-face meeting, you now find this person standing in your office.

Start building rapport immediately. Break the ice and set the probably nervous candidate at ease by greeting them by name (and continue to use their name throughout the interview). Introduce yourself by name and title, asking if they had any trouble finding the office, inquire as to whether they would like some water, and would they like to remove their coat, etc. The more comfortable your candidate, the more of themselves they will reveal. The preceding may sound obvious, but when you’re in crunch mode and have a thousand other issues on your mind, it’s the most obvious niceties that may get skipped. Don’t skip them. You will not only have a better and more honest interview, you will also get a better, and more honest feel for the person.

The first ten minutes.
Even before one of your prepared questions is asked, the structured interview begins when the candidate first enters the room. Immediately get them talking. Say "I’ve read and reviewed your resume, but why don’t you take ten minutes and talk me through the high points." This gives you a moment to listen to how they present themselves and time to consider the following:

[] Are they outgoing or shy?
[] Do they speak clearly or mumble?
[] Concise or verbose?
[] Do they gloss over ambiguous areas of the resume or take the time to clear things up?
[] Over-explain or under-explain?
[] Do they say "I" or "we"?
[] Give credit to others? Hold themselves accountable for failures?
[] If you ask them to speak for two minutes do they go on for twenty?
[] Do they speak positively or negatively of their last employer?

Body language.
Next, in addition to listening to what they’re saying, take note of what they’re doing. Half of human communication takes place on a nonverbal level, through body language. If your candidate sends different verbal and nonverbal messages, you will subconsciously trust what you see and not what you hear. You can also use your own body language to control the interview and the candidate. If you appear relaxed, friendly, and interested then the candidate will mirror your emotions and feelings. Likewise, if you appear rushed, defensive, and unprepared, not surprisingly, they will surmise you consider them an inconvenience. The following body language clues will help control the pace of the interview:

[] Sit forward to show that you are arriving at an important point.
[] Sit back to conclude an idea or to let the candidate digest what you have said.
[] Sit or look sideways to indicate the transition to another question or topic.
[] Sit upright, shuffle your papers, or put down your pen to indicate the interview is coming to an end.

Interviews are also time to employ your best poker face skills. Be careful of facial expressions that show obvious pleasure or displeasure to the candidate’s response.

After voice, eye contact is the most powerful tool for communication. Eyes either bind you to, or separate you from, your audience. Eye contact directly reflects the level of attentiveness and concentration to the interview. Make eye contact! And, similarly, take note of whether the candidate also makes eye contact. In addition to avoidance of eye contact, other "negative" candidate clues to look for include:

[] Crossed arms
[] Redness of chest
[] Rubbing of face
[] Shifting in seat
[] Distracting you when they don’t want to answer something
[] "Forgetting" to answer your question

The art of asking questions.
Effective interviewing must entail more than simply reading your list of questions. To gain genuine insight from those questions, try the following simple techniques:

[] Don’t rush to fill the silence if they take a moment before answering. Give them a minute, look away, rephrase it if necessary, or ask them if they’d like you to come back to it later, but make sure you do come back to it.
[] Don’t lead them to your preferred answer ("You won’t have any problem learning Maya, will you?")
[] Not sure what you heard them say? Sum it up and ask for their confirmation that you got their answer right. "So, if I understood you correctly…is that right?"
[] Bring them back on topic if they stray. "I don’t feel like I got a full answer to my question on why you left your last employer, could you please elaborate?
[] Use the last few words to prompt the person for more information. Example:
Answer: "Yes, I felt that my manager had unreasonable expectations …"
Your counter "…unreasonable expectations?"

Closing the interview.
If you’ve asked all your questions and feel like you’ve received complete enough answers to help you make an informed decision, it’s time to shuffle your papers, put down your pen and close the interview. In wrapping up, be sure to ask the candidate for any final questions, including whether there was anything you didn’t ask that they would like for you to know. Inquire as to their interest level, but it’s best to not let on to yours with proclamations such as "You’re our best candidate yet!" Thank them for their time and let them know the company will be getting back to them.

Evaluating the interview.
Most likely you will interview several candidates about one position. And, odds are, you will forget the details of each interview, leaving you with just a "gut" feeling. The structured interview doesn’t end when the candidate walks out the door. Rather, at the end of the interview, write your own brief evaluation of the candidate. In particular, note what struck you as this person’s strengths and weaknesses relative to the requirements of the position.

You are the company. When approaching the interview, bear in mind that you represent an entire company. You represent the president and you represent your buddy down the hall.

Tell the truth and nothing but that truth. In the eyes of the law, an employment relationship may begin long before the employee’s first day on the job. If a candidate joins a company based on false promises and misrepresentations, it may result in legal exposure for the employer. As the interviewer, don’t make inaccurate claims to heighten a candidate’s interest in the job. If the claims are, ultimately, not realized, there is a legal liability potential. While telling the truth should always be the case, this is particularly key in situations when inducing a candidate away from another currently secure position or when bringing someone in from another state or country. Your company’s legal counsel should be able to provide you with more specific advice in this regard.

Don’t write on the resume. This comes back to legalities. As crazy as it may sound, a simple circle around a graduation date could indicate you considered age and, if the company is sued for age discrimination, could take away your defense that age didn’t matter in the selection criteria. There are a host of other examples, but, the basic rule is short and simple: do not write on the resume. In many companies, solicited resumes are required to be kept for one year in the event a suit is brought against the company.

Conclusion.
When the candidate leaves your office, you should not be thinking "I’m not really sure what he meant by that" or "She said X initially, but I think she said Y later." The interview is the time to respectfully confront discrepancies and get to the truth. It’s up to you as the interviewer to gather all necessary information and dispel all uncertainties to make a sound decision. If you conduct a structured interview from the very beginning, you will decrease the odds of an unhappy ending.

Leah Rubin
Director of Human Resources, joined Radical Entertainment in 2000. Leah is responsible for meeting Radical's growing human resource needs by ensuring the attraction, retention and development of world class talent. Leah also provides direction and leadership support in all human resources and employment practice matters with an emphasis on human resources "best practices". She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of British Columbia as well as a diploma in the Management of Human Resources from the British Columbia Institute of Technology where she graduated with honors. This spring she will be starting her M.B.A. in Human Resources at Royal Roads University. Leah brings over 13 years of human resource management experience, including having held senior positions at the world class Metropolitan Hotel and Surrey Metro Savings Credit Union. Since she joined Radical Entertainment the company has won several awards including "The Best Company to work for in British Columbia", as selected by BC Business Magazine and "Canada's 50 Best Managed Private Companies", as selected by Arthur Andersen, twice. Leah co-facilitated an "HR Best Practises Roundtable" session at this year’s GDC.