Planning an interview When planning an interview, you need to: decide on what day or days (be sure to indicate the exact time) the interview will take place; determine how much time can be devoted to each applicant. Try to spend no more than six

Conducting an interview When conducting an interview, adhere to the following rules: 1. Greet the candidate and check that they are the right person for the interview. (There have been cases when, without asking the person’s name, the interview was conducted with the wrong candidate,

Organization of the interview The employer should plan the structure of the interview. If an interview is conducted by two people without a clear outline, it ends up being a chaotic conversation. The employer will not remember applicants without taking notes during

Conducting an interview For any person, regardless of what position he is applying for (store director, cleaner, merchandiser), an interview is a stressful situation. Many applicants note that under the influence of excitement and in unfamiliar

In large companies, the number of interviews is often overwhelming. In addition to tests, both necessary and completely unnecessary, they usually conduct interviews, starting with the personnel department and the lower management level and up to the interview “at the very top,” that is, with the head of this entire corporate machine. Some citizens I know spoke with horror about eight interviews, but it happens that they “interview” you ten or twelve times. In a small company, as a rule, there is one interview - in the department where they intend to hire a newcomer, and a second - with management. And sometimes it’s all the same – from the management. And since the manager is most often a complete layman in matters of psychology, he conducts the interview like a layman, although there are techniques that are useful for every head of a company, even a tiny one, to know.

Some managers sincerely believe that every applicant for a vacancy comes with only one goal - to receive money, without wanting to work. Naturally, such a leader looks at candidates like a wolf. And therefore, an interview for a candidate is more like an interrogation with bias. I myself had to have this “interview” a couple of times. Having seen an entry in my work book indicating an article of the Labor Code, such an “interviewer” immediately concluded that I was fired “under the article,” that is, for some violations, almost with a “wolf ticket.” In fact, the article indicated in the work book only meant that this was a voluntary dismissal. The future employer, clinging to this recording, literally tried to shake the soul out of me.

Do you think, having finally passed his interview, did I want to work in such an organization? That's right: I didn't want to. One single interview was enough for me to understand everything about this boss. And only much later did I realize that I just needed to feel sorry for the boss. He was clearly doing something that was beyond his capabilities. He had neither the ability to conduct interviews nor the talent to quickly draw up a psychological portrait of an applicant. The only thing he knew for sure: any man, even a drinker, is better than a woman, and a woman dismissed under the article is generally an enemy, not a job seeker. So he tortured me.

A conversation with Ivan Semenovich showed me how much managers do not know how to conduct interviews.

“With these people who want it,” he said, “you’d better talk to them yourself.” I still don't understand them. I have enough to do without them.

“But you have to see the candidates,” I tried to explain to him, “it’s not for me to work with them later, but for you...”

- Why did I hire you? - he asked and answered himself: - For selection. Whoever you choose, I will work with.

With difficulty, we managed to agree that I would conduct the selection, select the best five from all possible, but then he would at least look at them, and I have the right to reject if the choice turns out to be bad.

“Then why would I, if you reject me?” - he got angry.

And only after persuasion we came to a consensus: I select from all the applicants, bring their number to a suitable one, and then we conduct the final “round” together. Alone, he was afraid of making mistakes.

“Just be sure to prepare for the interviews,” I asked.

And this shocked my employer. He had never heard before that you need to prepare for interviews, so Ivan Semenovich looked at me, rolled a pencil in his palms and just blinked.

– Why prepare? It won’t be me who will be taken away, but him?

I had to explain that, in fact, an interview is a serious thing. This is a two-way process. Not only does the manager choose his employee, but the employee also chooses his leader. Therefore, the manager should not seem like a monster to the candidate, and ideally both should like each other.

This is true. Not a single self-respecting specialist will go to work for a company where the manager, from the very first meeting, is focused on how to humiliate him and “crush” him. And an interview is not chatter that takes up golden time, but a very serious event that needs to be structured according to established rules, that is, during the interview, not just questions are asked, but questions that make sense. And the point of these questions is to reveal different aspects of the applicant’s personality, get his portrait, understand how exactly this person will fit into the team and whether he can give the company what he is hired for. For each specialty, as we have already said, there is a whole list of wishes, they are all included in the job description. The job of the interviewer is to determine how close a particular applicant is to the ideal specialist the firm is looking for.

It is possible to understand how close an applicant is to the ideal only through dialogue. Moreover, it is better to divide the process of drawing up a portrait of an applicant into a couple of stages: questions on the specialty should be asked by the immediate supervisor, general questions (revealing personality traits, psychological properties) should be asked by someone who understands this, and the head of the company is assigned the role of the final choice. I advised first of all to send applicants to the head of the sales department, who just needs to ask a couple of questions to understand how suitable the specialist is for the company. She promised to conduct the psychological interview herself.

But it happens that there is no opportunity to share responsibilities or the manager wants to take an active part in the choice. Then I would advise you to read very carefully what questions and why it is customary to ask during an interview, as well as how it is advisable to structure the interview so as not to make a mistake in choosing a candidate, and how not to do this.

Every person forced to undergo an interview experiences anxiety - it is a kind of exam. If very young people, who have not yet forgotten what exams are, perceive interviews adequately, since it is normal for them, due to their youth, to be examined, then for people a little older, interviews do not cause the most pleasant feelings. Employers have tried very hard to make a horror story out of this completely correct procedure, since they base their acquaintance with a possible employee on psychological pressure. Due to their tactlessness and stupidity, many interviews resemble the theater of the absurd. To do this, just read messages on the Internet on forums dedicated to job searches. What's not there!

On one provincial website, for example, such a case was seriously described. An electronics specialist who easily passed the professional selection ended up in the director's office. Having forced the unfortunate man to list from memory (!) all previous places of main and additional work, including the dates and wording of dismissal in the work book (the latter was in the hands of the director for verification), the director quickly said:

- Show me the veins.

The poor specialist almost fell out of his chair; all he could do was catch air with his lips. Of course, he refused any further humiliating interview. But for hiring secretaries, it has become almost the norm to lift up your skirt right up to your panties, so that the boss can evaluate the quality of the legs he wants to hire... Of course, both the presentation of veins and the presentation of legs are a gross violation of the Labor Code. Leaders have no right to do anything like that. But. do. And they end up on the Internet in all their authoritarian glory.

In fact interviews can be divided into several types:

Retrospective (aimed at identifying professional experience) - used to find out how the candidate behaved or would have behaved in a given situation;

Aimed at identifying personal qualities - used when it is necessary to include relevant tests in the interview structure;

Prospective Simulator: The interviewer describes a possible situation and invites the candidate to tell how he would behave in it;

Game situational – brings closer to a real working situation; it is assumed that a psychological situation will be created, for example, education, training or sales directly during the interview;

Stressful: The interviewer deliberately creates a stressful situation for the candidate (this is only reasonable if the job involves stressful situations).

The first three types of interviews can be structured as informal or formal interviews.

Informal interviews are constructed as correctly as possible, allowing the applicant to get rid of fear and awkwardness and give sincere answers to the questions asked. When conducting such interviews, it is very important to establish contact with the candidate and convince him of your loyalty and goodwill. To do this, in an effort to reduce the distance, it is recommended to invite the applicant to even talk not across the table (official status), but while sitting next to the interviewer or to the side of the table. Such seemingly friendly interviews help to endear the candidate to the interviewer, but this does not mean that the interviewer will not ask “uncomfortable” questions. On the contrary, in the least formal setting it is easier to ask such questions, as well as easier to get truthful answers to them.

Formal interviews pass while maintaining distance. They are usually carried out in structures where an official type of communication is accepted; in this way (by the reaction of the applicant) you can quickly understand how well he will fit into the hierarchical structure and whether he himself can maintain the proper distance without experiencing unpleasant sensations.

A special type of interview is "stressful" when the applicant is placed in initially unpleasant or unacceptable conditions. There are many options for stressful interviews; it is difficult to classify them. In each institution where they are held, they have a “local flavor”. For example, if a candidate will have to work in a smoky room in the future, he will be forced to conduct a dialogue with the employer in an unventilated room, in clouds of smoke. If the applicant will work in constant noise, the interview will be conducted in similar conditions. One applicant, as I know, was taken to the stamping shop, and further dialogue with him took place amid the noise and clanging of mechanisms. The candidate could not hear half of the questions, had to ask again several times, or gave inaccurate answers. He was not hired. The official conclusion is bad hearing.

Sometimes interviews are carried out in a rigid rhythm, they arrange “attacks”, force them to make excuses, etc. This is the so-called method of pressure, supposedly designed to test the ability to collect themselves and not react to the interviewer’s shout. The “interviewers” ​​themselves explain that in this way the candidate’s resistance to stress is revealed. Most of those who passed such a “test” noted the main characteristic feature of such an interview - the rare rudeness of the interviewer. I believe that as an interview, this form does not give anything, leaving only an unpleasant aftertaste for those who have undergone such interviews.

Stress resistance can be tested using other additional methods. But as a type of interview they are ineffective. If you want to subject a candidate to a stress test, it is not at all necessary to yell at him, smoke in his face, or conduct a dialogue while the machines crackle. There are two other ways to do this - testing and observation. And if you need to find out how a person will behave in a new position, whether he is capable of fulfilling it, he can be asked to participate in a kind of role-playing game. For each specialty, it is easy to simulate standard situations that a candidate can get into and see how he can get out of the situation.

But no matter which interview method you choose, any interview is divided into three parts: “warm-up” (this includes a correct conversation on general topics and an outline of what the company does and in what capacity the candidate can be used), the conversation itself is of the question-answer type and completion - with the most inconvenient questions or checking the reaction, after which an opinion is formed about whether the candidate is suitable.

It is advisable to first show the candidate the workplace and tell about the essence of the proposed vacancy. Sometimes an applicant loses interest in a future job after becoming familiar with its terms or understanding its essence. After all, the name of the vacancy and even the list of job responsibilities will not replace the future employee’s impression of his workplace. If you do not divulge a terrible secret and can simply show the candidate where he will work, and tell him what you do yourself and what is expected of him, then give the applicant such a tour. It will be more useful than a lecture from the manager about the extraordinary importance and responsibility of the vacant position. Words always remain just words. For many, seeing is the same as understanding.

Don’t forget such a simple thing as planning your own time so that the candidate who comes for an interview does not have to wait for you (unless, of course, waiting for management is some kind of first test). I would not recommend conducting such a test at the first meeting, especially in the first minutes of the meeting. The first minutes should be devoted to something completely different - the meeting. You already know what the applicant wrote in his resume, now he is standing in front of you. You look at him and he looks at you. And both (note - both!) you make the first impression of each other.

If you forced the applicant to languish in the waiting room, swam in imposingly after an hour and a half, or came running, as they say, “in a lather,” then what impression will be made of you? Disgusting. And you, being so busy (and so disorganized!), will you be able to fully escape from your own affairs and attend to your visitor? Not a petitioner, by the way, but your possible colleague? This beginning of the interview will tell the applicant only one thing: the company does not value other people’s time at all. Maybe this is not at all true and you value other people’s time and are respectful of people, but - alas! – the candidate will not understand this. Do you need such an opinion about yourself, my dear? Hardly.

So, having set the day and hour of the interview, have the conscience to show up for it as agreed, and if things are already “stuck,” then call in advance and reschedule the meeting to a time more convenient for both of you. The applicant should not sit in front of locked doors like a dog. Arrange the meeting so that you are in the office. Have your secretary or assistant show the applicant to the office. Meet him politely and kindly, don’t forget to smile, invite him to sit down, be sure to ask if he found you easily, get an answer and talk for a few minutes as if “about nothing.” This is done not because you have nothing to ask, but so that the person can calm down a little, take a breath, and see that you are a normal, living person.

However, during such a casual and short (five minutes) conversation, you must complete a titanic task. At the moment you are talking and at the same time studying your visitor. If you think that you can’t find out anything about an applicant in a couple of minutes, then you are mistaken. Can. You just need to look correctly.

You should not think that you will select an applicant based on completely objective criteria. Usually the subjective point of view completely triumphs. Of the many candidates, the one who simply pleases the manager becomes an employee. And the higher the position for which the candidate competition is formed, the more likely it is that the manager will choose a subordinate according to his understanding of attractiveness, intelligence and other personal qualities. Sometimes the selection criteria are not clear to the uninitiated. Once, a commercial director I knew was rejected by his employer, although he had the most serious recommendations. We thought for a long time what he blurted out during the interview, because we still need to look for a specialist with similar characteristics. The answer came unexpectedly and made everyone laugh very much. It turned out that the head of the company, a good-natured man, had one small weakness: he was a passionate fan, and the word “Zenith” had a sacred meaning for him, and the commercial director - alas! - came from Moscow, was not a fan, but out of habit I respected Spartak. At the interview he mentioned this. I. was immediately rejected.

Another incident from the same series occurred with a lady who was employed by an advertising agency. While the resumes were being reviewed, the lady was number one, but after the interview she was no longer invited to the vacant position, and when she called, they hung up completely, not wanting to talk. It turns out that the head of the agency was expecting to see a fat woman, but a slender and tall woman came. The leader herself was small and fat; her height and fit figure decided the issue not in favor of the applicant. So when selecting, managers often base their selection on personal priorities. I don't think this is good. When it comes to appearance, candidates must be selected according to completely different criteria. The thing is that appearance can say a lot about its wearer, unless, of course, you reject an applicant who is different from you, a manager. The last one is stupid.

