Tips on How to Successfully Interview Job Candidates

Hire the right people by knowing how to uncover a candidates abilities, talents, strengths, and weaknesses.

An interview is your opportunity to find out if the applicant is qualified for the job, if they're truly interested in the available position, and if they fit your company's culture. A successful interview is a matter of asking the right questions, listening to the answers, and getting candidates to talk honestly about their abilities and attitudes.

Once you've received the bulk of your responses, narrow your stack of resumes to the top 10 candidates or so, and start by preparing a basic list of interview questions. You may want to consider briefly talking to candidates over the phone before you bring them in, as the candidate may look good on paper, but will make a terrible phone impression. When you call an applicant in for an interview, qualities to look for include good communication skills, a neat and professional appearance, and a friendly and enthusiastic manner. Remember to take objective notes and record responses during the interview to help you compare candidates when it's time to make a decision. Following are some tips to help you screen candidates and improve your job interviewing skills.

Set the framework of the interview

Tell the applicant about the interview format, introduce yourself and put the candidate at ease by outlining the basic structure of the interview. Have the applicant feel comfortable so as to speak freely and provide detailed answers to your questions. Be prepared to discuss your business' core functions, history, future plans, and culture. You may want to prepare a fact sheet that lists relevant company information.

Avoid questions with an obvious response

Try to avoid general questions that won't tell you much about the candidate. Avoid any question that can be answered with a simple yes or no. The idea is to find out how the person will perform in a specific role. Formulate your questions based on your list of desired skills.

Encourage candidates to talk about themselves

To avoid pre-planned responses construct open-ended questions that invite candidates to share information and talk about their experiences in detail. Have a good mix of experienced-based, work style-based, and behavior-based questions that will provide a complete view of the candidate's background and personality. These questions will help you gather some real information about a person's judgement, willingness to take risks, and decision-making capabilities. Following are some examples:

Experienced-based

1. What were your three biggest accomplishments in your last job? In your career?


2. Tell me about a recent project you've completed.


3. When working on a group project, what role do you typically play? Why?


4. Tell me about a time you had to make a critical decision, and what went into that process.


5. What are three things you really do well?


6. What are three areas where you need help? Work style-based

Describe a typical day on your current job.

1. What do you like?


2. What don't you like?


3. How would you react in a scenario that would require you to work independently?


4. In what situations have you disagreed with your boss?


5. What was the outcome?


6. What risks did you take in your last job and what were the results?


7. What methods do you use to make decisions?

Behavior-based

1. Describe three situations where your work was criticized.


2. Tell me about the last time that you missed a project deadline. What happened and how did you manage the problem.


3. What is the best environment for you to function?


4. What would your best reference or people you work with say about you?


5. What wouldn't they say?


6. Questions not to ask during an interview

The law is very strict about what you can't ask during an interview, and asking them can lead to a discrimination lawsuit. Questions on non-job related information such as age, race, marital status or disability are legally forbidden. When conducting an interview it is advisable to focus on the professional topics.
Sample questions of what not to ask include:

1. How old are you?


2. Are you married?


3. Are you a citizen?


4. Are you planning on having children soon?


5. Are you disabled?


6. Do you have any medical problems?


7. Have you ever filed for worker's compensation?

Bringing the interview to a close

1. Leave time at the end of the interview for the applicant to ask questions and pay attention to what he/she asks.


2. Based on the kind of questions asked you'll be able to judge if the applicant researched your company, or if they are only interested in what they can get out of the job.


3. End the interview by letting the candidate know what to expect next and when they can expect to hear from you.


4. Take 5 or 10 minutes to write down the applicant's outstanding qualities and evaluate his/her personality and skills against your job description and specifications.

CDC Careers

What's the best thing about working for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one of the world's top public health organizations?

For Hilda Shepeard, a team leader and senior health communications specialist at CDC headquarters in Atlanta, it's not the prestige or pay: "There's an enormous opportunity to really do something meaningful -- you're touching people's lives."

Here's a closer look at what these public health protectors do and how they got where they are.

Infectious Disease Containment and More

The CDC's 8,500 employees have plenty to do. The agency's current priorities include stemming the spread of infectious diseases, such as pandemic influenza, and increasing the nation's preparedness for bioterrorism, natural disasters and other potential public health emergencies.

Most CDC job opportunities are typically for medical officers, epidemiologists, microbiologists and public health advisors/analysts. Their main activities range from researching health problems and disease-control programs to identifying epidemics, carrying out lab science, and advising state, local and foreign governments on public health matters.

But the CDC isn't just about detecting and stopping infectious diseases. For example, in response to increasing violence in society, the agency created the Division of Violence Prevention to help curb youth violence, child mistreatment and other forms of abuse.

Also playing key roles in fulfilling the CDC's mission are business disciplines such as program management, information technology and communications. Says Shepeard of her department: "We develop health communications strategies regarding sexually transmitted diseases to try to influence individual and community behaviors. It doesn't matter how good the science is; if we don't communicate it, we haven't done anything."

Guidelines To Offshore-Proof Your Technical Career

Some of the top tips also are parallel to tips experts advise for any IT career succession, whether offshoring is a risk or not.

Some of the best advice usually falls under three wide categories –

• Technology and business skills diversification


• Self promotion


• Soft skills and networking.

Skills diversification:
"If you want to move up the food chain, and keep your career secure, you've got to be a perpetual learner," says Steven Creason, assistant professor in MIS at Metropolitan State University in Minnesota and a former Accenture consultant and employment lawyer.

"Whether it's taking classes or moving around within a company, you need to broaden your skills and stay relevant to the business' needs," he says. "How many times do I need to reinvent myself? As many times as it takes," he says.

One key characteristic that can help offshore-proof your own job is education how to manage relationships with service providers and vendors -- those skills are a bonus if your company does offshore work to a third party. So, instead of becoming a aim of offshoring, you're a possible link.

However, only 55% of IT staffers say they currently have an additional important connected skill-set -- significant how to build vendor relationships. More managers -- about 77% -- maintain they have those skills.

Self promotion:
While some people shy away from self promotion, too much reserve might really hurt you career-wise. "Being a manager, marketing yourself internally, and also having a enthusiasm to step out of your comfort zone during your career" can help construct offshore-proof defenses, says Bill Wisley, who spent 20 years as an IT pro previous to joining nationwide IT staffing firm XSell as director of ERP solutions.

Once you step further than the IT comfort region, "immerse yourself into day-to-day operations, building relationships with users, and understanding how tech tools can be an asset to them and their processes," he says. "If you're coding, understand why you're coding," he says.

But most important, "make sure your direct organization knows you're maximizing your skills," Wisley says

Soft skills and networking:
Increasing solid interpersonal skills also is significant. "The strongest and best things people can do to stay valuable is to develop teamwork and communication skills," advices Mike Biela, a 20-year IT expert who last year reinvented himself as a mentor after becoming a casualty of a former employer that determined to outsource its IT process . "Acquire those interpersonal skills through training, on the job or outside the job, whether it's at a local or community college," Biela says.

Also helpful in developing valuable business and communications skills is involvement with IT professional organizations, Wisley says. Networking with other professionals in and outer your association could help you land your next job, mainly if you do get the boot since of offshoring or outsourcing.