Published February 2002

Take time, give thought
to personnel interviews

In the new year, many employers are beginning the process of hiring new employees. While the slightly higher unemployment rate may result in more applicants for open positions, this places more pressure on hiring managers to carefully screen applicants and conduct interviews that result in a successful hire.

The interview process
Interviews are an opportunity to uncover the information you need to make a good match between an applicant and an open position. However, to adequately evaluate an applicant for a position, you must first thoroughly review the position requirements and determine the skills, experiences and education that are necessary to perform the job duties. This evaluation should be completed well before the applicant arrives for his or her interview.

After you understand your company’s needs, create an interview plan. In addition to the typical interview questions, I have found that behavioral interviews produce the best results for determining an applicant’s match to a job.

Behavioral interviewing is based on the premise that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. In other words, if the applicant had a skill and the ability to apply that skill in the past, the applicant will most likely have that skill and ability again. Behavioral interviewing requires the applicant to give specific, real-life examples of when he or she demonstrated a skill that is important to the job for which he or she is interviewing.

To elicit behavioral examples, draft job-related questions that will prompt the applicant to give these types of answers. With a little thought you can change most standard interview questions into questions that probe for behaviors.

For example, the question “How would you motivate a co-worker or subordinate?” could become “Give me an example of a time when you improved a subordinate’s job motivation.”

Next, arrange the interview environment to limit interruptions and set aside adequate time for the interview — neither you nor the applicant will do well if you are rushed.

Now that you are ready to conduct the interview, use rapport-building questions to put the applicant at ease.

Interviewing is stressful, and you will not get a good understanding of the applicant if he or she is too tense to provide thoughtful answers to your questions. Ask open-ended questions to get the candidate talking — you need more information than a “yes” and “no” answer. Remember to be quiet and listen to the applicant’s responses.

Use your intuition to ask better questions. If the applicant gives you conflicting information, follow up on the applicant’s responses. Use this opportunity to validate or disprove your initial impression of the candidate. Before the applicant leaves, ask yourself if you have enough information to adequately evaluate the applicant’s qualifications for the job.

Avoiding improper interview questions
Various federal laws make it illegal for employers to discriminate based on race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, veteran status and pregnancy. In addition, state and local laws add other protected classes such as marital status, sexual orientation and political ideology.

So, how do you avoid inadvertently asking the wrong question? Answer: Focus on work-related situations and avoid discussion of the applicant’s personal life.

To give you an idea of how “innocent” questions could cause problems, consider the following example:

Example: “I see that you are pregnant — so am I! When are you due?”

Problem: No matter how excited you may be for someone who is pregnant, it is illegal to discriminate based on pregnancy. If you do not hire this applicant, the applicant may believe your decision was based on her pregnancy.

Jack Goldberg is President of Personnel Management Systems Inc., with offices in Everett, Kirkland and Tacoma. The PMSI Web site is www.hrpmsi.com.

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