How to prepare and conduct an interview

Learn how to prepare and conduct a successful interview according to the best practices

Interviewing is the core of each hiring process, but most "interviews" are conversations that don't help make better hiring decisions. This article explains how to conduct a good interview. By the end, you should also be able to explain how many interviews you need to make a hiring decision and how to strategize the objective and focus of each interview you have.

The Full course “Hiring for Executives” is produced in collaboration with Estonian Business School and is available on Coursera platform. You can register here. 

Let's start by watching the first video below.

Mini-Lecture: What is an Interview?

Interviewing is the core of the hiring process. Your hiring process should involve three well-structured interviews to make an excellent data-based decision.

Unstructured, free-flowing interviews can make the hiring decision worse. Instead, you should ask specific questions to evaluate the candidate's fit.

The first interview is a phone screening to check availability and basic requirements. The second interview is the primary evaluation interview. This interview aims to evaluate all the necessary things to decide whether the candidate would be a good fit for the job. During this interview, the employer should only ask questions relevant to the position based on the position map. The third interview is a business discussion about the business objectives and how the candidate would approach them. This interview is meant to be a deeper dive into the candidate's ability to contribute to the company's goals and objectives.

A thorough and structured approach to hiring is crucial to ensure the right candidate is selected.

Unfortunately, free-flowing chats, brainteasers and hobby questions are more common than we think. Here's an example of a such interview situation. Watch the video and analyse what you would do differently.

An Executive Interviewing a Candidate

In the video, Michael is a candidate for a CEO position in a regional financial firm that is moderately successful and faces increasing competition. 

Colleagues and subordinates described him as effective but also as domineering and abrasive, and there was a significant turnover of executives during his tenure. However, colleagues and subordinates also attest to his integrity and willingness to take responsibility for failures. 

Human resources specialists who interviewed him gave him superior grades for creativity and energy and described him as arrogant and sometimes tyrannical.

Self-check quiz

How would you evaluate the interviewing process?

1. Good - the hiring manager had good rapport with the candidate and gathered the necessary information to make the decision.
2. Not good - the hiring manager didn’t gather enough information to make a decision.

What decision would you make after this interview? We don't believe that there was enough data gathered from this interview to make a hiring decision. Watch the next video below to learn how to carry out a better hiring process.

Mini-Lecture: Noise and Bias

Do you consider yourself to be an objective decision-maker? According to psychologist Daniel Kahneman, most people are not.

In the corporate world, decisions are often made based on noise and bias rather than on factual information and requirements for a job. This can lead to poor hiring decisions and negatively impact a company's success. Even intelligent and focused individuals are not immune to bias and noise. It's essential to be aware of these tendencies and to take steps to mitigate their effects.

When done right, interviews can be and are a great tool. What’s needed is a different type of interview - a behavioural interview.

Behavioral interviewing is a technique used to predict job performance by asking candidates to provide specific examples of how they have dealt with difficult situations in the past. This approach is considered more effective than traditional interviewing methods because it focuses on actual past behavior. Benefits of behavioral interviewing include gaining insight into problem-solving abilities, communication skills, and ability to work under pressure. To conduct a successful behavioral interview, it is important to prepare a list of open-ended questions, actively listen to the candidate's responses, and objectively evaluate each candidate's responses.

You can learn more about behavioural interviews here.

After learning all that. Let's see how our executive improves his interviewing approach in the following example.

An Executive Interviewing a Candidate Part II

That was already much better! In the video, you saw a Managing Director and an HR interviewing a candidate. What was done right this time is that the interviewer asked the candidate about their experience and the closest experience they have that would apply to the position requirements. They didn't ask about opinions, hobbies or irrelevant experiences.

Self-check quiz

Take the test below to self-check how much you learned from this article.

Self-check quiz

How many interviews should you do?

1. The more, the better.
2. 3-4 interviews are enough.