Appearance

You should be wary of the following special traits in an applicant.

1. Disproportion between the head and body, that is, the head is too large and heavy on a small body or too small on a large and muscular one. A person with a big head on a small body has serious inferiority complexes, although he may not clearly show it. People with such a physical handicap strive to “conquer” nature using the power of their mind, they try to prove something to themselves and others, they are prone to depression, breakdowns, are afraid of women, are suspicious and strive for power. People with a small head on a large body have a low intellectual level. Such candidates must be selected very carefully for all management positions or professions that require high performance.

2. A cut forehead, prominent brow ridges, that is, the type of appearance that Lombroso once called criminal: the forehead starts straight from the heavy and protruding brows and goes sharply back. People with similar foreheads are prone to increased aggressiveness, especially if the forehead is paired with a heavy lower jaw: they cannot stand arguments, strive to establish themselves at any cost, and are prone to anger.

3. A low forehead, as if depressed, the border of the hair begins at an acute angle at the bridge of the nose, and between the eyebrows and the line of hair there is a depression. A candidate with such an appearance is quick-tempered, touchy, harsh, poorly able to control his emotions, does not have high intelligence, but at the same time he is loyal and respects subordination. He will be very loyal to the leader and very demanding and picky towards his colleagues, especially his subordinates. Therefore, he should not be offered any leadership position. Or, if this is an irreplaceable specialist, you should constantly control and suppress with your authority.

4. A long, thin nose, a high forehead, thin lips with characteristically raised, sarcastic corners (“Voltaire’s face”). This is an applicant with high intelligence, but at the same time an extremely quarrelsome, unfriendly, arrogant and ambitious person who does not know how to get along with people, although he is ready to work without rest for the sake of the company. His special qualities include extreme touchiness and the desire to see enemies where there are none, especially if his own ideas, which he considers impeccable, are affected. You need to think about inviting such an applicant to the staff: he will be an efficient and necessary employee, but he will sow discord in the team.

5. A hooked nose with a low-slung sharp tip, a hard, compressed mouth with downturned corners, and often a transverse wrinkle on the forehead. Such facial features were considered the marks of slanderers and slanderers, and in general, the presence of such a nose and mouth speaks of envy, cruelty, suspicion, cunning and bitterness. People with such facial features strive for power and suffer from delusions of grandeur. But this applies only to the entire complex of signs - nose, mouth, eyebrows meeting on the bridge of the nose. If the chin is normal, well-defined, and the eyebrows do not meet at the bridge of the nose, then the applicant may turn out to be a good boss - a little bilious, self-confident, quick-tempered, but clearly doing his job.

If the chin is weak, pushed back, and the upper lip hangs over the lower lip, then in addition to bile and self-confidence, the person is very suspicious, cowardly, and weak-willed, therefore he achieves his goals in a roundabout way, cheats, gossips, deceives his superiors, and uses denunciation as a means of career growth. If the chin protrudes forward, then the candidate may have the features of a dictator.

If, with such a structure of the applicant's chin, thin, pale lips smile slightly, snake, then this is the trait of a scoundrel. Moreover, it is easier to hire a scolder than to fire him. As a rule, he has excellent recommendations, he received a good salary at his previous place of duty, but when asked why he decided to contact you, he will try to avoid answering or get off with “family circumstances.” If you don’t want to get into trouble, you need to thoroughly check the true reasons for leaving your previous job.

6. A cut chin, a toad mouth (thick lips with downturned corners, making a grimace out of a smile). Usually this is an indication of the pathological shortcomings of the applicant - greed, cowardice, lack of will; Such faces are found among lovers of other people's money, embezzlers. However, not all people with a similar structure of the lower jaw have similar deficiencies, and it is advisable to check such a candidate, so find out at the previous place of work what the reasons for his dismissal are. But if you need a business-like and efficient employee, then the applicant will not be the best candidate: he is not able to make a decision quickly and in a businesslike manner, and is afraid of responsibility. Such a candidate does not need to be appointed to leadership positions; it is better to use him in another position where he does not have to take responsibility.

7. A fleshy face, heavy, low eyebrows, usually very thick, often meeting at the bridge of the nose, small, deep-set eyes, a low forehead, but wild hair. The moral qualities of such people are quite high, but by nature they are very thorough, responsible, a little withdrawn, they carry out all urgent tasks efficiently, but incredibly slowly, they tend to check and double-check their actions and will not have time to do anything during the time allotted for work: their actions result in in reasoning about several ways to solve a problem, about the advantages and disadvantages of each path; the fear of making a mistake makes them shy away from any action. Such a candidate does not need to be appointed to high positions, but in a job that requires precise execution of standard actions, he will show himself to be an efficient and conscientious worker, perhaps a little slow.

8. A languid handsome man - he has a gentle, feminine beauty and large, expressive eyes, plump lips in a bow, arched eyebrows and long eyelashes, which is very popular with female managers. It’s completely useless to like someone if you need to select an employee for a high position. Usually people with this appearance are smug and narcissistic egoists who do not want to work, but dream of having a good time at work. If the applicant has a handsome face, but his eyes are quick and tenacious, and his mouth is beautiful, but firmly built, he is a very businesslike and tenacious person, well aware of his attractiveness, successful with women, quite selfish, but he will be an excellent employee.

9. A narrow, sharp and long chin, a narrowed forehead, folds almost from the temples to the lips, an expressionless, small mouth, low straight eyebrows. An applicant with a similar set of facial features looks at the world with undisguised pessimism; he is a grouch. A candidate with a grumpy face should not be hired for a vacant position, either as a manager or as a subordinate, especially since he does not know how to work. The only organization where his appearance and attitude are appropriate is a funeral service bureau.

10. A broad-boned, tightly built man with a bullish neck, usually a round face and a strong chin, combined with a low forehead and small, expressionless, but tenacious eyes. The most appropriate purpose for a candidate with similar facial features is security, police or sports. In leadership positions in another field, such applicants do not show good results; intellectual work is not up to them. But people with similar facial features fit in well in lower management positions if they have to manage unskilled workers - foreman, foreman, foreman, etc.

For financial work you need to choose a person who can do monotonous and tedious work with numbers; he must be balanced, scrupulous, and good at calculating moves. Outwardly, such a specialist can look completely American, with a wide smile, an athletic figure, and excellent muscles. Or, on the contrary, look reserved, with a dry face. But all people of this type will be given away by a large, high forehead.

To work with personnel We need a specialist who is internally ready for constant communication. Outwardly, such people have bright, memorable, although large, facial features, with large, expressive eyes, a beautiful, straight nose, or an oval face with an impassive expression, on which an all-knowing half-smile sometimes flashes. The distinctive features of this type of people are some clumsiness and poorly developed muscles. They are great at understanding employee problems and are helpful and tactful when working with staff.

To work with innovative projects We require a person capable of working under pressure and endowed with high intelligence. Typically, such people look dense, streamlined, with rounded faces, without protruding parts, moving shallow eyes and a small nervous mouth, and have fast movements. Men often have a heavy lower jaw and a strong-willed chin. In women, the face is softer, with an additional chin (with increased fullness). Extroverts of this type are excellent for developing projects related to trade and working “for clients,” while introverts are able to quickly assess the situation and find the right solution in a matter of days.

To increase labor productivity requires an excellent organizer with rational thinking. As a rule, such an applicant has a sharp, thin face with small features, moving eyes and a changeable mouth. These are living, mobile, active people. Extroverts feel like fish in water in the field of trade, they like to lead; introverts are more likely to complete tasks, are also sociable and unambitious.

Female types just as diverse. The appearance features described above also apply to them. Do not offer leadership positions to people whose upper lip hangs over their lower lip or whose lower lip droops. Be careful if the upper lip is turned up - this is a sign of moodiness; if the lips are too plump, this is an indicator of affectation. Please note that if a woman periodically purses her lips during a conversation, she is displeased and does not like the company. The best candidate is the one whose lips are regular, well-defined, of equal thickness and with dimples at the corners of the mouth when smiling: this is an easy-going person, sincere, optimistic, and confident in his abilities.

Appearance will tell you and about the candidate’s health level. Healthy people have a cheerful voice, sparkling eyes, a friendly smile, a fast pace of speech, clear skin with a healthy color, no wrinkles or spots on the neck, shiny and elastic hair, no bruises or bags under the eyes, thick eyebrows, large ears with a large, full lobe, large and good-colored holes on the nails, bright, red lips, eyes without veins in the whites, their handshake is strong and energetic.

An equally important personality indicator is human gait. Of course, it would be indecent to force the applicant to walk around the office. But you can pay attention to how he carries himself as soon as he crosses the threshold of your office: a quietly walking man, with his nose up, dignified and arrogant; those who walk with short, drawn-out steps are lazy by nature; the one who rolls his shoulders thinks a lot about himself; A long step distinguishes generous and diligent people, a short step distinguishes vindictive and absurd people.

If you are hiring a person for a responsible position, the most important quality (besides competence) should be the ability to make decisions and take responsibility. There are many great specialists who simply cannot bring themselves to do this; what they are most afraid of is making decisions. But when arranging an interview, you can do simple test exam. Place a chair for the applicant so that it is very awkward for him to talk to you, so that he is forced to turn his whole body towards you every time, and see how he behaves with you.

If a person, sitting in such an uncomfortable position, does not make an attempt to sit more comfortably, he is timid, strives not to violate subordination and would rather experience discomfort than violate the “conditions of selection.” Mentally he curses you for the awkwardly placed chair, but he will sit on it, because you did not ask whether it was comfortable for him to sit, and even if you did, he would be embarrassed and answer that it was comfortable. At work he will be the same: he will do everything that is required, from here to now, but he will not do anything himself.

Another applicant, realizing how uncomfortable it is for him to sit, will simply move his chair so that he can communicate without the “chair problem.” What exactly he will do - just move the chair silently or apologize and then move it - is not so important. It depends on the upbringing, and on the person’s temperament, and on his enthusiasm for talking with you. But if he did so, then he has the quality you need. The only exception: the applicant may simply be rude by nature, and then he will not even get up, but simply turn around straight away with his chair and - of course - scraping on the floor. Hama will also be distinguished by the way he will conduct a dialogue with you. A lively, relaxed person, conducting a dialogue, will clarify unclear aspects, as is customary in the civilized world. A boor can interrupt you even when everything is clear. In other words, you are faced with the task of not mistaking a boor for a determined and intelligent applicant.

However, if you can’t conduct an experiment with a chair, remember that you can identify such qualities as determination, independence and intelligence. by the very figure of a person, his hands. Decisive and intelligent people have fairly long arms, while narrow-minded, poorly trained and lazy people have shorter arms than usual. And if we’re talking about hands, then we definitely need to look at the shape of the hand. Long fingers indicate intelligence, short fingers indicate determination, low intelligence and, sometimes, thievery. People with long fingers may not be very active in terms of action, while people with short fingers act and go towards their goal, not paying attention to other people.

A long, excessively thin hand with weak fingers often belongs to indecisive and weak-willed people; a thin, but correctly outlined hand belongs to intellectually developed applicants with a lively and tenacious mind; A fleshy, wide hand occurs in people of low intelligence, but of a practical disposition.

Pay special attention to your thumb. Thumb on hand shows the development of personality traits, that is, a person’s individuality. It is he who determines our character, the development of logical thinking and the strength of feelings. The upper phalanx shows the development of a person’s willpower, assertiveness, ingenuity, and determination; the middle phalanx shows logical thinking. Lower – high or low emotionality, strength of feelings and desire to fulfill desires. If the will and logic are developed equally, harmoniously, then the upper and middle parts of the finger will be approximately equal in size. If the will is more developed, then the upper phalanx will be larger. If logic is more developed, then the middle part of the finger will be larger.

The size of the thumb is important. People who live by feelings, obeying their own passions, the emotions of the moment, have a short thumb. People who are strong-willed, strong, not influenced by passing feelings, and who systematically move towards their goal, have a long thumb. The better this finger is developed, the longer the upper joint, the stronger and more beautifully outlined it is, the greater the opportunity for a person to be a leader and lead society. If the thumb is not straight and dense from the base to the end, but has a “waist”, that is, the middle phalanx is thinner than the upper and lower ones, then the owner of this finger has obvious diplomatic abilities, he can resolve conflicts and find compromises. Such people are tactful, polite, but not weak-willed.

Another point of our inspection - nails. Long nails belong to balanced, thoughtful, tactful, calm people. But too long nails indicate shyness, mistrust, secrecy and slow reactions. Short nails are for people who are active, active, and have quick reactions. But too short nails indicate aggressiveness, intransigence, hot temper and often quarrelsomeness. If such nails are located on thick, clumsy fingers, this is a sign of poor learning and absent-mindedness. People with long nails are more successful at work if they have to speak in front of a wide audience, answer tricky questions, and make contacts. People with short nails make excellent cashiers, supply managers, and financial directors.

However, the length of your nails immediately fades into the background if you notice that your nails or the skin around the nails are bitten or your hands are dirty. Such nails or nails with a “mourning border” show that the applicant is not punctual and will not strive to get the job done, although he can most likely work in any environment. Bitten nails indicate nervousness. Women's nails almost always look well-groomed, but their length and color of varnish will tell about their character traits: short-cut nails, dimly painted, will speak of hard work, modesty, and a tendency to submit, while long and brightly painted nails will either speak of courage, extravagance, or the ability to think independently. , or about eccentricity, rigidity of character, unpredictability, aggressiveness.

