My recruitment experience [5]: preparations before the interview

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• ◇ From the perspective of "function"
• ◇ From the perspective of "working relationship"
• ◇ Number of interviewers
• ◇ Interviewer's master-slave Arrangement
• ◇ Interviewer's backup
• ◇ Interview rounds
• ◇ Interval of multiple rounds of interviews
• ◇ Venue
• ◇ Atmosphere
• ◇ Item
• ◇ Content
• ◇ Usage
• ◇ Resume and written examination answers
• ◇ Do not wait too long for candidates

★Interviewer's choice

In the enterprise management field, "people" is often the most critical factor. This is also true for the interview phase during the recruitment process. This article begins with the interviewer's choice.

◇ From the perspective of "function"

Many people misunderstand that the interview process only requires technical skills. In fact, pinch,"Non-technical capabilities" are far more important than "technical capabilities"(Why is "non-technical ability" more important? I wrote 2nd articles in this series 《Test Technology vs test non-technical). Therefore, from the perspective of job ability, the interviewer must have the ability to examine both aspects at the same time.
The interviewer is required to evaluate the technical competenceVery familiarRelated skills required for positions. In this regard, everyone should have a good understanding. I just need to save some effort and don't have to pay much for it.
When examining "non-technical competence", the interviewer must be good at "reading ". The so-called "Reader" meansThe interviewer should be good at looking at each other, be able to understand each other's Internal activities in the communication, be able to analyze the motivation of each other's speech, and even guess how much water the other party's words contain.The ability of "Reader" is often requiredExercise is long enough, and you must have a certain understanding to master..
In general, few people have both capabilities. If you cannot find this type of person, you can assign two interviewers to study "Technical Competence" and "non-technical competence" respectively.
Many software companiesPositions are set in two dimensions: "management line" and "technical line ".. If your company is also set up like this, senior management personnel can examine "non-technical capabilities" and senior technical personnel are responsible for "technical capabilities.

◇ From the perspective of "working relationship"

From the perspective of "functions", let's talk about the considerations of "work relations.
Based on your experience, it is best for the interviewer to select "persons closely related to job recruitment. For example, if a team needs to be recruited, the leader of the team should be one of the interviewers.

◇ Number of interviewers

The interviewer count is mainly based on the time cost. Because people who can be interviewers are often senior in management or technology. This type of person often has a relatively high time cost. Therefore, an interview for a junior position (a new employee) usually requires one or two interviewers.
In turn, if you want to recruit more senior positions (such as senior engineers, supervisors, and managers), you can consider three or more interviewers. The higher the senior position, the higher the wage cost, and the greater the losses to the company if an inappropriate person is hired. For such a position, it is more and more important to check the interview. If you have an interviewer, you can easily find the applicant's problems from the perspective of observation.

◇ Interviewer's master-slave Arrangement

If the interviewer is more than or equal to two people, it is best to specify a specific person in advance, supplemented by others. Primary questions and communication are conducted by the primary interviewer, while secondary interviewers focus on observing candidates.
Generally, the most experienced guy is the interviewer. But there are also exceptions. For example, if I want someone under my staff (such as James) to exercise, I will ask Michael to go to the interview and then ask Michael to be the interviewer.

◇ Interviewer's backup

When specifying an interviewer, you need to consider backing up candidates. When a candidate comes to the interview, in case an interviewer has a problem (in a meeting, on a business trip, on leave...), the candidate can be backed up.

★Interview schedule

◇ Interval between test and interview

Candidates who can pass the written examination are usually more eager-such people are often easy to get involved in other companies. If the distance between the interview and the test is too long, it is possible that the applicant has already reported to another company.
My personal suggestion: The interval between the test and the interviewNoMore than 3 business days.

◇ Interview rounds

If a job is important and the number of interviewers is greater than or equal to 4, do not place the job in the same round of interview. Instead, consider arranging two or three rounds of interviews. During the same round of interviews, when there are too many interviewers, the following problems may occur:
1. The higher the number of people, the lower the interviewer's time utilization
2. The more people there are, the more difficult it is to get together.

