How to Hold a Job Interview

There is plenty of advice out there for anyone looking to attend a job interview, yet far fewer of us have actual experience in holding a job interview, and advice for interviewing candidates is harder to come across as a consequence. 

In this article, we will take a look at some of the best job interview questions and answers to help you find the ideal person for your company’s next job vacancy, as well as how to get the logistics and organisation behind your interviews spot on.

What are the best questions to ask during a job interview? 

Whether conducting your first or one hundred and first job interview, it is always a good idea to be well prepared by compiling an appropriate list of interview questions in advance. The best job interview questions won’t only check that the person you’re interviewing legitimately has the qualifications, knowledge and skills to suit the advertised job role, but also that they will be a good fit for your company.

The key to conducting a successful interview is to remember that, to an extent, you are also interviewing the person on a personal level, and it is crucial to make sure that you think they would fit in well with everyone else in your team.

Some of the most probing and insightful questions you can ask when interviewing someone are:

• Where do you see yourself in five years?

This question gives you a full understanding of what this person is about. If they tell you about their ambitions and you find that they suit your company’s vision, they could be promising. If they tell you about their plans for maybe settling down, getting married, having children or moving in with loved ones, you get a sense of their priorities and their core moral values.

• What is it about our company that made you decide to apply here?

This question allows you to determine which applicants have done their homework and show a genuine interest in your company, and which ones have not. Clearly, applicants who are actually enthusiastic about your business will be more likely to engage better with tasks if employed by you.

• What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?

This question quite often catches people out. You will likely hear cliches such as “This is the part where I’m supposed to tell you I don’t have any weaknesses, isn’t it?” or “I work too hard”.  However, this question can give you a good insight into exactly what a person might be like to work with from their own perspective.

• Why are you looking to leave your current job?

This question is key to finding out exactly what someone can be like to work with. If they are leaving due to differences of opinion with their current employer or colleagues, this question is likely to uncover their reasons.

Organisational tips for holding an interview

Whilst you may be focused on the fact that you are interviewing candidates, it is also important to remember that they are simultaneously interviewing you in a way. Few candidates will likely want to come and work for you unless you are able to strike the right balance of professionalism, as well as being approachable enough for them to feel comfortable enough to discuss their ideas with you openly.

One way to make a good impression on your candidates is to ensure that you are well organised with regard to their interview. Although some employers like to arrive several minutes late to interviews as a way to test if their candidates want the job enough to wait for them, it can also be considered rude to waste their time like this. It is usually best to arrive on time when interviewing candidates, so as not to appear rude and make sure they recognise that you value their time.

As well as arriving on time yourself, make sure that you readily communicate with your candidates well in advance of the meeting itself. Let them know exactly where the meeting will take place, how long you anticipate that it will last, and the date and time you would like them to arrive. 

Depending on the type of interview and the people you are interviewing, you may find yourself in a position where you’d rather that your candidates weren’t in a position to bump into one another easily on their way in to or out of their interviews. This can often be the case when interviewing candidates from within the same organisation who may want to keep it private that they’re competing with others for certain roles.

As interviews are confidential meetings, you will want to ensure that you hold your interviews away from others, so that you can have the confidential conversations you need to have away from anyone who might be listening in. Many organisations will have a private interview room where these kinds of conversations are possible. However, for utmost confidentiality, you may also like to consider holding your interviews off-site. 

If your organisation lacks a suitable interview room, you might also wish to book an offsite interview room not simply out of necessity, but as a way of making a good impression on your candidates. Some of the most impressive office buildings in the country have meeting spaces available to rent, with onsite staff ready to help you prepare everything that you might need, including receptionists to greet your candidates and advise them on which room to go to at what time.

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With some idea of how to best organise your next company interviews, make sure you book your interview space well in advance to avoid disappointment, whether on your own premises or rented from a meeting room provider. Once you have this secured, communicate this location clearly with your candidates and rehearse asking your questions before the day.