Cloth

Another indicator of a candidate's character is the way he is dressed. Of course, every person strives to follow modern fashion, but some prefer not to stand out from the general background, others cannot imagine how they can look the same as everyone else. Moreover, the degree of originality depends both on the person’s culture and on his priorities, and on how correctly he perceives coming to the interview, whether his appearance corresponds to the stereotypes that have developed in the company. For example, I know institutions where a candidate is literally greeted by his clothes, that is, they look at what suit he wore for an interview. If paired with a white shirt and tie, then the exam is passed, despite the fact that the applicant may turn out to be a complete idiot, and if a candidate comes in a sweater and jeans, he will immediately “fail.”

Probably, such “selection” based on appearance is not only incorrect, but also extremely stupid. Of course, it's good if a candidate understands how he needs to dress to look appropriate in the workplace, but a good candidate can be explained the dress requirements after hiring. This is just a formality. The main thing is that the applicant’s clothing does not cause complete misunderstanding to the interviewer. What should alert him is not that the applicant came in jeans and a sweater, but that the clothes are dirty or smell bad, and the shoes have never seen brushes and cream. If we are talking about an applicant, then one should be wary of clothes that are too shabby or too pretentious, or a complete absence or excessive abundance of cosmetics.

However, the dress code also depends on the position for which a person is applying. I was told a wonderful story about a young beauty who had to “interview” in three places on one day. The first vacancy suggested the position of a secretary, that is, an assistant, the second - a waitress in a nightclub, the third - a website administrator. Since it was impossible to find clothes that fit the entire spectrum for these three interviews, the girl put on leggings, a scarlet, like a flare, sweater with the sleeve pulled down from one shoulder, sneakers, and tucked her hair under a black Panama hat. It looked normal. So I go to the next store.

At the first interview, she was immediately confronted with complaints that she had a lot of cosmetics and she was dressed... like for a strip club, at the second, that she was dressed... like for a market, not an elite strip club, and there wasn’t enough cosmetics, and at the third the director waved his hand and said: “Here.” if you were a guy, otherwise you’re wearing a signal sweater and your shoulder is bare.”, although who cares that your shoulder is bare, because no one sees the site administrator anyway. And the girl, by the way, worked as a secretary, a waitress, and a website administrator. And she coped with her responsibilities everywhere. But no one even asked her to prove her professional suitability; she was immediately rejected because of her clothes. I still advise you to be more loyal to applicants.

So tell yourself right away that the candidate’s clothes and hairstyle will bother you if they are somehow completely ridiculous and do not suit a person’s age. If a plump, middle-aged woman in a short red skirt with ruffles and a yellow belt, a blue blouse and a green hat came to you for a job, then you have every reason to ask yourself what you see in front of you. But if a young girl in lilac leggings, a black skirt and a purple tunic is standing in front of you, then everything is in order. And it doesn’t matter that the girl is applying for a programmer position, it may well be that she is smart and will do a great job. But a lady dressed like a bird of paradise and applying for the position of an accountant... this is a diagnosis. And not because an accountant shouldn’t dress brightly, but because she lived to see gray hair and never learned to choose clothes that even matched the tone and body type.

A young guy in a bright sweater is unusual, but normal. But a shaved guy in yellow pants with sparkles and a shirt of all the colors of the rainbow. this is a diagnosis. Remember that an elderly person can be dressed brightly, but this brightness should suit him. And remember one more thing: many people don't know how to dress. Even if they choose clothes from catalogs, they manage to choose the worst from the worst. It's not their fault, it's their problem.

Besides attention should be paid rather, something else.

1. High cost of clothing. The answer “the more expensive the better” is incorrect. If an applicant wears too expensive clothes, this is probably not the most favorable sign. With his appearance he is trying to show that he knows how to make money and has this money. For you, this applicant is a gentleman in an expensive suit. Ask yourself a question: if he wears such a suit, then why did he decide to get a job at your company, where even you don’t have such a suit (if you are a man)? In your company, he won’t earn enough to pay for such a suit in three months. What does this candidate want? What kind of relationship will he begin to build with you? Of course, the “suit” may be a completely normal candidate. But then you will have to think about the qualities of the “suit”. In any case, he is clearly not guilty of modesty.

2. Excessively cheap clothes. The question here is what position the person is applying for. If not to the management, then no questions. If it’s a managerial one, then the question immediately arises: why in such a suit, is there really not a single decent suit left in the house, and if not, then why? In his resume, he described himself as a successful leading specialist, but he looks shabby. Here, of course, a lot depends on the ratio of entries in the resume and clothing. You cannot demand a “prestigious” uniform from a recent student or former state employee, but you cannot help but demand from a “successful” and “expensive” specialist. The first question that usually arises is: what if he’s a drinker? You will learn the answer to this question, as well as the reason for this discrepancy, later in the interview.

3. A man in bright clothes. As a rule, the question here is obvious. Either this person suffers from a lack of attention and thus tries to attract it to himself. Or a feature of clothing is associated with. characteristics of sexual orientation. Of course, belonging to a sexual minority is not a reason for refusing to hire, but it’s worth weighing the pros and cons, especially if there is no tolerance on this issue in your team.

4. A man wearing overly conservative clothing. This is a very common occurrence. Conservative clothing is preferred by many people of the “old” generation, that is, those who began their working lives during the Soviet times. But “conservatism” is still nurtured in some groups. And often a specialist who was accustomed to dress this way at his previous place of work will continue to dress conservatively in the future. At the same time, there is a category of applicants who, with a conservative appearance, want to throw dust in your eyes, showing how “stable”, “law-abiding” and “correct” they are. This is usually how people who are cautious, dependent and irresponsible present themselves. So first find the reason for conservatism, and then decide whether you need such a specialist.

5. Clothes are simple and unpretentious, in which a person feels adequate. If an applicant is not afraid to show up for an interview dressed in a way that suits him, then he is quite independent and decisive, does not consider it necessary to present himself better than he really is, and is not too eager for your praise. You may not like it, but with such a person (if he has good business skills) you will work together much easier and faster than with other candidates. This is a person without pretensions, he perceives the world adequately, respects his opinion and does not want to play the game of “clothes” with you, he wants to be perceived “in terms of his mind.”

There are signs in clothing that you simply need to pay attention to. For example, the combination of an expensive suit and cheap, worn-out shoes will not tell a knowledgeable person the story of the difficult financial situation in which the applicant is, but will show the candidate’s passionate desire to show off. Another combination will indicate a difficult financial situation - expensive, but repaired, shoes and an inexpensive suit. And the combination of expensive shoes and a fairly cheap suit shows stability and self-confidence.

Men's jewelry in the form of chains, gold keychains and other expensive tinsel should immediately alert you, as well as an expensive pen sticking out of a jacket pocket, a Zipp lighter that is periodically removed, a Rollex on your hand, or any other thing that costs a fortune. The guy tells you with all his appearance: “Look how cool I am.” But you are not going to hire a cool guy, but a responsible employee. The main thing here is not even the presence of an expensive thing, but the fact that they are trying with all their might to present it to you. Women engage in such presentation with the same fervor as men. But they have trinkets of a different nature - necklaces, rings, beads, bracelets. In general, there is nothing reprehensible in such jewelry. And a woman’s desire to wear jewelry is quite understandable. It’s only bad if the chains on them are heavy, and the stones are the size of a pigeon’s egg: large gold jewelry with large stones speaks of the special disposition of their owner - imperiousness and quarrelsomeness.

It is also worth paying attention to various types of insignia that your applicant has decided to put on himself. These could be membership badges, awards, a university badge, etc. A person going for an interview is unlikely to wear these special badges just like that. This is a demonstration of your belonging to some caste or some community, so take a closer look and immediately decide for yourself how much you need an employee who emphasizes membership in an elite club or suffers from some kind of racial prejudice.

But there are two things that, when you see them, you should forget about your desire to appoint a candidate to a leadership position: a plastic bag in the hands of a candidate dressed in an expensive suit, and a shopping bag in the hands of an expensively dressed candidate.

Behavior and speech

The applicant begins to “behave” immediately as soon as he enters your office. Even the way he enters is already an indicator. If a visitor knocks quietly on the door, sticks his head in first, and then squeezes sideways through the door, this is a timid and shy candidate who will need help in communicating. But what causes shyness - the interview situation itself or the candidate behaves this way in all situations, you will have to find out during the conversation. If a candidate literally rushes in to you and shows how confident he is in himself, then this can serve as an indicator of a decisive character, or perhaps vanity and rudeness. As a rule, the best option would be to knock politely and ask if you can enter, and then simply enter the fully (not cracked) open door with a calm look and a friendly smile. And one more thing: people who have had to “interview” often do it more confidently than those who come for the first time. People who have studied the literature on the subject of interviews will also look better than those who have not bothered with it. So take note of the applicant's initial behavior and ask him to sit down.

During the interview (especially at the beginning), pay attention to how the candidate holds himself, what posture he takes, how quietly or loudly he speaks, what facial expressions accompany his speech.

If the applicant sits so as not to face you, but prefers to sit sideways to you, he experiences awkwardness and discomfort. You will have to first show him that there is nothing to be afraid of, and only then can you have a business conversation.

If a candidate behaves so relaxed and fearless that you get the feeling that it is not you, but he, who is conducting the interview, then you need to be wary. This behavior may be a conversational style and demonstrates human traits such as courage and determination, but it can also be the calling card of a special breed of applicants who have made interviewing something of a hobby. It is difficult to understand exactly who you see in front of you at first glance. But, if you like the candidate, invite him to try himself in the vacant position for a period of one hour. Usually, “wandering applicants” will refer to urgent matters and refuse. The reason given will be unconvincing.

Please note: sweeping gestures, a posture facing the interlocutor, eye-to-eye contact indicate the activity and dynamism of your interlocutor, his desire to take the initiative into his own hands; a bag pressed to the chest, a handkerchief clenched in a fist, a running glance, a large number of “wetty” gestures indicate that your interlocutor feels uncomfortable, is not confident in his competitiveness, sometimes - about the intention to hide something from you. In addition, the candidate’s desire to behave as recommended in the books, to completely repeat the “book script” shows some limitations of the applicant’s mind.

The most important indicator is This is a natural (but precisely for an unnatural situation) behavior of the candidate. If your applicant struggles to keep a Hollywood smile on his face, even when answering the most unpleasant questions, you should think about how suitable he is for you. The style of answering questions is also important. A candidate who answers in monosyllables is most likely afraid of making a mistake or showing a bad side of himself. At the same time, lengthy answers to questions that do not require detailed decoding show an inability to conduct a productive dialogue.

Too loud voice or too quiet speech equally indicate that the applicant is nervous. Speech should be calm, clear and natural. It is accompanied by facial expressions. Depending on the person's temperament facial expressions may be mobile or sedentary. People of lively temperament (choleric and sanguine) are also distinguished by lively facial expressions. The faces of phlegmatic and melancholic people are more constrained.

Highly mobile facial expressions indicate liveliness and rapid change in the perception of impressions and internal experiences, and easy excitability from external stimuli. Such excitability can reach manic proportions.

Sedentary facial expressions indicate, in principle, the constancy of mental processes. It indicates a rarely changing, stable mood. Such facial expressions are associated with calm, constancy, prudence, reliability, superiority and balance. Sedentary facial play can, with reduced activity (motor strength and temperament), also produce the impression of contemplation and comfort.

Monotony and rare changes in behavior patterns. If such behavior is accompanied by slowness and low tension, then we can conclude not only about mental monotony, but also about weak impulsiveness. The cause of this may be melancholic movement disorders, stiffness or paralysis. This behavior is typical in exceptionally monotonous mental states, boredom, sadness, indifference, dullness, emotional poverty, melancholy and depressive stupor resulting from an exaggeratedly sad dominant feeling (complete stiffness).

For selection for leadership positions or positions that require communication with people, people with a strong temperament and focus on the outside world (extroverts) are better suited. They are characterized by moving facial expressions and clear speech. Such people quickly make decisions, know how to act, and are indispensable in work that requires independence and speed of reaction. People with sedentary facial expressions are more suitable for professions that do not require quick action or making responsible decisions.

People of a logical mindset (thinking predominates) and people of an ethical mindset (sympathy predominates), with the same mobility of facial expressions, will “involve” different parts of the face in a conversation. The former are characterized by mobility of the facial expressions of the upper part of the face (forehead, eyes, eyebrows, nose, bridge of the nose) - raising the eyebrows, posing them in a small house, bringing them to the bridge of the nose, frowning, etc. The latter are characterized by mobility of the lower part of the face (the main facial expressions are associated with the lips ) – they express their feelings with various types of smiles. People with a logical mindset do not know how to smile, or rather, their smile is always the same. The former are more suitable for working with documents, numbers, and making innovative decisions. For working with people, negotiating, finding compromises - the second.

Looking at the candidate's face, note such detail as wrinkles. If there are deep horizontal wrinkles on the candidate’s forehead, and he is used to keeping his eyelids half-closed, then this is not due to increased brain activity, but to constantly and long-lasting negative emotions, fear, a sense of danger, a desire to avoid making a decision, and a desire to do nothing. Deep horizontal wrinkles on the forehead with normally positioned eyelids will indicate a person’s attentiveness and observation skills. Vertical wrinkles above the bridge of the nose indicate determination and will, strong character. The combination of vertical and horizontal wrinkles on the forehead, forming curls, shows the candidate’s dreaminess, the gap between dreams and reality, speaks of cowardice, indecisiveness, weakness of character, and inability to defend one’s rightness.

