3 Simple Interview Preparation Tips for Employers

For potential candidates, performing well at a job interview takes preparation. But interviews are not a one-way process; preparation is equally important for employers as well.

The interview process can cost an organization more than just time. If you’re interviewing skills aren’t resulting in appropriate hires, you may also experience high staff turnovers. Paying a fixed fee recruitment specialist will significantly ease your quest for the perfect employee, but the actual interviewing process itself still comes down to you.

So what can young companies do ahead of time to ensure they hire the best candidates for the job? Here are three tips.

The “pre-interview” interview

The title sounds like a mouthful, but it can be a valuable interview preparation technique. Communicating with a candidate via telephone prior to a sit-down interview can help both parties avoid a lot of wasted time. Many interviews end abruptly after the employer discovers the candidate’s experience is inadequate, but this could be prevented by getting the essentials out of the way ahead of time. Though resumes and CVs do detail some of this, you can always dig deeper by actually speaking to the candidates themselves.

During the telephone interview, explain the full extent of the job role and how your company works. Most times the candidate is aware of some aspects of the role, but very few job adverts tell them everything they need to know. Misinterpretation of job descriptions and misunderstanding of the company niche could be a timewaster for both parties; filtering candidates out at the pre-interview phase can save time and improve hiring strategies.

Set a challenge

Providing the candidate gets passed the telephone interview stage, it may be worth setting them a challenge tailored to their job role. This can help identify areas of potential in the candidate’s skill set even if they don’t get the task completely right. Highlighting certain skills can help you understand why this particular applicant would be valuable to your organization. Also, some people underperform at interviews due to nerves, so a tactical challenge can give you a better idea of their true ability.

Furthermore, if the candidate isn’t suitable for the particular role they applied for, you may find that they’re ideal for another vacancy within your company. Once again, this could save you time and money on advertising and interviewing for the other vacancy.

Sell your company

Every industry is competitive, and it may well happen that your ideal candidate has a better offer from another company. This is why outlining the benefits of working for you is a key pre-interviewing technique. Emailing them the details of salary, company benefits, and how your organization is run can be an enticement, and gives the candidate a better idea of what you’re looking for in an employee.

With the help of simple strategies like these, pre-interviewing can make your recruitment process even more successful. Avoid stuffing potential employees with false hopes, as they’ll only end up feeling undervalued. Be honest, authoritative, and sympathetic in order to piece together a team of hardworking and highly functional individuals.