Hiring: Why do we need an Interview?

Hiring:

Human Resources Management is anything and everything related to managing people within the company or organization. When we talk about people in a company or organization, it means the workforce and the skills and energy they have to complete a specific job assigned to them with the help of ideas, creativity, knowledge, and talent. That is the reason for success in any organization.

Bringing new employees with the required skills and qualifications is called recruitment or hiring. Hiring is one of the most important parts of HRM. An organization’s success depends upon its people i.e. employees and that is the largest fixed cost that cannot be imitated. Finding the right people and putting them in the right jobs is the most important challenge. Hiring involves attracting people with competent/required skills and knowledge is the ultimate goal of the recruitment process. It aims to hire the best candidate from the job market and within the available resource.

Why hiring is important?

As per the survey and available data from different sources, it is found that:

?66% of companies make bad hiring

10% of the candidates are hired in 10 days

Average employment tenure is below 6 years

30% of Employment change in 1-3 years

29% of employment change in 4-6 years

20% of new hire leave in 12 months

On average, each corporate job offer attracts 250 resumes. Of those candidates, 4 to 6 will get a call for an interview, and only one will get the job.

This includes Sourcing-screening-interview-offer-hire

Interview:

The interview is considered to be the most annoying aspect of the job search. There are many stages in the recruitment process, every stage is important and has a purpose but the personal interview is the stage where the decision of selection is made. The interview makes around 60% factor of opinion-making for hiring. Interview played a major role in the selection of candidates. In some ways, we can say that interview is the only step within the hiring process that actually decides the final selection of the candidate. But there is no arithmetic or final blueprint which says how to hire an ideal or the best candidate. The interview is basically an interaction or a question-answer session between a potential employee and employer. Shortlisting for an interview is purely based on the candidate's resume which is mostly in different formats and most of the time is not providing all the information that the employer required. It is always presumed that the resume doesn’t tell you all. Resumes are either exaggerated or limited information about the candidate. Interview not just helps the interviewer to know the expertise and skills of the candidate but also allows to know the different traits of the candidate which is not essentially required for the specific job but is required for the working environment of the organization and is compatible to adjust with the existing workforce. The interviewer generally focused to know the potential idea, innovation, concept, and reach of the candidate which can be used in the existing job and sometimes would be beneficial in some other future projects. A good resume is essential to be shortlisted and to be called for an interview but there is no other selection procedure better than a personal interview.

During an interview which is the most important thing is your ability to listen and speak, somebody said to a child that you will become a great leader; he asked why the man replied that I have not seen a person who is a better speaker and listener than you.

Your knowledge skills, idea, and innovation come out during your interview and that is through your communication. If you are a good listener and speaker your body language and confidence will directly synch with this. Few analysts say that social behavior can also be judged during the interview but actually, it cannot be judged during the interview instead guessed or assumed.

Intelligence is actually how you learn and think and that can be tested during face-to-face interviews only. The presence of mind and intelligence is tested through verbal communication and the ability to convince and influence within the shortest span of time can also be judged. Some information that is not mentioned or can never be mentioned in the resume can also be revealed during the discussion with the candidate and is sometimes a decider for the final selection.

Some analyst says that taking the interview is much easier and less time consuming than a written test but few are of the completely opposite view. Job-specific information can be discussed more accurately than it is written in the advertisement.?

The potential candidate’s skill and character must be aligned with the organization’s needs and culture. An interview is a tool where you can gather useful information about potential candidates that cannot be assessed from one’s resume. Recruiting a suitable candidate is vital to the success of the organization. An interview is an exchange of information between a potential employee and employer. The candidate’s objective is to get the job and best offer and the employer’s objective is to get the best/most suitable candidate with skills, ability, and knowledge for the vacant position. It is a two-way discussion rather than an interrogation of the candidate.

Do not miss out due to lack of preparation while most of the questions during the interview can be guessed very easily or we can say most are already known questions.

Generally, Skills can be divided into three categories:

Content skills; knowledge [work specific]

Functional skills; skills that you use with people or information [organizing, managing, communicating, developing]

Adaptive skills; personal character, dependable, team player, self-directed punctual.

How to prepare for an interview?

Preparation before the interview is the key to a successful interview for both parties involved. You need to know what you actually want if you are undecided about the jobs that best match your skills, interests, and background then wait a moment, take some time to assess yourself and your skills otherwise it would be very difficult and frustrating to start a job hunt. It would be again frustrating if you will get a job that doesn’t match your skills and interest.

Know yourself, your relevant job experience, and focus on those areas, skills, and experience that best sell you for the position you are interested in. Research on the job description and company for extensive information, study more on similar job descriptions in other companies/industries. This research and relevant information will tell the interviewer about your interest in the field. Predict more job-specific questions by analyzing job description, education, and responsibilities, etc. Body posture, eye contact, voice quality are some other features that need to be attended to and monitored along with fluency in communication. Be polite and match how employers need with your skills and knowledge. Listen carefully and be sure you understand the question before answering it. Confidence in you, your skills, and your knowledge is very important. Discussion about salary shall be always in a range.