Sight can also tell you a lot. Open, attentive, expectant, changing depending on the flow of the dialogue shows a normal, lively reaction. If, despite all this, the candidate periodically squints one eye, this does not show increased attentiveness, but dissatisfaction with the course of the conversation, hidden aggression. An absent-minded, “unseeing” look is characteristic of self-absorbed people, that is, introverts. An evasive look or a sidelong glance with the head lowered slightly is typical for people who feel awkward. This means that the applicant was unable to adapt and needs help. A wandering gaze, meaninglessly darting from object to object, is characteristic of bored people; such a candidate is absolutely not interested in either the job or the interview; he waits for the interview to end.

It is also important head position. If the applicant lowers it low, this is a sign of shyness, awkwardness, and weakness of character. If he throws it so that his chin is raised strongly, the applicant is vain and has a high opinion of his person. If the candidate looks at you, his chin is only slightly raised, a decisive and active person is talking to you. Please also pay attention to landing of the candidate, on the position of his shoulders. Shoulders are raised if a person feels apprehensive; omitted if self-confident; rise and fall if he wants to express doubt or is thoughtful; pulled back if he wants to demonstrate enterprise, strength and courage; “sag forward” when a person experiences despair and weakness; put forward when experiencing fear; rises and falls on one side if he feels regret.

Are of great importance involuntary gestures which reveal the candidate’s thoughts and feelings. Picking of various kinds (sores, ears, nose) shows that the applicant is busy with his own thoughts. Such people can be excellent specialists, but they will only do what interests them. Touching the earlobes, nose, and twirling hair on the finger are typical for people with a skeptical mind. Scratching various parts of the body shows that the applicant is straightforward, self-confident, often hot-tempered, selfish, unprincipled, unscrupulous, squeamish and loves to eat.

Fingering with foreign objects or your own fingers is typical for impatient applicants who cannot concentrate and do not like monotony. Patting yourself on the knee or thighs and shaking your leg have the same meaning. Chewing of various kinds (of nails, skin around nails, hair, foreign objects) or feverish smoking indicate nervousness and resentment, while rubbing the eyes, temples, and forehead indicates rapid fatigue. If you were unable to calm the applicant and did not convince him of your goodwill, he may clasp his hands. This is a well-known sign of anxiety.

Try to defuse the situation. Say something encouraging, make a joke. A spontaneous response to your joke can reveal a little about both how tense the person is still and how sincere they are. His smile will tell you this. Only a natural smile speaks of sincerity; all other types of smiles (including the famous Hollywood one) are a kind of smile that masks true feelings. A sincere smile is accompanied by folds under the lower eyelids and rays in the corners of the eyes.

After spending literally a few minutes getting to know the candidate and asking general questions, you immediately move on to the interview itself. In other words, you start asking questions, and the candidate starts giving answers. In order for the dialogue to not be empty, questions must be worked out and selected in advance. You can make a list of questions for yourself and keep it in front of you on the table. You can mark the candidate's answers on a special form. Do what is most convenient for you. But it is from the answers to the questions that you will form an impression of the candidate. Career Planning website specialists recommend using the following types of questions.

1. Questions requiring a short answer (general questions).

This is the type of question that is very often asked and very often abused. How often have you heard interviewers ask something as general as “Can you work under pressure?” Only “yes” or “no” answers are possible to such a question, but who will give a negative answer... Thus, the interviewer does not receive any information that could help evaluate this candidate in comparison with others.

Although such questions are not the most appropriate way to conduct an interview, they can still be useful. General questions are suitable in cases where you want to confirm a particular fact or verify previously received information. Examples of general questions: “Can you start working this Monday?” “So you worked at Xerox for ten years?” You can also use this type of question to add some variety to the conversation when you need to ask a series of questions on the same topic.

2. Questions requiring a detailed answer (open questions).

Logically, this type of question is the opposite of the first type. When answering an open question, the candidate will not be able to get by with an unambiguous answer, so the answer is expected to be detailed. For example, a question such as “How well do you perform under pressure?” is an open-ended question that expects the candidate to provide a detailed answer. Experience shows that this type of question is preferable to a general question; it puts the candidate in a situation in which he is forced to talk, give examples, and you can only listen. Such questions usually begin with words such as “I’d really like to hear about how you...”, “Curious to know...”, “Could you tell me...”.

3. Questions about previous work experience.

This method has recently become a separate style of interviewing. Questions about previous work experience are based on the assumption that actions taken in the past can predict future actions. That is, it is believed that a person will work in a new place of work in the same way as he worked in previous jobs. These questions are open-ended in their logical structure, but focus on examples from the candidate's past experience. Typically, such questions begin with phrases such as “Tell me about how you...”, “Give me an example of how...”, “And when did you hold a position...”. Such questions should be asked at the very beginning of the interview so that the candidate immediately understands that detailed details from his past experience are required from him. This way, he will not be tempted to mislead his interviewer during the interview. Questions about previous work experience create the right attitude for the candidate.

4. Questions about the candidate’s weaknesses.

During the interview process, there is often a temptation to believe that if a candidate is strong in one area, then he can perform brilliantly in other areas. However, this does not always happen. At the moment when a halo begins to shine over the candidate's head and the choir of angels chanting his virtues begins to drown out even the telephone calls received by your secretary, it is time to cross yourself and wake up from this tempting bliss - it is time to try to pay attention to the weaknesses of the candidate. In this case, it’s good to try the following question: “Well, that’s all great. Well, can you remember any case from your practice when you were not at your best? or “Now, could you give me an example of something that you yourself would not be proud of?”

5. Disclosure of the candidate’s negative traits.

Once you find out that the candidate has some weaknesses, you can be satisfied with this discovery and continue with the interview. But the situation may also develop in such a way that the candidate’s answer will cause you concern and you will consider it important to reveal the negative traits of your interlocutor. For example, a candidate told you about an incident at one of his previous jobs when, in order to achieve a certain goal, he considered it necessary to bypass his immediate superior. Here you, as a manager, will need to think carefully about the fact that if this behavior is typical for this person, then it is unlikely to be reasonable to invite him to work on your team. Accordingly, you will need to make an effort to further uncover the negative traits of this candidate. Here you can use a phrase such as “That's interesting, you know. Let's talk more about those cases in your practice when you had to." Further conversation on this topic will help you identify negative traits and, perhaps, protect you from a bad employee. On the other hand, it may turn out that this particular negative situation was just an exception in the candidate's experience and that it is not worth worrying about.

6. Reflective questions.

Reflective questions are a great way to move from one topic to another. They help you control the flow of the conversation, no matter how talkative your interlocutor is. If, for example, a candidate begins to bombard you with unnecessary information regarding his previous work, the flow of his speech can easily be interrupted with a reflective question that allows you to switch to another topic of conversation. To do this, you only need one phrase, which is added to the sentence you pronounce: “Isn’t it (good)?” For example: “We don’t have much time, and I think it would be a good idea to move on to another question, don’t you?” The candidate's response (reflex) will be agreement, which will allow the conversation to move further in the direction you want.

7. Mirror statements (repetition of phrases).

This is a skillful form of testing, which is used simultaneously with the most effective tool of silence. This method involves repeating or paraphrasing some key statement (statement), and then silently observing your interlocutor, nodding your head from time to time and listening with visible interest. Questions like this should be used to highlight the essence of your interlocutor’s answer and find out as many details as possible. Your task is simply to repeat the meaning of some statement (“So, if you happen to be late for work two hours, then you then stay at work for those two hours to do what you were supposed to do”), then shut up and let the candidate to speak in more detail about this phrase.

8. Alternative questions.

Alternative questions are often overused because they allow the interviewer to demonstrate his or her power. The question itself requires the candidate to choose the answer that would be the lesser of two evils. For example: “What do you think is the lesser evil: waste or fraud?” There is, however, a clear line between absurd alternative questions and well-thought-out questions that require active thought. For most interviewers, this method is useful in checking how and how well a candidate can make decisions and select alternatives. The easiest and most effective way to use these kinds of questions is to use a real-life situation in which two very different approaches can be carefully considered. Then this situation should be presented in the form of a question that begins with the words: “I would like to know what you would do if...” or “What solution would you propose in a situation where...”.

9. Reflective questions containing partially correct information.

This type of question is used to get a person who agrees with everything to talk, to talk with incurably incompetent people, with eccentrics who do not want to provide information, as well as with those who are completely competent but are very complex. The method is as follows: you need to give a partially correct statement and ask the candidate to agree with it. It's amazing how much you can learn using this method. For example: “I have always believed that customer service begins from the moment he pays the bill. You agree with me?" This example of a reflective question containing partially correct information always brings surprising answers. Try this type of question in your practice and you may learn this.

10. Leading questions.

In this case, you are directing your listener to a specific type of response. Often such questions arise accidentally as the interviewer talks about the specifics of the company where the candidate will work. The interviewer might proudly say that “the company is experiencing rapid growth right now, and employees have to work hard to maintain excellent customer service,” and then ask, “How do you manage stress?” The candidate knows that in order to have any chance of getting the job, he needs to answer this question appropriately, which he does. This is not to say that it is not at all recommended to use leading questions. The point is that, like general questions, they must be applied in the appropriate setting. The best way is to use them to support some information, in order to encourage the candidate to express his point of view in more detail on a particular topic. For example: “In our company there is a rule that the customer is always right. What do you think about it?" But this technique should only be used when you have already identified the candidate's beliefs in a particular area. In any case, be that as it may, leading questions should not be used at the very beginning of the interview. Also, this type of question should not go along with reflective questions.

11. Rephrasing the question.

A poorly worded question, no matter how good it may be, loses its impact and may leave you with incomplete or incorrect information. But a correctly formulated and posed question allows you to get an accurate answer that can be carefully weighed and correctly assessed. Let's look at an example where you need to find out if your potential employee can work under pressure. Many interviewers ask a very simple question: “Can you work under pressure?” Although the intention in itself is good, the style of the question is completely wrong. There are several reasons for this (we have already talked about them before):

a) this type of question requires only a short answer “yes” or “no”;

b) the question posed in this way clearly shows the candidate what answer you want to hear from him.

12. Questions - “chasing”.

Some clumsy and not very smart people need to be constantly pushed. Therefore, if you are faced with such a candidate, then you can use the following methods.

If you are not satisfied with the first answer or, on the contrary, you liked this answer so much that you want to hear a continuation, then say: “Please tell me more about this. This is very interesting” or “Could you give me another example?”

You can listen to the answer and then add: “What did you learn from this example?” This is an excellent paraphrasing technique that can help you assess a candidate's thinking and evaluation abilities, as well as their emotions. In addition, while the candidate is answering, you will have enough time to think and plan the further course of the conversation.

The purpose of all 12 question types is to get your candidate to open up and show their face. To conduct a dialogue competently, it is necessary to follow the order of transition from question to question. It makes no sense, for example, to ask an applicant where he worked recently, and then suddenly ask what he was sick with lately. The unfortunate candidate will be confused by this style of your conversation, and if he really was seriously ill, he will no longer think about the interview, but about how you learned about his illness, perhaps carefully hidden from all your acquaintances. So think ahead about what you need to figure out what traits you can recognize in the applicant, and ask questions according to your plan.

Need to start from general questions, which are supplemented by a visual inspection unnoticed by the candidate. At this first stage of the interview, you draw a portrait of the applicant on the following points: appearance, build, posture, manner of holding and speaking, physical flaws.

Next, you should get an idea of ​​a person’s ability to adapt, emotional stability, ability to cope with stress, find a common language with other people, make contact, as well as the motivation of a person’s behavior: what kind of goals he sets for himself, how he achieves their implementation, what follows after he achieved the next goal or abandoned it, was he persistent in achieving it?

Intellectual abilities of the applicant: facts indicating intelligence, readiness to perceive new information, learning, initiative, mobility, ability to work with numbers. From this range of questions follows the following - about professional level, production achievements: education, diploma, specialization, the essence of work experience, career advancement, participation in work that requires decision-making, the ability to be flexible, etc.

Features of the value structure of the candidate’s personality: the candidate’s priorities in professional activity, the most important achievements for him at the previous place of work, attitude towards his former superiors, attitude towards universal human values, work, family, etc.

Leisure: what forms of leisure your interlocutor prefers in the field of intellectual, social, art, culture, what are his hobbies and inclinations.

Other circumstances: marital status, family ties, who is supporting him, financial situation of the family, political and religious beliefs.

Conventionally, the interview is divided into blocks of questions. You cannot drag a question from one block to another block. The flow of the conversation should appear smooth and not cause obvious rejection in the applicant.

In each block set:

– first, an open question that will indicate to the interlocutor the interviewer’s area of ​​interest, for example: “In what area have you managed to achieve success?”;

– then – a series of testing questions that will help you find out the details you are interested in and clarify what you heard, for example: “Have you even been promoted? Can you tell Anya what improvements you have introduced?”;

– closed questions that allow you to get the interlocutor to an exact answer, for example: “At what age were you offered this post?”;

- comparative questions, if you do not quite understand the interlocutor and want to clarify something, for example: “And what job did you like better - your previous position or the one to which you were transferred?”

