All too often an employer will take an ad hoc approach, taking little time to prepare for the interview. What transpires is often a meandering discussion where most of the core areas are, at best, only touched on and at worst, overlooked entirely.

This is not limited to those who have little interview experience; often the key offenders are those who have extensive experience and that in itself can be their Achilles heel. I recall speaking to a practice manager responsible for recruiting financial planners and when I asked him what preparation he made before each interview, he laughed and said ‘I don’t do any. I’ve been doing this for years and know what to ask’. But when I queried him on a particular interview he conducted with a senior financial planner, he admitted that he had left some of the key criteria for the position out of the interview.

Even employers who exercise caution when making decisions about their business seem to take a more relaxed approach to interviews – and this is not limited to those who work in the same way as our practice manager. Often it is a matter of familiarity with the candidate that lulls the employer in to less formal way of conducting the interview.

Candidate familiarity can be a positive in that you might know the interviewee as a colleague from the industry however often that knowledge doesn’t replace a formal interview where the candidate has to talk about a range of pertinent issues in a formal context.

The key to successful interviewing lies in the preparation for each interview. This not only ensures that you cover off all relevant issues, but gives the candidates a sense that you are treating the interview process seriously. I don’t know how many times I have had positive feedback from candidates who felt that the time spent with a prospective employer was well spent due to thoroughness of the questions asked.

Alternatively, I have had numerous experiences where candidates provided negative feedback on prospective employers who came across as disorganised. Some of these stories are close to comedic where employers have the wrong candidate CV, spend the whole interview reading the CV, or continue dealing with other business matters during the interview.

One financial planner told me that the interviewer was constantly distracted by phone calls and when he wasn’t speaking to someone on the phone, was checking the markets on his computer. The employer was taken aback when the candidate turned down the offer when it was made to her.

Then there are those employers who are so organised that they have compiled a check list of questions that are a mile long that would, under normal circumstances, take hours to get through. Rather than streamline the questions they plough on regardless even if the candidate is less than fully responsive. This cookie cutter approach can spell the death knell for the candidate who makes a hasty retreat from the opportunity, never to be heard of again – and once again the employer is mystified as to what has gone wrong!

The most productive interviews are a positive two way experience. I always advise clients that they should they allow the candidates to ask questions about the role and the business itself. It should also be looked on as an opportunity for the employer to sell the opportunity to the candidate in terms of the scope of the role now and potential career development in to the future.

In part two of this article I will take you through the structure of the interview questionnaire and the types of questions that you should consider using.

www.dawsonpartnership.com.au

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