• Analyze the type of positions you are applying for.
• Try to explore job descriptions and specific skills required.
• Analyze your own background.
• What skills do you have content, functional and adaptive skills-wise that relate to your job?
• Recall recent/past situations that show favorable behavior in line with the job description.
• Record such situations and your actions and re-write the result.
• Be sure all stories have a beginning middle and end.
• Must be with an outcome/result.
• If not as per your plan what was your action and what was the result.
• Be honest don’t exaggerate or embellish any part of the story.
• Don’t mix up with multi-events be specific and stick to one event.

The second round of interviews;

Sometimes employers need two phases of interviews and candidates are asked to face the second round of interviews with the same set of interviewers or with some new faces.

• Do more researches about employer and job industry, business, and future.
• Extensive questions about skills qualification and job will be asked.
• Many repeated questions may be asked to check your consistency and truth.
• Prepare few good questions related to your job and work culture.
• You will be judged on the quality of your questions and the depth of your interest in the employer and job.

Self-confidence is one’s ability to succeed and this confidence comes from within and can be increased by knowing what your skills and strengths are?

Positive qualities and patterns of success;

• Academic accomplishment
• Leadership qualities/potential
• Decision making and problem-solving ability
• Self-confidence
• Communication [how to speak and listen]
• Honesty and polished personal style
• Team player and strong work ethics

Negative attitudes that make the knock out;

• Inability to express oneself
• Lack of confidence and overconfidence
• Communication [listening and speaking]
• Know it all attitudes
• Try to touch unnecessary areas which are not job-specific and question-related
• Too much too soon attitude
• Negative and derogatory language about existing and previous employer boss and colleague

Most popular and most predicted interview questions:

You can predict most of the questions to be asked during interviews and the same questions are being asked to every candidate and decisions are also made on the basis of the answers given by different candidates for the same question. Here are the most common questions [Top 10] and the general objective of the interviewer behind these questions;

Few more popular questions during interviews are;

??Successful team spirit if you have any?

??What do your co-workers say about you?

??Explain your employment gap?

??Your hobbies?

??Conflict management experience and skills?

??Most difficult situational supervisor to work with you and your experience?

??How you handled a pressure situation and came out successfully?

Questions candidate can ask the interviewers:

Honestly ask yourself if this is someplace you could be productive, engaged, and comfortable; then you may ask the following questions to be clear about the company and your future growth with the organization;

1. The career path of the position
2. Opportunities and advancement policies for promotion from within
3. Responsibilities after 1-2 years
4. Training program and education support
5. Where the position does fit in the organization
6. How is the company dealing with advancements in technology and changes in the industry?
7. Management style and work culture
8. Who will be the supervisor and other people with whom this position would interact and coordinate?

Goals of an interview

Figure out whether the candidate has the skills and experience necessary to succeed in the role? Can candidate communicate well with coworkers and boss as well as outsider people the position require to interact? Is he a good fit for the team? Help your interviewer to answer all three answers a yes and you will be in. Speak as if you are in a friendly conversation eye contact is also important. Be a good storyteller of your part of the job but be honest and clear precisely. The best way is not be pretend to be someone else is you? Interviewer seeks a fit not just technical but also a fit within an existing team or anticipated team

You are comparing yourself to other candidates and trying to set yourself apart from the persona you don’t know. Read the full job description and think of few skills that make you uniquely qualified to perform the job, avoid generic answers. Avoid talking too much, make your point convey the message, and move on. The more you continue to blubber about yourself and your skills the more likely you will lose the point and precision.

Conclusion:

In theory, a candidate can be hired on the basis of written information in the resume, and references alone. Two parties and 3-4 people are trying to decide if they match in multiple meaningful and beneficial ways and that is more stressful for a candidate than the employer. In case the candidate is unemployed the interview can be more stressful for the candidate.

?It is a twofold process where the employer will look at what you can do for the company and it gives you an opportunity to assess whether your qualification and career ambitions align with the position offered? When both the parties listen intently and speak accurately then there is much to gain from the job interview. To figure out if both the parties will benefit from the hire. Concise informative answers are appreciated more than lengthy stories.

Why hiring you will benefit the company? The company seeks people looking for a stable future, no company wants to provide you a platform to switch after getting trained and sufficient work experience. The good manner, your ability to clearly articulate thoughts, ideas, follow-up, and thank you to the interviewer is also important.

Some interviews are designed to be stressful because the position to be filled required a person who can handle stressful situations. Candidature is the person to be explored by everybody, all questions will be asked about the candidate and nobody is more of an expert in you than you. A rejection is not necessarily a failure or an unacceptable outcome of the interview. Sometimes rejection could be actually being a relief. It is not supposed to be nerve-wracking and the interviewer’s purpose certainly, is not to make you feel uncomfortable.

There is no set formula for excelling in a job interview. The same personality and background may appeal to some employers and not to others. Be yourself don’t imitate yourself to fit in an image you think will appeal to an employer. Always keep in mind that who are you and what is your career objective?

And the final word to both Employee and Employer that this is an interview so stay human.

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