The entire conversation can be summarized in the following sections.

1. General information: questions about work experience, education, additional training in courses:

– Tell us a little about yourself.

– What attracts you to our company?

– How satisfied are you with the pace of your career?

– Tell us about your last place of work.

2. Questions assessing suitability for future responsibilities:

– What are your strengths?

– What are your weaknesses?

– What was the biggest problem you faced at your last job, and how did you solve it?

– What do you like about your current or previous place of work?

– What is the reason for leaving your last job?

– Why should I hire you?

– What motivates people to work most effectively?

– In what situations is lying justified?

3. Identifying the necessary qualities of the candidate:

Responsibility: the ability to take responsibility for both successes and failures; attitude towards help.

– What was the main result of your work?

– How did the results of your work influence the work of other employees? To work for a company?

Determination: ability to overcome obstacles; tactics of behavior when obstacles arise; persistence in achieving goals (can endure a long period of failure).

– What main achievements could you name?

– What didn’t work out that you would like to do? Why?

– On what or who did it depend?

– What did you do to achieve the result?

– What would you do now in that situation?

Entrepreneurship: the ability and desire to act even in unfavorable circumstances; the ability to find a way out of difficult situations.

– What difficulties have you encountered at work?

– When you first started working, what did you have to face?

– What did you do? And if it didn't work, what would you do?

– Do you manage to get out of difficult situations? Could you give an example?

– When did you earn your first money? How? How did you find your first job?

Independence.

– When did you start living separately from your parents?

– Did you rent an apartment when you were a student? Who paid for it?

– When did you earn your first money?

– Do you remember how you spent it?

Stress resistance: the ability to make decisions in stressful situations (lack of time, uncertainty, pressure).

– Under what conditions is your work more effective?

– What can the company do to make your work more effective?

– Under what conditions and circumstances will you leave your job?

Relationships with other people: insight; flexibility; tactics of behavior in conflict; communication skills; independence.

– What qualities do you value in people?

– Do you maintain relationships with former colleagues?

– Who did your classmates with whom you were friends become?

– Did you have any disagreements with management? On what issues? What did you do?

– Was there a situation when your manager (colleague) was wrong or made a mistake? Can you describe this situation? What have you done?

Organizational skills: delegation of authority; information distribution; persistence.

– Who worked in your department?

– How did you distribute responsibilities?

– How do you control the work?

– If you are not on site, what issues do your subordinates most often call you about?

– List the criteria by which you evaluate your employees.

– What do you pay premiums for?

– Do you apply fines? For what?

Planning: tactical? strategic; ability to see multiple solution options; the ability to do several things at the same time.

– Could you describe your working day?

– Who makes plans for you?

– What do you usually do at the beginning of the working day?

– How do you plan your work? For how long?

– What percentage of tasks do you manage to complete?

– What goals did you set for yourself a year ago?

– What did you manage to achieve?

-What did you want to become?

– How do you see your work in three years?

– Why aren’t you doing this now?

– What will allow you to achieve these goals in three years?

Leadership: leadership style; attitude towards competitors; interaction with subordinates; interaction with management.

– At what age did you feel that you could influence other people?

– Were you a class leader or team captain?

– Why do you think your subordinates value you?

– If your subordinates were asked to list your shortcomings, what qualities would be in the top three?

– In what ways was your predecessor better than you?

– What qualities do you value in your leader?

– Who would you never work under?

– Why would you fire an employee?

4. A block of non-standard questions designed to demonstrate the candidate’s qualities.

These are different questions for each profession, but in general they boil down to the following:

– How do you imagine your typical working day?

– How would you rate your knowledge in your specialty on a scale from 1 to 10 points?

– How would you rate your knowledge in theory and practice (for example, sales) on a scale from 1 to 10 points?

– How much do you need to earn starting from the first day of work?

– How much money do you want to earn by the end of your first year with us? In the third year of work?

– Please name your strongest personal qualities.

– What are your strengths as a specialist (for example, in sales)?

– What are your shortcomings?

– What do you think my next question will be?

– What is the most important reason for your current desire for change?

“If I called your last boss right now, what would he tell me about you?”

– If I called several of your colleagues who have worked with you in recent years, what would they tell me about you?

– How are you going to do the work (for example, look for new clients)?

– How do you plan to become part of our team?

– Why should I hire you?

– If you were me, what would you be most concerned about in terms of our company investing time and money in you?

– Give an example related to your current job that would demonstrate your perseverance.

– What can you say about your successes so far?

– Looking back, how could you have improved your performance?

– How do you rate your position among other employees?

– What have you done that you could be proud of?

– Tell me about some duty that you performed with pleasure.

– Tell me about a project that really excites you.

If we are talking about a management position, you can show the applicant future subordinates and ask if he has worked with such a group before, and if so, how he managed it.

– Did you have to work a lot alone in your previous job?

– Tell me about a time when you needed to understand another employee's situation so you could do your job. How did you achieve this understanding and what problems did you encounter?

– How do you manage to achieve understanding of other people when working with them?

– Are you able to predict their behavior?

– What is your role as a team member?

– Give an example of a task that you completed as a member of a team.

– What was your role in this task?

– What types of people did you come into contact with in your previous jobs?

– What exactly did you have to do differently when working with each of these different types to get your job done?

– What kind of people do you get along best with?

– What kind of people do you find it difficult to get along with?

– How do you manage to get along with these types of people?

– Tell me about some difficult situation you found yourself in with one of these people and what happened.

– What lesson did you learn from this experience?

– What difficulties did you experience in relationships with people whose biography and interests differed from your biography and interests?

– How did you feel when you arrived at your last job and met the employees for the first time? How did you get along with them?

– How do you define cooperation?

– How would you define a positive work environment?

– As a member of the department, how do you imagine the role of a manager?

– Tell me about a time when you brought your team together under difficult circumstances.

– Tell me about a case when the work team broke up. Why did this happen? What did you do?

– Have you ever had to create momentum or a team atmosphere with your employees? Tell me about this situation.

– Why did your manager allow such a situation to arise?

– Have you ever encountered difficult problems in your work?

– What exactly was difficult for you to accomplish?

– Why was this difficult for you?

– Where (or to whom) did you turn for help?

– How did you solve this problem?

– In what cases (when?) does this situation arise most often?

– Which decisions are the most difficult for you?

– Tell me about a time when you needed to make a quick decision.

– Tell me about a job or program you did where you had to collect information from many different sources and then create something with the information you gathered.

– How do you organize and plan the main programs?

– Remember the main program you worked on. How did you organize and plan it?

– Do you set goals for yourself?

– Tell me about an important goal you set recently.

– What did you do to achieve it?

– Do you always achieve your goals?

– Tell me about a time when you failed to achieve your goal.

– What did you like about your last job?

– What didn’t you like about your last job?

– How many tasks can you work on simultaneously?

– How many tasks do you like to work on at the same time?

– Describe to me your typical work day. What problems do you usually encounter when doing your job?

– Describe a job that required a lot of energy over a long period of time.

– What have you done to maintain your enthusiasm?

– Where do you get your energy when you have a lot of work that requires additional effort and time?

– Tell me about a time when an emergency situation forced you to restructure your work plan.

– How do you organize yourself for daily activities?

– How many hours a week do you find it necessary to work to get your job done?

– Are overtime hours necessary to complete your job?

– How do you plan your day?

– Tell me about a time when you came up with a new method or idea. How did you get approval for your method and how did you implement it?

– Can you remember a time when an idea or program was rejected? Why were they rejected and what action did you take about it?

– Think about a crisis situation when things got out of control. Why did this happen and what was your role in the chain of events?

– Which situation was the most difficult for you? What stress did you experience and how did you react?

– Tell me about an order that really required all your efforts.

– What do you do when you have to do a lot of work in a short time? What is your reaction?

– When you find yourself in difficult crisis situations, what aspects of your professional skills do you use to further your work?

– Tell me about a task that you started working on and couldn’t finish.

– Tell us about a time when your activities did not meet your expectations.

– Can you remember a time when you returned to a failed project to try again? Why did you do this and what came of it?

– What have you done to become more effective in your position?

– How long will it take you to contribute to the cause?

– Why don’t you get a higher salary at your age?

– What can you do for us that another employee cannot do?

– How long will you work in our organization?

– Do you want to travel to places where the organization will send you?

– What contraindications do you have regarding living (working) here?

– How will working in the evenings affect you?

– Which books had the most profound influence on your business life?

– How do you define a successful career?

– Is this the career you would like for yourself?

– What other questions should I ask you?

5. Questions that you shouldn’t be embarrassed to ask.

This is a group of questions that are unpleasant for the interlocutor, but necessary if you are going to hire an employee.

If the job involves a very busy schedule or takes place in a stressful environment, then you have the right to ask whether the candidate will be able to perform it. To do this, you can offer him to undergo testing or a medical examination. It is reasonable to impose similar requirements on the people you hire to work in hazardous industries.

If the job involves financial responsibility, you have the right to ask questions regarding the candidate’s honesty. For example, questions about having a criminal record, being under investigation, as well as abstract questions formulated as hypothetical situations: what would you do if...

...found out that another team member was stealing from the cash register?

...were you suddenly paid money you didn’t earn?

...an opportunity came up to use other people's money?

There are many such questions that can be developed based on the nature of the applicant’s future work.

This group of issues includes those related to possible tardiness, missed workdays, and violations of labor discipline.

Please note that the applicant will not answer some questions completely sincerely, and you need to be able to understand this immediately.

By answering insincerely, people show changes in specific physical indicators: their heartbeat and breathing rhythms change, their mouth becomes dry, perspiration appears on the forehead and upper lip, pupils narrow, blinking appears, the skin of the face and neck turns red, or pales, or becomes blotchy, changes voice timbre, involuntary movements appear (twitching, tics, tremors, etc.). These physical changes are difficult to hide. So remember that applicant lying to you:

– cannot sit quietly in one place;

– fiddles with the edges of clothes, shakes off dust from them, removes specks (real or imaginary);

– moves his fingers, rubs his hands;

– touches the head, straightens the hair; touches various parts of the face - mouth, eyes, ears, nose; scratches different parts of the face, neck, head;

– plays with any objects (adjusts a shirt cuff or watch strap, sorts out sheets of paper, ties or ties shoelaces, etc.), cannot restrain the tremors that appear in the knees;

– tends, as it were, to hide his body, to remove it from your field of vision (leans his elbows on the closet, while actually hiding behind it, falls apart on a chair or armchair, sliding off it under the table, etc.);

– bites lips or nails; smokes heavily;

– avoids the gaze of the interlocutor (looks you in the eyes for less than a third of the time of the conversation; a frequently used way to avoid the gaze of a partner is to look boredly at the room in which the conversation is taking place);

– constantly looks you straight in the eyes (apparently, he is well aware that if a person avoids looking, this is considered a sign that he is telling a lie); in such cases, you can notice if a person is overacting: in ordinary cases, the gaze is not fixed motionless throughout the conversation: the listener, as a rule, looks at the speaker (while he is speaking) to show that he is listening; the speaker often looks away, except for those moments when it is necessary to emphasize something or show that he has finished his speech;

– pulls back the collar of his shirt and intensively rubs his neck underneath it;

– looking down, he rubs one eye hard;

- shakes his leg; points his feet towards the exit.

From an insincere applicant, when he tries not to tell you the truth:

– the facial expression changes for a short time and again turns into a familiar mask, a mismatch between words and gestures may occur (nodding the head for negative answers, shaking the head for negative answers);

– he tries to sit away from the interviewer, his head is lowered, his chin is drawn in; at the same time, the eyebrows frown or rise, and the legs make various movements - shuffling, tapping on the floor, bending or straightening the knees, crossing legs, impatiently shifting from foot to foot;

– hands are either held in the groin area (an unconscious attempt to defend themselves), or they are hidden, moving restlessly or pointing to the side, involuntarily distracting attention; the palms of the hands are unconsciously hidden - they cover the mouth, are close to the throat or mouth, crossed on the chest (and the legs are under the chair);

– the applicant holds onto any object (briefcase, chair, car door, etc.) or leans on it; he can stroke some part of the body or tug at clothes, rub his hands, scratch his nose, smile - at the wrong time, at the wrong time, and often and for a long time.

Of course, these movements are not always associated with lies; often the applicant is nervous and timid. But, if such changes in behavior do not occur constantly, but only when answering some questions, you can note to yourself that the applicant is being insincere. Usually, just before a false answer, the applicant suddenly begins to change his posture, change his face, pause in speech, answer in monosyllables or quieter than before, ask again, refer to bad memory. Determining why the applicant behaves this way is your task. But if you don’t like the candidate too much, then you shouldn’t waste time on him, you’ll find another one. And if it seems to you that a good applicant has suddenly begun to show all the signs of insincerity, do not hesitate to ask him. Sometimes the answer will immediately dispel all your suspicions.

Everyone has had the opportunity to participate in an interview at least once in their life. Some took part as a candidate for a vacancy, while others, on the contrary, acted as an assessing party, being a potential employer. Depending on the rules adopted in different companies and even industries, there are different practices for organizing this conversation between the two parties.

Why do you need an interview?

