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Hiring For Success: A Guide for the Interviewer.

If you think going on an interview is nerve-racking, how do you think the interviewer feels? Surprisingly enough, most interviewers feel the same way. Why, simply because many of the hiring managers today have not been trained in the area of interviewing. Sure,there are techniques that are designed to help determine a candidate's potential for success on the job, but most hiring managers do not know what they are.

An interview is more than just asking questions. It is gathering and exchanging information. Without the proper training, this is easy to forget. Many times the interviewer can talk too much about the company or the position and end the interview knowing little or nothing about the candidate and their qualifications or experience. This is the biggest complaint of job seekers today. In the same respect, they can not talk enough and allow the applicant to ramble about things that are not important to the job or interview.

However, a good interviewer asks good questions. The point of an interview is to extract information that reveals whether the applicant has the qualities and experience to get the job done right. It is important to do a form of behavioral interviewing, which involves asking probing questions about the candidate's claims and accomplishments. For example, instead of asking what the candidate did, ask how they would do it.

The best way to prepare for an interview is to determine what you are looking for in a candidate. Clearly define the qualities necessary for the position. This will keep you from making a costly hiring mistake based on a good conversation or a common interest in boating. A candidate should not be selected or rejected based on the outcomes of any single evaluations.

You should have questions prepared beforehand and be ready to take notes. Since this is often the toughest part, here are some questions to ask and how to interpret the answers:

• Question: "How would you respond if you had spent a long time planning a project and your supervisor told you to drop it and start a new project?" What the answer reveals: How flexible is the candidate and how do they handle a sudden change in plans.

• Question: "What would you say to a co-worker who suggests a way to improve the work process that you know will not work?" What the answer reveals: How well does the candidate relate to others and how do they handle confrontation.

• Question: "How did you prepare for the most successful presentation you ever gave?" What the answer reveals: What kind of communication skills does the candidate possess and if they plan ahead or procrastinate.

• Question: "What do you think was the best business writing you ever did, and why do you think so?" What the answer reveals: How does the candidate handle writing tasks and how strong are their writing skills.

• Question: "How would you handle the problem of a team member not doing his or her share of work?" What the answer reveals: If the candidate is capable of working in a team atmosphere and how well they work within a group.

• Question: "If you could take a class or attend a seminar, would you do so, and what topic would you choose?" What the answer reveals: How open the person is to learning new things and what area they are really interested in working.

• Question: "How would you react if you tried an innovative solution to a problem and it failed?" What the answer reveals: If the candidate handles disappointment well and how much creativity is involved in his thinking process.

Upon asking these questions, you will allow the candidate to share with you past experiences in their career. This should help you to determine what they can contribute to your company because the best predictor of future performance is past performance. Be sure to listen well and take good notes as they will be important in the final decision making process. These questions should relieve the employer of some of the stresses of conducting an interview.

So few companies take the efforts to train managers on how to conduct interviews. It is up to the individual managers to take it upon themselves to learn the skills on their own. Since this rarely happens, outsourcing has become a more efficient form of the hiring process. Staffing firms are already trained and experienced in the areas of interviewing, decision-making and hiring employees. It saves on time and money and in many ways is becoming more favorable than an in-house hiring manager.