Top 4 blunders by Interviewers & how to avoid them.

This is the first article in a 3 part series — Top blunders by Interviewers, Candidates & Recruiters.

Interviews are something that everyone gets to be part of right from the very beginning of one’s career. As one advances in career, chances are that they also get to be on the other side of the table as well i.e. be an interviewer.

It is a surprising fact that even though interviews are one of the most important step in building & shaping up of a team/company/product, most companies(except the big corporates) do not put in any effort in training interviewers in the art of conducting interviews.

This is especially true for most start-ups & small/medium size businesses where the cost of an improperly conducted interview could be extremely high — from losing out on a great candidate to even damaging the company’s image thanks to social media(Glassdoor, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter etc) outreach.

Lack of proper training can some times result in interviewers making blunders which not only wastes everyone’s time but also showcases the organization in a bad light. Remember, the interaction with an interviewer is the first impression that a company makes on a candidate and more often than not, first impression IS sometimes the last impression.

Top 4 things to avoid while interviewing candidates –

1.) Being late for the meeting/call & making the candidate wait

Just because a candidate has agreed to come over to your offices does not really mean he/she is in dire need of that job. Being late for an interview shows you in a bad light from the word go — it means you are unable to keep commitments, you do not respect time and mostly, you do not care for other people’s time.

There are times when something unscheduled does come up at the last moment and the best thing to do then is to inform the candidate about the delay & apologize for making him/her wait. The moment you do this, you immediately earn the respect of that person.

2.) Not reading the resume beforehand or preparing for the discussion

This is easily the biggest blunder that an interviewer can end up doing at the beginning of the discussion. Imagine a candidate walking in for an interview all prepared & raring to go but the interviewer starts by saying ” please tell me about yourself or what you have been doing while i read your resume“. 

This is a clear indicator that —

• Interviewer is neither paying attention to what the candidate is saying nor understanding what is there in resume.
• Interviewer has not bothered to prepare for this meeting. It is big dampener & sets the wrong tone for interview.

It’s best to keep aside 15 mins to go through candidate’s profile prior to the meeting. This helps you in not only being better prepared for the discussion but also lets you make best use of available time by choosing only relevant questions to ask.

3.) Jumping right in with heavy duty questions

Interviewer : Tell me about yourself.

Candidate : <Talks about himself for a minute or two while the interviewer is thinking of next question to ask>

Interviewer : Ok. What is a linked list? OR Create a business plan for product XYZ.

Sounds familiar? Well, most interviewers just want to get the ‘uninteresting/unimportant/unnecessary’ questions out of the way before getting in to the ‘real’ stuff. The thing is, as an interviewer you would get more insights in to a candidate’s persona when he/she is not intimidated or being defensive.

Try putting the candidate at ease. You are not there to showcase your own skills or superiority in any particular subject. You are there to figure out how best the candidate can fit in your team and NOT to determine what are his/her shortcomings. This is done best by keeping the discussion friendly, open and productive.

4.) Body language disasters

Yawning, looking at your smartphone, checking your emails…Nothing else screams “I am an unprofessional” more than these. Be attentive, pleasant, encouraging, smile often & look the candidate in the eye(this is infinitely more important when the candidate is a woman).

That being said, I recently met a CEO who not only came to the meeting 30 mins late but while talking to me took off his shoes and then socks & kept his bare feet on the table. As if this was not bad enough, he then offered to shake my hands!!!Needless to say, i ended the meeting in 10 mins & never looked back.

This is extremely rare but it happens. So it’s a good idea to be extremely self-aware while meeting candidates because an interview is a two side evaluation & you are under scrutiny as well.

Lastly, empathy goes a long way in any sort of a meeting, discussion or negotiation. Treat the candidates in the same way that you would like yourself to be treated. An interview is NOT an interrogation — it should be a conversation based on mutual respect, positivity & a healthy etiquette.

Sharad is a product management professional who is passionate about consumer internet, startups, smartphones, technology, personal finance & people management. This article first appeared on Medium.