An interview is the process of communication between an employer and a candidate who is applying for an open position in a company. As a rule, the complete organization of the interview falls on the shoulders of the HR manager or HR manager. This person must first find a suitable candidate, get management approval of his resume, and then arrange a meeting with the candidate. Some companies do not have a dedicated specialist to work with personnel, so organizational issues can be resolved by other people, for example, secretaries or managers directly interested in the new employee. Some people prefer to outsource personnel search issues to an agency or work with a remote freelance recruiter. In this case, the first interview takes place on the territory of the recruiting company.

An interview is necessary for both parties to make an initial assessment of each other. The employer evaluates the candidate's professional skills and psychological qualities, and the candidate first examines the potential place of work, gets acquainted with the list of possible tasks and often with his immediate superior.

What types and methods of interviewing exist?

Depending on the level of the position for which the candidate will be interviewed, the conditions of the interview and its goals, recruiters can use different types and methods of interviews:

• structured interview;
• situational or case interview;
• projective interview;
• competency-based interview (behavioral);
• stress (shock) interview;
• brainteaser interview.

Some companies also deliberately practice the group interview format, which is not the most respected among applicants. Several applicants take part in it and are forced to compete with each other. The employer can choose the most interesting one from several candidates.

The personal practice of the author of this material shows that very often fragments of different types are collected in one interview. For example, a recruiter conducts a basic acquaintance with a candidate in the format of a structured interview, asking the expected questions about education and work experience. A potential manager participating in the first interview with a recruiter can ask several cases or arrange a short stressful interview.

Structured interview

The most common is a structured interview. This format is the most logical and simple from the point of view of organizing the event. The interview takes place in a one-on-one format. The employer's representative asks the applicant standard questions and receives direct answers about the candidate's education, qualifications, work experience, professional and life expectations. Such a conversation allows you to understand the level of compliance of the candidate with the formal requirements for the position, as well as how easily he will be able to fit into the work team.

Most often, the interview is conducted according to a given pattern.

Situational interview

A case interview implies that, in addition to standard questions, the candidate will be asked to solve several practical problems from the practice of a given company or industry as a whole. This way you can determine the candidate’s train of thought and predict how he will act in a work situation.

Projective interview

A projective interview involves a shift in emphasis from the candidate to an imaginary third party who solves some problems. The applicant’s task in this case is to comment as quickly as possible on the actions of the people participating in the situation given by the interviewer. This method is based on the principle that each of us has a tendency to analyze the actions of others from the perspective of our own experience. So, in order to identify the candidate’s life values, they ask a question about why an employee could be fired, in which case an employee might steal from the employer or lie to him. Asking why people are late for appointments will help reveal attitudes toward punctuality.

Behavioral interview

The longest interview is usually the competency assessment interview. Here, it is the candidate’s professional experience that is closely studied, and the results of his answers are carefully assessed according to various types of scales (competencies).

Shock interview

A stress interview is used to assess the level of conflict and stress resistance of a candidate. This method is non-standard and is most often practiced in relation to representatives of certain professions. In particular, the ability to remain calm in the face of looming conflict is very useful for top managers, sales specialists, and insurance agents. It is very easy to understand that you have become a participant in a stressful interview. The interviewer may deliberately provoke conflict, make inappropriate comments and ask inappropriate questions in order to unsettle the candidate.

Brainteaser interview

Brainteaser interviews are used to assess candidates' creativity. To successfully pass such an interview, the candidate must demonstrate a level of resourcefulness sufficient to solve non-standard logical problems and strong independent work skills.

A long wait before a meeting may not be the interlocutor’s forgetfulness, but a test of stress tolerance

Other types of interviews

When organizing interviews today, various special communication tools are widely used. In general, it should be noted that the interview format very much depends on the level of the position for which the candidate is applying, as well as on the industry itself within which the person wants to work. Thus, to select performers of creative professions (film actors, models, etc.), the interview is called casting or audition and takes place in a format that differs significantly from the introductory interview for office employees.

New forms of interviewing have also opened up thanks to the availability of modern technologies. Thus, video interviews are becoming increasingly widespread in some circles. Such interviews can be organized using various computer services, the most famous of which is Skype. The convenience of this format lies in the fact that both the applicant and the recruiter, as well as other interview participants, can be located in different parts of the world. The main condition for conducting an interview via Skype is a good Internet connection. Many IT companies conduct at least one of the first interviews with a candidate this way.

There are also special services that allow you to conduct video interviews using a different principle. Its essence is that first the recruiter records his questions to the candidate on video, then the candidate answers these questions in front of the video camera and sends his answer to the recruiter. He can view the candidate’s answer at any convenient time. This format helps the HR specialist to process a larger number of applications.

Video: types of job interviews

How is the interview going?

A common practice today is to conduct a whole chain of job interviews. A modern candidate will have to go through two to five interviews before receiving the coveted offer. There are no uniform requirements for the number of interview stages, and each company independently determines the procedure for communicating with candidates for each vacancy.

Communication most often begins through telephone conversations or email correspondence. If a recruitment agency is looking for candidates, the first contact can also be made by the manager of this agency.

The first interview at a company traditionally takes place with the HR manager. To save time, some employers prefer to conduct the first conversation over the phone or Skype. Adherents of more conservative methods immediately invite the candidate to the office. At this stage, the HR specialist assesses the overall adequacy of the candidate, as well as compliance with the formal criteria for the vacancy. Some positions require mandatory preliminary testing of the candidate. After the level of professional competencies is confirmed, line managers and, in some cases, top management of the employing company are involved in the interviews.

Of course, we are not always talking about such a long chain of interviews. In most cases, people try to save their time and make a job offer after two or three interviews.

The pattern of each interview in the chain is to some extent standard and determined by the receiving party. As a rule, the recruiter sets the pace and general mood of the conversation. The professionalism of this person also largely determines the results of the interview and the conclusions that each party will draw for itself. Most often, the conversation flow looks like this:

1. The recruiter offers the candidate the opportunity to tell about himself what the latter considers significant in the context of a specific vacancy.
2. Those present ask him various clarifying questions.
3. If a potential manager participates in the meeting, he may ask the applicant to solve or comment on any problem from the practice of the enterprise.
4. After the employer's participants have found out everything they are interested in about the candidate, it will be his turn to ask questions about the company.

What questions are often asked to candidates and how to answer them correctly

Candidates can be asked absolutely any question during an interview. Of course, most of the questions will be standard and aimed at finding out various formal details of the applicant’s biography. Answer questions about where you studied and worked calmly, confidently and truthfully. There are no special tricks here.

A well-prepared candidate should not be stumped by interview questions

Questions with a greater degree of abstraction will turn out to be much more interesting and complex - those for which there may not be a single correct and unambiguous answer. It is important to remember that when you are asked such a “strange” or “stupid” question, the recruiter will be interested not so much in the content of the answer as in your first reaction. The question may be aimed at something unpleasant for you, at a point in your biography or resume that may cause negative emotions.

During interviews, people are often asked to tell us about their biggest failure and greatest success. When answering, you must be honest, since everyone has ups and downs, and a person who has never experienced either victory or defeat makes a rather negative impression.

Non-standard ones include, for example, the question of professional plans for the next five (ten, fifteen, and so on) years. Based on your answer, the recruiter will get an idea of ​​what direction you are interested in developing and whether you are even interested in what kind of career you are going to build. So, if you want to move to another country in a few years, you may not be hired to work for a government organization, but for an international corporation with offices in different countries, you will find yourself a very deeply motivated employee. The socially desirable response is to show that you are moderately ambitious and serious about your future. However, you need to be prepared for the fact that this answer will be followed by an insidious request to tell you what exactly you are already doing to achieve your goals. If you do not have a ready answer to this question, the previously announced plan will look like empty dreams and will not characterize you from the best side.

Often during interviews you can hear the question of how the candidate is engaged in his professional development. From your answer, the recruiter will understand whether you seriously identify with your chosen specialty, whether you are inclined to independently improve your qualifications, or whether you will only work from call to call. Be prepared for questions about the last professional book you read or training you completed. It is in the interests of a motivated applicant to be aware of the latest news in his industry, to be able to explain the contents of the top books in an understandable language, and to explain the methods used in the profession.

Don't try to make yourself look smarter than you really are. Using concepts and terms whose meaning you are not familiar with can backfire.

Video: common interview questions and answers to them

How to pass a job interview

You can easily find many articles on the Internet that tell you in detail what and how to do in order to pass an interview and receive a job offer. At the same time, if everything were so simple, the need for such articles would have disappeared long ago. It is important to understand that there is no magic pill, and not even the most detailed instructions can guarantee a positive outcome of the interview. Expert articles provide general recommendations that will help a candidate feel more confident during the interview process and be able to better understand the expectations of the other party.

How to prepare

First of all, you need to study all available information about a potential employer: website on the Internet, social networks, offline points of sale, publications in the media, blogs, and so on. You should not neglect this preliminary research, counting on the fact that you will be able to find your way around the place. It’s definitely worth checking the employer’s presence in various anti-ratings, looking for employee reviews, from which you can find out whether there are problems with paying wages, whether the management is adequate, and so on. Some candidates, having studied the employer in more detail, will prefer not to go for an interview at all, because they will come to the understanding that this company for some reason is not suitable for them. For those applicants who make it to the employer's office for a meeting on the appointed day and time, the results of these studies will also serve them well. It’s a rare interview candidate who manages to avoid being asked what he knows about the company he really wants to work for. Obviously, a person who has devoted at least some time to thematic Internet surfing will look much more advantageous against the background of citizens who did not want to pay attention to this issue.

Appearance during an interview is very important - the candidate’s clothing must match the general style of the company

For professionals applying for certain positions, for example, in the field of marketing, PR and public relations, preliminary research of the company in open sources is critical. When searching and analyzing information, they must not only form for themselves some kind of image of the company, but also note the strengths and weaknesses in promotion, and think through options for optimizing the strategy for working with the external environment. In 99 cases out of 100, the employer will ask the marketer to analyze the site as a test task, and the PR specialist will be asked how he will promote the company’s product or resolve conflicts on social networks.

When preparing for an interview, ask yourself why the employer needs a person for this vacancy, and what the company can expect from the candidate. Evaluate your resume through someone else's eyes and think about what slippery points there are in it, and how you will comment on them if asked. For example, breaks between jobs, frequent moves from place to place, short duration of work in specific companies.

Prepare questions that you will ask the recruiter about the company and the vacancy. In addition to the standard question about the content of the job, you have the right to inquire about the reason for the vacancy, in particular, whether it is a new position, which appeared, for example, due to the expansion of a department, the replacement of a departed employee, or the result of the owner dispersing the entire previous department in anger. An indirect sign by which a company can be assessed is the timing of publication of the recruitment advertisement. That is, the length of time during which the employer cannot find a suitable candidate. Information about staff turnover can also say a lot about working conditions.

Video: preparing for an interview

How to behave correctly

If you arrive for an interview ahead of schedule and are asked to wait on a sofa in the lobby, try to make good use of that time as well. Instead of monitoring social media on your smartphone, look around you. You may be interested in the quality of the design of the premises, the convenience of the layout, and the appearance of the employees who catch your eye. Listen to how the receptionist answers incoming calls and how colleagues communicate with each other. If you smoke, go to your local smoking room before your interview. Sometimes you can learn all the ins and outs from conversations in an informal setting.

The author of this material has learned from his own experience that it is worth paying attention to such an ambiguous thing as toilets. Of course, the quality of the organization of the restroom cannot be the only argument in favor of accepting or refusing the offer, but an observant person will be able to draw the right conclusions for himself. The author once had the opportunity to attend an interview at a construction company focused on private suburban construction. In order to increase accessibility to potential clients, the company moved to an office near one of the central metro stations, but there was no increase in sales. The company's management saw the solution to the problem in strengthening the marketing department. The author was greatly embarrassed by a note taped to the toilet stall door, in which the unknown author appealed to his colleagues not to steal toilet paper and air freshener. This is unlikely to give potential clients a feeling of reliability and safety from interacting with the contractor. It is difficult to expect competent business decisions and at least some concern for staff from people for whom such inscriptions are not something out of the ordinary.

If you didn’t get a call back after the interview, be sure to try calling the recruiter to find out the real reason for the refusal. Try not to let the person try to get rid of you at any cost. Explain why you need truthful information. Do not try to challenge the results of the interview.

Typical mistakes during an interview

Every day, candidates make many mistakes in interviews. The most common is non-compliance with simple and well-known forms of ethics, politeness and business etiquette: arriving too early or late, dressing inappropriately, being the first to become familiar, or, conversely, being too stiff or formal when interviewers offer a soft and friendly manner of communication. Both lack of contact and excessive swagger will not work in your favor. It is necessary to be able to navigate the situation, feel the interlocutor and show flexibility, but be sure to maintain self-esteem in any atmosphere. So, it is useful to demonstrate interest in the job, but showing that you are ready to do anything to get this job is no longer correct. It is always recommended to maintain a balance, a golden mean.

Mistakes during an interview are largely due to the inability to leave a good impression.

You should not try to win over the interviewer or potential boss personally (making eyes, joking when inappropriate, being too verbose). You need to be able to hear what is being asked, clearly identify the main message of the question, answer concisely and specifically, and, if asked, expand the answer in more detail. Do not immediately answer in detail and start the conversation from afar.

An example of the correct answer.

Applicant: “6 people.”

An example of an incorrect answer.

Interviewer: “How many people were under your leadership in this project?”

Applicant: “People both in and out of state worked on this project, and several freelancers were also involved, who changed frequently...”

