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By Michael A. Holzschu

INTERVIEWING THE CANDIDATE

The interview itself is going to follow the same format that you established in the "Phone Screen". The format is essential and you should use an interview guide with all interviews. This keeps you on track and following the same process with each applicant that you are interviewing.

An opening statement regarding what is going to happen during the interview and what is to be accomplished at the conclusion should always precede an interview. The next action should be to confirm the information the candidate has written down on the application. The third portion deals with decision making. The final portion brings the interview to a conclusion.

In establishing your format for questions to ask the candidate, you have two options as to the style of the question. First is the closed ended type question where you are confirming the information in front of you. The answers are either yes or no. The second involves more open ended questions that require a value judgment or a longer explanation type answer

The close-ended question has a role in the interview. Consider the following question:

"I see that you worked for ABC Design as a design engineer?"

This type of question is used to confirm the information on the applicant's resume or application. All that it requires is a yes or no answer. Yet this type of question is rarely used correctly and makes a perfect transition into the next set of questions.

• "What types of projects did you work on at ABC Design?"
• " What projects did you manage at ABC Design and what were the outcomes of the projects?"
• "If you could make one change in the Design Engineering Department at ABC Design, what would it be and why?"

The key to the questions being asked is that they are all maximize the amount of information gathered. This is the only opportunity for you to gather the information you will need to make a decision as to the capabilities of the candidate. So structure your questions as such to get the maximum information.

Let's take a question and ask it in several different ways:

1. "I see from your application that you worked at the ABC Company?"
2. "I see that you worked at the ABC Company, what did you like about the company or job itself?"
3. "While working at the ABC Company, what do you feel was the best part of your job?"

With just these three versions of the same question, you will get different responses. Take a piece of paper and jot down your own responses to each of these questions as if you were the applicant.

With your answers in hand, let us see what you came up with.

• To the first question, all that is needed is a yes or no answer.

• To the second question most likely the answer covered the working conditions and the people you worked with. Because of the style of question, you will know more about the candidate and what may be important to him. However, your information is still limited. You probably do not know any specific information such as, how he felt about the company or job.

• The third question requires that a value judgment be made by the candidate as to what he felt was the best part of the job. This gives you a much more detailed view of how the candidate thinks and what his value system is. If he feels the best parts of the job were the 20-minute breaks he got, you may be in for a problem. It also is the first inkling of his work ethic and values. More probing may be required to either confirm or disprove your initial reaction to the answer.

Most interviewers are looking for the safest candidate to hire and will only verify that the candidate has performed the tasks previously. This is easy enough to do by simply having a test area where the individual can be put through the performance of the specific task. This will tell you if the individual meets your minimum standards for the job. The problem that occurs is that all of the people hired will only be at the Required level as you defined in your Position Statement. You have done nothing to find candidates that also fit your "Preferred" skill or knowledge levels that you defined in the Position Statement portion of this program. This gives you a staff that only meets the bare minimum requirements.

In conducting the interview, the only thing you have to do is get it started by asking a question. With the extensive training in interviewing that candidates receive today, it pays to start an interview in a non-traditional way. I usually open an interview with the question:

"So, John tell me about you and why you are here today."

This starts the interview off in a direction that is normally not covered in classes to teach people how to interview. The responses to this question are varied. Maybe starting with:

The person who just starts talking about previous jobs, themselves and everything in between. If they ask you a question similar to the following:

"I don't know! What do you want me to say?"

or--

"What would you like to know?"

---Your Response To Either Question Should Be:---

"Tell me about your previous jobs and work experiences."

The other way to start an interview is to move the last part to the beginning. Starting with:

"On your way over here today, you probably thought of a dozen questions that you wanted to ask. Usually by the time we get to the finish of the interview, you will have forgotten most of them. With this in mind, I would like to start the interview by having you ask those questions now."

This puts the shoe on the other foot. By allowing the candidate to begin by asking their questions first, you have not supplied any clues as to what you deem as important to the job or the company. You will find out what is important to the candidate.

While on the topic of questions, it is time to address those topics that cannot be included in the interview. The following list gives you an idea of what topics cannot be asked in your questions:

TOPICS NOT OPEN TO INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:

1. Race, national origin, or color.

2. Religious background.

3. Age can not be discussed except to find out if the individual is a minor.

4. Sexual orientation questions that could be deemed as discriminatory.

5. Any question dealing with life style outside of work.

6. Transportation to and from work.

7. Marital status.

8. Child care arrangements for working mothers.

9. Spouse, children or family information.

10. Handicaps that would have no bearing on the performance of the job being applied for.

11. List of clubs, societies and lodges to which an applicant belongs.

12. Requiring a photograph before hire.

13. Height or weight questions (Michigan Employers)

14. Questions dealing with Birthplace of the applicant or parents Birthplace.

Inadvertently during the interview, applicants may volunteer information concerning one of the areas listed above. This does not give you the go ahead to ask additional questions concerning that area. In fact, you do not want to make any notes about these areas what so ever. If you were to be audited or had to supply a copy of all documents concerning the hiring process, you could be in a jeopardy situation with these types of notes. Do not ask any follow-up questions on these areas and any information that was supplied must be ignored in making a hiring decision.

All questions must be directed to previous work experiences or qualifications to perform a specific job. Great care must be taken in the interview as many EEOC complaints have been filed based upon the questions asked in an interview. There have been situations that the EEOC and State Department of Civil Rights have sent out testers to see if an employer is discriminating in the interview process. If the question does not relate to the job, do not ask it.

When filling out your interview guide, be careful oh how you write your notes. The completed interview guide becomes part of the employee file if hired or must be maintained with the application for employment for one year if not hired. If your comments are vague and open ended, you could be creating a paper trail that could support a discrimination claim.

Take the case of Joe V.

Joe is the owner of a tool and die company. He had an opening for a receptionist stationed in the front lobby of the company. The ad that was placed in the local paper stated:

Receptionist Position: Greets customers, provides general information to public and answers the incoming telephone calls. Individual must present an acceptable "Business Attire" for the interview.

With only this portion of the ad presented to you, Joe had two applicants apply for the job. One attired in a Business Suit and the other in torn jeans and a T-shirt. It is legally defensible not to hire the candidate that appeared in the jeans and T-shirt. You required the candidates to present a "Business Attire" for the interview. On the interview guide just be sure to state specifically why. A statement such as:

"The applicant was dressed poorly."

Is not specific enough and a subjective evaluation that you can not back up. Rather a statement such as:

"The applicant appeared at the interview dressed in torn jeans and a T-shirt contrary to the ad requirements."

This provides the specifics and a copy of the ad itself should be maintained.

WHAT CONSTITUTES A GOOD CANDIDATE?

Just who is the candidate that you are looking for? Were you faced with a perspective employee that you had to repeat your questions to several times, because they were not really listening? If this was the case, just think of the problems that you are going to have in training that person. On the reverse side, what about the candidate that doesn't say anything? All of the answers are "I don't know, I'm not sure or maybe." Have you gathered enough information about this person to make an educated guess as to his/her success? Most likely not.

Not only is the answer itself important, how the candidate answers also is important. If you hired the "I don't know" person for a telemarketing job, the chances for success are not that great. If you hire an individual that talks all through the interview almost to the point of babbling, he/she will not be to successful in an environment that puts them in a one person project situation located in a cubicle by themselves. An out going social type of person is not going to fair well in a one-person type of environment.

So, listen to not only the words being said, but also to how the words are said. This can give you valuable clues about the individual that can help determine the success of the employee. Failures in hiring can be equated directly to lost profits for your company.

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