How to Create a Memorable Interview

If you want candidates to best present themselves, help create an environment that will allow them to do just that. Remember that how your business handles recruitment directly reflects the impression a candidate will make of your company. View it as another way to brand your company. Negative experiences can have a negative impact. I’m sure almost everyone reading this has heard about or has experienced a poor interview experience – and the saying holds true ‘bad news travels fast’.

Many of us who have pursued a career in HR did so because of our passion for helping people - so prove it! For those of you who are not in HR, but have been given the awesome responsibility of interviewing – do not take this task lightly. Create a positive and memorable experience – it takes very little effort but it does take heart.

Here are a few tips on how to make that happen: 

1.    Review your questions. Ask yourself if your questions are really relevant? You can take standard questions, and alter them in a way that makes sense for the role. For example, do you really need to know if they work “better in a team or alone?” Let’s be honest – how many candidate respond with a version of “I can do both”, and there goes 2-3 precious minutes of questioning.

For example, if the role requires team collaboration – craft a question directed at that. For example, “Can you describe a recent project that required you to collaborate? What was your role on the project? How did you ensure everyone’s input was heard? Were there any challenges? What was the outcome?”

2.    Set the tone. Meet with them on time, offer them something to drink, tell them who you are, give them a quick rundown of how the interview will go. I also recommend giving a brief introduction of the company, role or what you’re looking for in an ideal candidate. This can help them cater their examples or provide select highlights of their experience/education that are relevant. If you share up front that the role doesn’t involve X & Y, they won’t spend a lot of interview time going into detail of their previous experience with X & Y.

3.    Make it a conversation. Don’t start off by shooting off a series of questions from the get-go – take the time to learn more about them! When they give examples, inquire and probe for more details when necessary. Listen and engage. You may work alongside them one day; do you want to be remembered as someone who wasn’t paying attention?

4.    Reconsider notetaking. Do not hide behind your clipboard writing notes! Imagine how intimidating that can be? I’m not suggesting you don’t take any notes, but jot done quick notes and don’t get caught up writing entire sentences verbatim. You do not want to miss out on important information they are sharing with you. If you are an active listener, you won’t need many notes, because you will have actually been present for the interview. Jot down a few keynotes after the interview is done that you will want to refer to when making your decision.

5.    It is not illegal to be supportive during the interview. Feel free to respond positively when they have provided a strong example or answered your question fully. Building their confidence will help diminish any nerves they may have. Would you want to interview for a role where the interviewer had their poker face on the entire time? Probably not. Hearing even a simple ‘good example’, could help diminish the ‘inner dialogue’ a candidate has where they are wondering if they answered a question satisfactorily or not.

6.    Review next steps. If you told them they will hear back from you, hold yourself accountable to do just that. If you know after the interview they aren’t the right fit, don’t keep them waiting – let them know. Many recruiters/HR Professionals fail to keep candidates “in the know”. Turn the tables around and imagine if you extended a job offer, and the candidate took their time getting back to you. Imagine they told you they would get back to you by the end of the week, but didn’t?

Which leads me to my final point …

Recruitment is a TWO-WAY street. We should approach every role with the same mentality of “we want them to want ‘us’ as much as we want ‘them’!” Take pride in what you do, you’ll be a better person (and professional) for it!