As the employment market has improved and candidates have more options, hiring the right person for the job has become increasingly challenging. If your selection process turns people off, they won’t hesitate to go elsewhere – or to tell their friends and contacts about the experience.

As you prepare to conduct your interviews, your job is to effectively evaluate talent – and convince the best to work with you. Use the following tips to make the process work optimally for you and for them.

Understand your company’s needs.

Experience, credentials and qualifications are important, but great employees don’t simply perform a job. They solve at least one critical business need. Identify that need – and tailor everything in your interview towards solving it.

Run a social media check.

Social media has provided an open book for finding background information and details on job candidates. Do a thorough search of all social platforms, with an eye toward:

• Any discrepancies that contradict resume information.
• Details on a person’s interests, spare time activities, and who they network with.
• References that you may want to contact.

Make it a conversation.

Conduct an interview as a friendly, two-way discussion. Start with a series of broad, routine questions to put the candidate at ease. From here, probe deeper so you can gain greater insight into their character, work habits and abilities.

• The more you know ahead of time, the better. This opens opportunities to ask questions that provide room for self-analysis and introspection.
• Give the conversation room to breathe. Your candidate should have the floor 90 percent of the time. Often, you’ll find they will fill silent holes with additional examples and details, or a completely different perspective on whatever question you asked.
• Ask behavior-based questions. Dig into a person’s past experience and ask for details of their accomplishments. For instance, what made their past projects a success? How did they learn from them? How did their experience help them attain their goals? Encourage candidates to expand on their previous answers, till you’re satisfied you have all the information you need to make an informed decision.
• Answer candidates’ questions. Give candidates time to ask questions of their own, and then answer them thoughtfully, openly and candidly. Your responses will provide them with the information they need to determine whether they want to work for your company, and how they will talk about your organization to others.

Check references.

Don’t simply “rubber stamp” or skip this step. At a minimum, check the references provided by candidates. In addition, reach out to others. Your staffing firm can help, based on their contacts and market intelligence.

• If you know of individuals from one of the candidate’s past employers who were not listed as references, contact them. You often can get a more candid response this way.

Remember, a terrible candidate may wish you had stuck to their handpicked list of references, but a great candidate never will.

The hiring experts at CPS Recruitment^® know your industry and understand the challenges of hiring right, the first time around. Contact us today at (315) 457-2500 or sales@cpsrecruiter.com to learn more about how we can help you perfect your interviewing techniques, as well as round out your overall strategic hiring plan.