Often, candidates come to an interview without first studying the company and its position in the market. This is also a common mistake. Candidates who are unable to demonstrate even knowledge of the market and the industry as a whole display outright incompetence.

Overly frank candidates, as well as candidates who lie with inspiration, make a negative impression on the employer. The ideal tactic is to be honest, not to lie, but to hold back just a little on some details. For example, do not indicate the real reasons for leaving the company if the real reason was a serious personal conflict with management, regardless of whether you were right in this situation or not. Conflict is not the best characteristic of an employee. You shouldn’t lie in response to a direct question, but you also shouldn’t focus on the slippery aspects. During an interview, it is better not to lie at all. When you don't know something, you can say that you don't remember exactly, but you can guess and speculate a little on this topic if you are allowed. This behavior will give the impression of an honest person who does not give up and is ready to look for options.

Video: typical mistakes of job seekers

How to prepare for an interview in English or another language

Preparing for an interview in a foreign language essentially has few differences. Of course, a lot depends on how fluent you are in the language. Confidence in your language skills will make the interview process much easier for you. To refresh them, you can watch Youtube videos with typical questions and answers. There is no need to memorize ready-made answers. Recruiters are distrustful of candidates who answer very smoothly, in a well-trained voice and in an extremely logical and verified text. This answer contains all the indicators of memorization and over-preparedness for the interview. You must be confident and positive, but come across as natural. It is necessary to be natural, and not to pretend and seem.

Video: how to prepare for an interview in English if your English is not perfect

What methods of assessing candidates exist?

The candidate's assessment begins even before the interviewer's first call. This is a review of a resume and cover letter, which demonstrate skills in working with text, the ability to structure information and present it in writing, the level of Russian or foreign language, the adequacy of salary requests, and self-presentation skills. The next step is to evaluate the candidate over a telephone conversation. It is performed based on the tone and timbre of the applicant’s voice, as well as taking into account the content of the answers to the questions. Of course, the so-called human factor also plays a significant role here, so the first fleeting impression, even from a phone call, can ruin the situation for the candidate. That is why it makes sense to talk to a recruiter by phone only when you are really ready for it, that is, you are not busy with anything, you are not disturbed by extraneous sounds or involuntary witnesses, your voice is calm, and you can give thoughtful answers. If you do not feel mentally prepared for a telephone conversation, it is better to hang up the call or ask to call back at another time.

Objective assessment of a person is very difficult to perform, so there is no clearly recommended universal test or method for performing such an assessment. In fact, tests and methods are only a tool for collecting data about a person using a certain system. The main role in performing the analysis and conclusions belongs to the recruiter or other specialist.

To fairly evaluate an applicant, you must remember the following recommendations:

• It is worth assessing not so much the psychological and other qualities of a person, but his behavior and specific results of activity;
• not only the results must be taken into account, but also the conditions under which they were obtained;
• the results of formal tests can only be correctly assessed by an experienced recruiter who has extensive professional and life experience and is a psychologically and socially mature person.

Methods used for assessment include:

• expert assessment method, when an industry expert, in the presence of an HR manager, communicates with a candidate in narrow professional or behavioral areas;
• professional testing to determine the candidate’s skill level or to identify, for example, creative abilities;
• solving cases and situational problems;
• filling out personal questionnaires;
• checking the recommendations submitted by the candidate.

In practice, recruiters most often use a combination of these methods, since each of them has both advantages and disadvantages. For example, a completed personality questionnaire may provide comprehensive information about a candidate, but the information may turn out to be implausible because a savvy applicant will figure out socially acceptable answers. Another option is that the personality questionnaire will show the candidate's sincere desire for a certain activity, but his professional experience and skills may not correspond to his desires at the moment.

The assessment of a potential employee can be carried out in different areas

There are also non-standard methods of assessing role models of behavior, for example, the film test. Its essence is that a person is asked about his favorite films or asked to evaluate situations from well-known films. Depending on what intentions and potential behavior a person will attribute to certain characters, an experienced researcher will draw conclusions about the person himself.

What is a Candidate Scorecard

Each position has a set of essential requirements for the candidate’s personal and professional skills. They are placed on a separate sheet, in which the assessing specialist assigns points or comments based on the applicant’s compliance with the required level. When each person present at the interview has such a sheet, all these questionnaires are taken into account in the final analysis. This approach allows you to evaluate the same quality from different angles.

Recommendation for applicants: under no circumstances try to look over the recruiter’s shoulder to find out what he writes on the evaluation sheet. Instead, make it a habit to take notes during the interview, too. This way you will make a positive impression on the employer, form the image of a collected, rational person and interested in analyzing the results of the meeting.

A case from the practice of an IT recruiter familiar to the author. During interviews, one of the technical candidates never hesitated to ask questions about unfamiliar terms or technologies that were new to him and made sure to write everything down in a notebook. In his free time, this person further studied information on the identified updates. This way he learned what was relevant in the market, what employers needed, and each subsequent interview, even if it did not end with a job offer, in any case made him more prepared. You can, of course, rely on your memory and not write anything down, but in this case, one of the employers really liked this person’s approach to self-education and his focus on self-development. The applicant’s life values ​​coincided with the corporate values ​​of a particular company, and our specialist received a working offer.

The evaluation sheet can also act as a mandatory reporting form when conducting an interview by a recruiting agency.

How to submit your interview results

The results of the interview are most often presented in the form of a score sheet. The more participants from the employer’s side take part in the meeting, the more voluminous the “portrait” of the candidate becomes. The most important are the assessments received from the applicant’s potential supervisor, as well as from a leading expert in this specialty.

Photo gallery: example of filling out an assessment sheet

First, basic information about the candidate is presented. The candidate’s personal qualities can be assessed on various scales. The assessment of the candidate’s level of knowledge and skills will vary in different areas of activity. The assessment of the candidate’s experience is carried out depending on the specific requirements. The final entry in the evaluation sheet is recommendations for the candidate.

Job interview protocol

The interview protocol is a standard document and should include a brief summary of the candidate's assessment, conclusions about the strengths and risks that the interviewer discovered in him. Each company has the right to develop its own form of protocol.

Each company has the right to create its own standard protocol template

Of course, going through a work interview causes stress for the applicant. However, you can try to minimize emotional stress during the meeting by paying sufficient attention to the preparatory process. Inner peace and self-confidence will help the candidate maintain the right attitude during the interview and make a good impression on the potential employer.

Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution

higher education

"Vyatka State University"

(VyatSU)

Facultytechnology, engineering and design

Department of Pedagogical Education (with two training profiles)

Essay

“The concept of an interview, its goals and objectives. Types of interviews. Interview methodology"

Performed:

3rd year student of the facultytechnologies,

engineering and design

group PoDb-3801-56-20

correspondence courses

Turubanova Victoria Sergeevna

Teacher:

Kleptsova Elena Yurievna

KIROV

2018

Content

Introduction

The concept of an interview, its goals and objectives

Types and types of interviews

Interview techniques

Conclusion

Introduction

Today, most managers understand that the success and prosperity of an organization largely depends on its employees. In a highly competitive environment, the one with the better team wins. That is why managers pay so much attention to the issues of effective employee management, their motivation, training and development. However, without quality personnel selection, any work with human resources is doomed to failure.

A number of modern studies of the Russian labor market show that about 80% of workers who quit voluntarily make such a decision in the very first days of their service. Likewise, most managers decide that a new employee is not the one they need within the first two weeks at most of his start at work. Considering such disappointing statistics and the importance of employee qualifications for the company’s performance, one can judge the high relevance of the topic of properly organizing and conducting interviews. After all, it is on the basis of the information obtained as a result of the interview that managers make a decision whether the candidate will work in their company or not. Accordingly, it is not the fact of conducting an interview that is of high importance, but its high-quality preparation, the correct formulation of questions and the completeness and reliability of the data obtained as a result of the interview.

When hiring new employees, the organization usually has only documentary data about him. In this case, the conversation between representatives of the organization and the applicant becomes important. Even non-managerial employees are rarely hired without at least one interview. It is best carried out by the future direct manager of the employee applying for the position. The selection of a high-ranking manager may require dozens of interviews, taking several months. The interview is intended to find out some of the candidate's business qualities and get to know him personally. First of all, the specialist’s knowledge of the matter he is taking on must be clarified. The specific content of the knowledge test is determined by the description (qualification) of the workplace. It is checked how much the applicant understands the upcoming work (functions, technologies), and knows the technical means that he will have to use.

Target – study interview methods and its content as the main method of personnel selection.

Main goals – analyze:

types and types of interviews;

interview methodology.

1. The concept of an interview, its goals and objectives

By its essence,interview It is a means of two-way communication. Its main purpose is to ensure the exchange of information in such a way as to develop an appropriate course of action for the future. An interview differs from a simple message (which it can unfortunately turn into) in the two-way flow of information. The prefix "inter" in the word interview (interview) means "between". An interview is possible not only when applying for a job; an interview is often used as a form of examination, including a qualifying examination during certification.Assessment interview – identifying individuals with the necessary abilities and goals who could become good employees of the organization. Most interviews have specific objectives. Personnel evaluation interviews may include issues such as establishing and improving rapport between a manager and his subordinate, or changing the subordinate's attitude towards a particular problem or aspect of his work.

In a personnel selection interview, the task may be to select (the organization) the candidate with the most appropriate level of ability and motivation to perform the job according to the requirements and select (the candidate) the organization as a suitable place to apply his abilities.

The general goal of any interview is to identify the facts, and on this basis - to formulate appropriate decisions and develop action plans that both parties accept for execution. The concept of two-way commitment is central to achieving interview goals. An interview succeeds or fails according to the action it entails, and where there is no commitment, that action either does not occur or is unsatisfactory. This theory may seem unrealistic or meaningless to those who view the interview as an opportunity to exercise power, or as an occasion where the interviewee can be forced to walk a verbal rope before the interviewer delivers his unquestioned (and perhaps predetermined) verdict. During a personnel selection interview, a meeting takes place with a potential employer or his representative. The purpose of such an interview is to get to know each other personally, understand how well the employer and the applicant fit each other, and also discuss the details of cooperation. During the interview, the employer asks questions regarding the applicant’s education, experience, acquired skills and knowledge. Questions of a personal nature are also possible: goals, aspirations in life, what the applicant wants to achieve, what plans he has. The job interview is critical in the recruitment process. It involves selecting the right person for the job based on objective criteria that are applied to the candidate in a balanced and fair manner.

help candidates evaluate the organization as a future place of work.

Interview is one of the most common methods of personnel selection and assessment. Despite the apparent simplicity of application, it is one of the most labor-intensive processes, requiring mandatory training of the employee conducting it.

The main purpose of the interview is to obtain information that will allow:

assess how suitable a given candidate is for the proposed position (that is, assess the professional suitability of the applicant (his professional knowledge and skills, business, individual psychological and psychophysiological qualities);

determine how much this candidate stands out from all those who have applied for a vacant position (which qualities and skills prevail, and which, on the contrary, need further development; how important these qualities are for the vacant position; is it possible to hire an employee with the condition of further growth ; will the vacant position be a “step forward” for the applicant or has he long ago “outgrown” the proposed position);

determine whether the information provided by the candidate is reliable (this refers only to the initial assessment of the reliability of the information).

Recently, more and more attention has been paid not only to determining whether a candidate meets the required qualifications, but also to determining how well a new person will “fit” into the corporate culture of the organization and whether he will be able to accept the principles and norms of behavior that apply in the organization.

2. Types and types of interviews

There are several types of interviews with candidates, the choice of which depends on the traditions of the organization, the characteristics of the candidate, the vacant position, and the individual preferences of the interviewer. The results of the interview must be documented. Most organizations use special candidate assessment forms; if such forms do not exist, you can use a portrait of an ideal employee as a kind of evaluation sheet. The interview results must contain an assessment of the candidate and a proposal to continue or stop working with him. The conclusion of the interviewer is transferred to the head of the department with the vacancy, who makes a decision on further actions in relation to this candidate.

In order to better assess the professional and personal qualities of a candidate, organizations can seek information from people and organizations who know him through study, work, sports, etc. The human resources department might ask the candidate to name people who would describe him and then interview those people. In both cases - oral or written recommendation, there is a problem of obtaining objective information, since the people chosen by the candidate usually emphasize only his positive aspects.

You can also obtain information about the candidate by contacting directly the organizations in which he previously worked or studied (their names are indicated in his curriculum vitae or resume). However, the human resources department must be extremely careful when assessing the characteristics of the candidate obtained as a result of such contacts - the employees providing information may be biased and may not know the candidate well. If the head of the department is satisfied with the results of the interview conducted by the employee of the human resources department, he makes an appointment with the candidate. Unlike an interview with human resource specialists, this interview should allow one to assess, first of all, the candidate’s professional qualities and his ability to perform production functions. At the same time, the manager assesses the degree of his personal professional compatibility with the candidate and the likelihood of the latter’s successful integration in the department. In addition, the manager provides the candidate with detailed information about his department, the vacant position, and the functions that the candidate will have to perform if hired. The results of the interview are recorded by the manager using a standard form.

The most common type of interview isone-on-one interview , during which one representative of the organization meets with one candidate. However, other types of interviews are also used today, during which one representative of an organization meets with several candidates, several representatives of an organization interview one candidate, and several representatives of an organization interview several candidates.