◇ Interval of multiple rounds of interviews

As I said just now, the interval between the test and the interview should not be too long. Similarly, the interval between rounds (if there are multiple rounds of interviews) should not be too long.
My usual practice is to deal with the two rounds of interviews. That is to say, the next round starts immediately after the previous round ends. This is not only conducive to rapid decision-making, but also to candidates-saving a lot of effort.
Even if the two rounds of interviews cannot be completed together, the interval is best.NoMore than 3 business days.

★Interview atmosphere and environment

 

◇ Venue

Since there are usually no more than four candidates for the interviewer, it is recommended that the interview be conducted in a small room (meeting room. If you have an interview in a large conference room, it seems too empty and the candidates do not feel very good psychologically.
In addition, a large room usually has a large table. This will lead to a long gap between the interviewer and the candidate, which is not conducive to observing some subtle changes in the candidate's facial expression (the next article will talk about how to "make a look ").

◇ Atmosphere

In addition, the atmosphere created by the interviewer is also important. Sometimes it is necessary to deliberately create a specific atmosphere based on the recruitment position.
If you are looking for a pre-sales engineer or after-sales engineer, you need to face the difficulties of end users. Therefore, for such candidates, the interviewer can intentionally create a pressure atmosphere to test the applicant's ability to withstand pressure.
If you are looking for common R & D personnel, you 'd better create a relaxed atmosphere. By letting the applicant relax, he/she should be prevented from playing abnormally due to being too nervous.

◇ Item

It is best to have a whiteboard in the interview room. When talking about a specific topic, you can immediately ask the applicant to paint on the whiteboard.
If you have the conditions, you can configure another laptop. Of course, this computer must have some necessary software. For exampleProgramPersonnel, then install a number of common development environments (Editor, compiler, debugger, etc.); If you interview a tester, prepare several testing tools/test environments.

★Interview records

A well-managed company usually prepares an interview record form for the interviewer. The interviewer can record the interview, or enter it after the interview.

◇ Content

Interview recordsAt leastIncluding the following information:
1. The applicantNon-TechnicalAdvantages and disadvantages
2. The applicantTechnologyAdvantages and disadvantages
3. Are you hired?

I would like to emphasize the last "whether to hire. This column isRequiredAnd can only have two options: "Yes/No ". If the interviewer is hesitant to hire a candidate and is not sure whether to hire the candidate, fill in"No"
Once again,An important principle in the interview process is to avoid abuse..

◇ Usage

Interview records have the following benefits:
1. if the interview for a candidate is greater than or equal to 2 rounds, the record of the previous round of interviewer can be left to the interviewer of the next round, facilitate information sharing and improve interview efficiency (for example, avoiding repeated questions)
2. When the applicant passes the interview and joins the company, there is usually a trial period. The probation evaluation for this new employee can be carried out in conjunction with the "interview record", which will be more targeted.
3. The interview record can also be used to assess the interviewer. When the number of interviews is sufficient, the interviewer's skill can be judged based on the accuracy of the interview record.

★Other considerations

 

◇ Resume and written examination answers

Before the interviewer sees a candidate, he must first browse his or her resume. In addition, candidates who can enter the interview process often have already passed the written examination. Therefore, it is best for the interviewer to take a look at this person's written examination.
By browsing these two things in advance, the next interview can raise some specific questions.

◇ Do not wait too long for candidates

Candidates for the interview will usually wait in the reception room first. I personally suggest that you do not keep him/her waiting too long (preferably less than 10 minutes ). This is a minimum respect for people. Many recruiters always feel that they are strong and do not respect candidates. This trend is quite bad.
In addition, if you wait too long for a candidate, the candidate will have a bad first impression of the company. Once a candidate is hired, this bad first impression may have a negative impact.