Conducting interviews is one of crucial job of Manager even if you are not working in HR. Main task of interviewer is to attract talent and select best suitable candidate for the job. It becomes difficult when you have pressure to recruit more candidates and have less choice. Here are some tips from my ecperience which will be useful to conduct interviews and select best talent.

Preparation: Interviewer has to be prepared before taking interview. Otherwise some smart candidates can make situation worst and it may look as if interviewee is taking interview. Interviewer needs to study profile of the candidate well before candidates appear in the room. The questions to be asked should be decided and well thought of. You need to know what qualities you are looking in candidate and whether your questions will provide the required information. It is better to ask similar questions to all candidates as you can differentiate them based on the answers they give. Study Resume properly and point out the loopholes in it which you can cross check.

First impression is not the last impression: It is the tendency of human being to make assumptions based dressing. Do not get impressed by better communication. You need to ask yourself question if better communication is the requirement of the job. The technical person may not communicate well but must be having good knowledge and skills required for job. Interviewer needs to be smart enough to find out those hidden qualities. Do not start with questions ‘tell me something about yourself’ , ‘Run me through your profile’ because all candidates are prepared for this question. Ask something from Resume as ‘Why you did course on Hardware as your education is in Commerce’ This will put candidate on back foot and you can find out the reality.

Set the rules: You can tell candidates how the interview will proceed and how much time it will take and what behavior you expect during the interview. This will make you rule the show.

Introduction: Welcoming the candidate shows professionalism. You need to introduce yourself as this will be taken positively by the talent you wish to attract. You can introduce your company to put positive impression in front of candidate.

Questions: Ask specific questions and be clear about what answers you are expecting. Ask open ended questions as it will opportunity to know more about candidate. Ask views. There are many types of questions depending upon the nature of job. But mainly they can be divided into technical and personality related. Technical questions will have specific answers but you need to drill down to check how deeply candidate studied the subject. Personality related question will give you insight of candidate’s nature. He has to be team player so your questions should be framed to check this important point. Ask his views about current affairs you will come to know about his interests and if he is associated with some political parties. Recheck every answer by asking more questions on answers. Some candidates are smart enough to end the answer on some of their strong points. So that interviewer tends to ask question where a candidate has left the last word. Avoid that temptation. Ask about the situations candidate has faced and tackled during his last assignment. Recheck with more questions. This will help you check how much genuine the candidate is.

Avoid arguement :As you know the correct answers you need not entertain the candidate who is arguing. Do not waste too much time helping candidate understand the subject. Keep in mind the difference between training and interview.

Avoid making perceptions: Perception regarding the locality, Education or language can land into choosing the wrong candidate.

End of Show: End the interview by giving the candidate chance to ask questions. This will give you another chance to verify the attitude of the candidate. The candidate who asks the question about growth and long term career path will be more serious about his job. Thank the candidate to end the interview and let him know how you will convey the decision.