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February 14, 2025
What Common Mistakes Are Made in Conducting Job Interviews?
A common mistake hiring managers make when conducting a job interview is not fully understanding what skills and traits the ideal candidate for the role should possess, according to Andrew Hunter, co-founder of Adzuna, a job-advertising search engine.
Preparing for the Interview
“Before you begin the hiring process, consider the things that would attract you to a job and implement them into your own business,” Hunter told Business News Daily. “Make your mission statement and your company culture clear on your website to prevent unsuitable candidates [from] applying, saving both your [time] and the job hunter’s time.”
A checklist of tips for conducting interviews from Robert Half includes preparing some “close-ended, factual questions” aligned to the basics of the job description and the company’s hiring criteria. The staffing firm also suggests using some open-ended questions that “require thought and oblige the candidate to reveal attitudes or opinions” and behavioral questions that focus on “past experiences to provide insight into how a candidate might handle similar situations in the future.”
Conducting the Interview
In a column for the Harvard Business Review, Irina Cozma, a career and executive coach, stressed the importance of creating a “comfortable environment” for the job applicant at the interview stage. Steps include beginning the interview with a “warm greeting and small talk to ease the candidate’s nerves” and then explaining the interview structure, including duration and topics, to set the path for the conversation.
As questions get underway, the interviewer should show “genuine interest” in the candidate’s answers. Cozma wrote, “Don’t multitask or let yourself get distracted. However, do let the candidate know that you will be taking notes. Your engagement will foster a two-way dialogue and encourage them to express themselves more freely.”
Criteria Corp, a SaaS-based employment analytics platform, advises grading responses during the interview as they’re heard. A Criteria blog entry states, “You want to evaluate them while their answers are fresh in your mind.”
In a Forbes column, Matthew Kelly, founder of Floyd Consulting and author of the New York Times best-seller “The Culture Solution,” cited not having a consistent interview process, including asking each candidate the same questions, among his hiring mistakes.
Other shortcomings Kelly often sees in the job interview process include succumbing to first-impression bias, focusing on factors such as personality and appearance rather than on job-related skills and competencies, asking questions that aren’t specific enough or relevant to the role, and “talking too much and failing to let the candidate speak, even if that means waiting through those long, awkward silences.”
Concluding the Interview
Other tips include asking for and checking references.
LinkedIn advises offering opportunities to allow the candidate to ask questions. A LinkedIn blog states, “Not only does this allow them to evaluate if the position is a good fit for them, but it also allows you to measure their interest and understanding of the company.”
Michael Page, the employment agency, advises interviewers to summarize their notes as soon as the applicant leaves. A blog entry states, “This will ensure your impression of their personality, skills, and abilities is fresh in your mind and can be used to make a decision after you have met with other applicants.”
Discussion Questions
What advice would you have about conducting job interviews?
Does the advice differ for managers at the store versus corporate level?
What tricks have you personally learned about interviewing job candidates?
Poll
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Shep Hyken
Chief Amazement Officer, Shepard Presentations, LLC
David Biernbaum
Founder & President, David Biernbaum & Associates LLC
Neil Saunders
Managing Director, GlobalData
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From my experience, the best interviews are like conversations that help both parties learn more about each other and assess whether there is a fit. The biggest mistake is to think an interview is a one-way street where the candidate is simply there to answer a set of predetermined questions.
Your most costly mistake will be what you don’t do when interviewing candidates.
It will be costly if you do not prepare in advance by familiarizing yourself with the candidate’s resume and other documentation. Prepare a list of questions and talking points.
Not knowing what you want is a fatal mistake. To ask the right questions in an interview, it is important to know what type of candidate you are looking for.
You don’t want to make a schedule? What a mistake! Try to stick to a schedule for the interview dates and times. By doing this, you will avoid a disjointed or disconnected process.
Lack of diligence in taking notes. You should record any information you observe or hear that may assist you in making a hiring decision. The importance of this becomes even more apparent when interviewing more than one candidate at the same time.
Keep control of the interview by asking appropriate questions, paying attention, and minimizing distractions. You should be polite, but avoid letting the candidate veer too far off topic or waste your time with chatty conversation.
Creating an environment that discourages communication is a terrible mistake: Create a friendly and transparent environment that encourages open communication and discussion. Transparency is your best friend. Otherwise, the interview will be too artificial to find out who the real person is.
In most instances, more than one person on your team will be interviewing the candidate, at least at some point in the process. I think it might be a mistake to allow yourself to be prejudiced pro or con until you complete the interview yourself. However, one person might ask you to do a follow up question for clarity and that is fine.
In order to get a more detailed response, ask follow-up questions after the interview.
A costly mistake is hiring too fast (and if you do, not firing fast enough). That may seem tough, but depending on the labor market and industry, getting the right person can be tough. Remember, your reputation is only as good as your weakest employee. If a customer interacts with “that person,” that is the customer’s perception of your company.
Although it should look natural and casual, the hiring team should be crystal clear in defining terms of the candidate skills and personality characteristics that would be successful in the job. Additionally, good communication is needed internally so if you are having the candidates meet multiple team members, everyone on the team is up to speed and there is an expectation of taking notes and having facts to support their opinions of the candidates.
Last year, I was in a job search, and I had several interviews where one of the leaders that was interviewing me hadn’t even seen my resume at the onset of the interview. This is a bad sign for me as the candidate because I just spent 3-5 hours preparing for the interview and it is clear that they have spent “0′. I immediately think that if they are not spending time preparing to hire talent, what other areas of the business are they skipping overview.
I think that it is also good to have a final review meeting with all that have been involved to gather a complete understanding of the candidates.
Hiring managers: Be clear in skills/traits are key for the role, prepare for the interviews and thoroughly review all of the candidates’ qualities when making a final decision,