Why interview skills are important?

When we say “job interview”, it reminds us of our previous experiences for taking a job. Some people talk about weird questions they were asked in a job interview, inappropriate behavior of interviewer, long time waiting in a meeting room with no apology from a person appointed for interview, interview taking more than two hours, interviewer not specifying a job title and only trying to get familiar with high-potential talents in the market, unprofessional behavior of company’s reception staff.

These are some experiences we have heard from various applicants at any level.

Talent acquisition and finding the right person for the right position is my concern as HR expert. How to evaluate a candidate in job interview? How reliable is his/her CV? How can we get the right information in the process of reference check? Who are trustworthy people for background check? How can we assess the candidate’s potential for his/her role in future? And lastly, what common mistakes in interview are barriers to finding the right person?

Self-awareness is the key to answer those questions. I believe that any person who is interested in talent acquisition should work on his/her self-awareness, to get familiar with halo effect or any common mistakes in a job interview that lead us to project our traits on the interviewee. Self-awareness is a lifelong journey with no final destination, as we live in a volatile world where we counter unique experiences every single day. Without self-awareness, we will definitely not hire the right candidate for the position. We might be attracted to a person who looks like us, and it’s a major mistake for any HR expert or hiring manager.

I was fascinated by interview questions when I was in a job interview to recruit a sales representative for sales team, and our sales manager asked the candidate a super weird question which was a shock for me. Ever since, I have decided to work on interview skills as a major skill of a person who works in the field of talent acquisition. I have conducted interview skills workshops over the past 6 years and heard interesting stories from the participants.

Interview session is not an interrogation by a police officer! It should be a friendly and comfortable conversation to provide an opportunity for interviewee and interviewer to know each other better. And a job interview is not just a session to assess a candidate; it should be considered as a chance of employer branding for any corporation by conducting themselves in a professional manner.