In the first case, the interviewer is given the opportunity to simultaneously (rather than in absentia) evaluate several candidates and observe them in a stressful situation, although it is much more difficult to interview several candidates at the same time.

The participation of several representatives of the organization increases the objectivity of the assessment and the quality of the interview itself, but can create additional stress for the candidate and increases the costs of the organization. The presence of multiple people on both sides greatly increases the complexity of the interview process and requires careful preparation and consistent behavior among interviewers.

The ability to conduct interviews professionally and competently is the key to success not onlypr-managers and recruiters of recruitment agencies, but also owners of their own businesses and employees holding management positions.

Every day, the toolkit of personnel selection specialists is replenished with new developments in the field of assessing the professional and personal qualities of applicants, as well as analyzing previous work experience. However, today there are several main types of interviews that are used every day by millions of employers around the world.

By functionality:

screening interview;

Screening interviews are usually conducted by telephone. The main goal of this event is indicated in its very name - to weed out random candidates who clearly do not meet the stated criteria and expectations of the employer.

selection interview;

A screening interview is the next stage of interaction between a recruiter and candidates who have passed the screening filter. During this type of interview, the bulk of information about applicants for a vacant position is assessed: work experience, personal qualities, main motives, salary expectations, readiness to go to work, etc. Depending on the number of applicants admitted to the selection interview and the number of persons making decisions about further interaction with applicants, the number of meetings with each specific person is determined. Thus, at this stage, one candidate may be assigned from one to several meetings with representatives of the employer’s company. The overall result of the selection interview is the selection of several specialists for the final (final) stage of personnel selection.

final interview.

Here we can highlight two more options for the functionality of this type of interview.

Making a final decision to approve one most suitable candidate to fill an open vacancy from among several finalists.

If there is only one finalist, there is a formal procedure for inducting a new employee into the position.

According to the structure of the event:

free interview;

One of the most common types of interviews. This type of interview can be used for one of two reasons: the specialist responsible for selection lacks personnel assessment skills or there is no need for a detailed study of the candidate’s business biography, since the selection criteria are minimal. One way or another, in terms of content, a free interview is more reminiscent of the process of introducing one person to another, with the only exception that most of the time one person (the applicant) speaks. Here, the main task of a company employee is to determine whether he wants to work with the candidate, whether the candidate will be able to get used to the team, etc. In other words, during a free interview, informal selection criteria are checked.

situational interview (situational interview);

The technique is based on the study of human behavior in certain situations (real situations at previous places of work, simulated situations). The information received from the candidate makes it possible to predict his behavior in the company, and, therefore, determine how successful the assessed specialist may be in the position in question.

stress interview (stress interview);

One of the most difficult interview methods. To use it correctly, you need to be a highly qualified specialist in the field of personnel selection and motivation. The essence of the technique is to create a stressful situation for the candidate and evaluate his behavior and actions under conditions of emotional irritation. The difficulty of conducting such an interview lies in the ability of the recruiter to subtly use stimuli, and not, succumbing to excitement, ruin the mood for himself and his interlocutor, depriving himself of the opportunity for further interaction with the applicant. Due to the inept use of this tool by employers, it has a bad reputation among candidates.

interview on competencies (interview on competencies);

One of the most common interview methods. Its main task is to compare the level of professional skills and knowledge (competencies) of the applicant with the declared data necessary for the successful performance of their functions in the position for which the applicant is applying. In the process of conducting this interview, information from previous places of work is used: results, achievements, problems, useful lessons learned from one’s mistakes with a detailed description of situations and arguments for one’s actions. Various professional questionnaires, tests, assignments, cases, etc. are also used here. Most often, immediate managers of divisions, departments, services, etc. are invited to conduct this kind of interviews. for substantive discussion of specific skills and knowledge.

mixed interview;

This approach to constructing assessment activities is based on a comprehensive study of the professional and personal data of an applicant for a vacant position and may include any (or even all) of the above methods. The disadvantages of this type of interview include high time-consuming resources: a large amount of time is required to communicate with each candidate, time to process the information received during communication and interpret the results.

By format:

telephone/video interview (preview);

The first step towards interaction between the employer and the applicant. At this stage, the level of general interest of the applicant in considering the proposed vacant position is determined, and candidates that are not formally suitable are eliminated. Sometimes such an interview is separated into an independent personnel selection tool and is called personnel screening. Meanwhile, a video interview can also be a form of communication between the applicant and employers at the stage of selecting applicants if we are talking about remote (regional selection).

individual interview;

An interview that is conducted with one specific candidate. Here we can distinguish two options for organizing this event: an interview with a precisely designated time (for example: 02/11/2012, Monday, 11:00) and an interview with a conventionally designated time (for example: 02/11/2012, Monday, from 11 : 00 to 18:00).

mass interview.

An interview conducted by an employee or employees of a company with several applicants at the same time. Most often used in mass recruitment for low-level positions (lowly qualified personnel) to reduce the time for preliminary contacts with candidates and increase coverage.

3. Interview techniques

During the interview the following are assessed:

individual characteristics of the candidate;

communication skills;

speaking skills;

oratorical skills;

analytical thinking;

the ability to make an impression.

Different interview methods may assess other candidate qualities. But it should be borne in mind that during the interview the candidate’s written speech, practical skills and abilities are not assessed. During an interview, it is impossible to adequately assess the qualification level of the applicant, since when talking with the candidate, the person conducting the interview cannot devote enough time to studying the documents submitted for the candidate, confirming his level of training and work experience. In this regard, the authors strongly do not recommend drawing conclusions immediately based on the results of the interview.

It is best to use the interview, along with other techniques, as part of the candidate assessment process.

Historically, the followinginterview techniques:

The British interview method is based on a personal conversation with the candidate by members of the personnel committee.

Interviewers are interested in his biography, family traditions and the place where he received his education. If the candidate successfully answers the questions asked, he is quickly accepted.

The German method is based on the preliminary preparation by candidates of a significant number of documents with mandatory written recommendations from famous experts, scientists, managers, and politicians. An expert commission of competent persons analyzes the submitted documents and ensures their correctness. Candidates for vacant positions undergo a number of mandatory strict procedures prior to the actual interview.

The American interview method boils down to testing intellectual and creative abilities, psychological testing using computers, and observing candidates in an informal setting. To do this, the candidate is invited, for example, to a weekend, presentation, lunch. At the same time, much attention is paid to the potential of a person and the shortcomings of his personality, which does not always confirm the possibility of a manager selected in this way working in a team. However, this method makes it possible to identify hidden personality flaws that may be unacceptable for working in a particular company.

The Chinese method is based on preliminary written examinations and has a long historical tradition. Candidates write a series of essays, proving knowledge of the classics, literacy, and knowledge of history. Those who successfully pass all the exams, and there are only a few percent of those participating in the competition, write a final essay on the topic of their future work. Those who pass this exam are admitted to a direct interview. When hired, their career status often depends on their test scores.

One of the interview techniques was developed by Sergei Iosifovich Faibushevich, Candidate of Economic Sciences, Associate Professor, St. Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance.

Basic provisions :

The candidate must receive in advance (in writing or by telephone) information about the date and time of the interview with clear directions on how to get there;

The secretary must be notified of the visitor's name and time of visit in order to meet him and, if necessary, order a pass;

Take the time to read the candidate's bio before the interview;

Determine the questions you expect to ask. If you don't do this, the candidate may start interviewing you;

Try to be in the appropriate mood. If you are tired or irritated, you will not be able to evaluate the candidate;

Plan the conversation so that nothing distracts your attention (phone calls, visits from strangers, etc.);

Don't show bias. The first impression is often dictated by prejudice and may turn out to be completely unfounded;

Make sure the candidate knows who you are, your name and position;

Immediately call the candidate by name and patronymic and do this more often;

Smile! Be friendly: a frightened candidate will not be able to demonstrate his strengths to you;

Treat the candidate the way you would want to be treated if your roles were reversed;

Provide the candidate with information about the position, both its attractive aspects and its unpleasant ones. This includes requirements for the employee, length of the working day, working conditions, opportunities for promotion, etc.;

Speak slowly and clearly, giving the candidate enough time to process what is being said. In a situation where the candidate is experiencing great nervous tension, it may be difficult for him to perceive you;

Don't praise your company or the proposed position like you would in a bazaar. Don't make promises you can't keep. Don't exaggerate your promotion opportunities. If such opportunities are not available, a frustrated employee may become resentful of you, which will affect his or her performance.

Conclusion

The job interview is critical in the recruitment process. It involves selecting the right person for the job based on objective criteria that are applied to the candidate in a balanced and fair manner.

The interview has two main goals:

help the organization evaluate candidates for suitability for the position;

help candidates evaluate the organization as a future place of work.

Putting a person in the wrong place has never been considered a good HR practice and it will lead to adverse consequences in the organization if the practice is repeated. However, what is a person properly appointed to a position? This is a person who is able and willing to work, who has a sense of teamwork, a professional in his field, a person who corresponds to the image of the organization. And, of course, an emotionally mature person, capable of correct and rational judgments. Your organization will need such a person.

A personnel interview (interview) is apparently the most universal way of assessing personnel, and can be the basis for both its selection and subsequent certification.

The environment in which the personnel interview is conducted must match the environment in which the person will work to ensure compatibility not with the interviewer, but with future colleagues.

Few people will decide to both offer and accept a job behind the scenes, so the interview is a vitally important process for both parties, during which the missing information is exchanged. In addition, almost everyone considers an interview to be the fairest selection method, especially if there are several interviewers.

Interviews can take place one-on-one or with a group of applicants; An applicant or group can be interviewed by several people at the same time. A group interview provides a more objective and fair assessment of candidates, although it creates psychologically difficult situations.

A face-to-face conversation is psychologically more comfortable and relaxed, since the situation is better controlled here, it is easier to organize, but the results may turn out to be subjective, and the assessment may be erroneous. For example, external attractiveness significantly influences the positive opinion of interviewees (the stereotype of “beautifulness”, which equally belongs to both men and women). People with attractive appearance are often considered more socially desirable. In 70% of cases, hiring is carried out precisely on the basis of personal sympathy.

Other pitfalls in interviews include making inappropriate demands and being influenced by irrational factors such as mood. It is believed that during the preparation of the preliminary interview it is necessary to clarify the following basic questions:

What personal qualities of the candidate (knowledge, experience, attitudes) are required to perform a particular job;

With the help of what questions, asked to all candidates without exception, can one extract the necessary information and narrow the circle of the latter to the limit;

Who should be involved as interviewers: one person or several, in what form to conduct the interview. If a group interview is preferred, which is considered more reliable, the question of the chairman of the commission arises. He introduces experts to candidates, explains the interview procedure, removes psychological barriers and creates the necessary atmosphere, and makes the final decision in case of disagreement.

In general, interviews allow you to evaluate intelligence, professionalism, erudition, intelligence, etc. And yet, for subjective reasons, they are not a very reliable way of selecting personnel, since, as already mentioned, most decisions are made on the basis of personal likes or dislikes, and not objective criteria, because they are usually made not by those with whom the given the candidate will have to work subsequently.

List of used literature

Averchenko L.K., Zalesov G.M., Mokshantsev R.I., Nikolaenko V.M. Psychology of management: Course of lectures. [Text]/ L.K. Averchenko, G.M. Zalesov, R.I. Mokshantsev, V.M. Nikolaenko – Novosibirsk: NGAEiU; M.: INFRA-M, 2009.

Bazarov T.Yu. Personnel Management. [Text]/ T.Yu. Bazarov - M.: Masterstvo, 2012.

Belyaev M.K. Personnel management in an enterprise: a textbook. [Text]/ M.K. Belyaev – Volgograd: VolgGASA, 2010.

Bern E.V. People games. Psychology of human relationships. Psychology of human destiny. [Text]/ E.V. Bern - St. Petersburg: Lenizdat, 2009.

Bizyukova I.V. Management personnel: selection and assessment. [Text]/ I.V. Bizyukova - M., 2008.

Vesnin V.R. Practical personnel management. [Text]/ V.R. Vesnin - M., 2010.

Vikhansky O.S. Management: person, strategy, process. [Text]/ O.S. Vikhansky - M., 2011.

Goncharov V.V. In search of management excellence. [Text]/ V.V. Goncharov - M., 2013.

Dessler G. Personnel management. [Text]/ G. Dessler - M.: Binom Publishing House, 2012.

Egorshin A.P. Personnel Management. [Text]/ A.P. Egorshin – Novgorod: NIMB, 2013

Kafidov V.V. Personnel Management. [Text]/ V.V. Kafidov - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2009.

Royal M.I. Search and selection of personnel. [Text]/ M.I. Royal - M., 2010.

Personnel selection is one of the main tasks that must be solved to ensure the effective functioning of the enterprise. Finding a qualified employee is not so easy. Information about an employee’s professional training is sometimes insufficient. For a thorough selection, an interview is conducted, which allows you to form an opinion about the person as a specialist and personality.

To maintain the work process, you need to take care not only of the economic components of the functioning of the enterprise, but also create a favorable psychological climate in the team. For this, it is very important not to make a mistake when choosing a new employee.

Each manager must clearly understand what professional qualities and personal characteristics of the candidate he requires. And, based on this data, open a vacancy.

An interview helps to avoid mistakes and reduce the time spent searching for an employee. It doesn’t matter who will conduct the interview - the head of the company or an employee of the HR department. The main thing is a professional approach. If there is a lack of experience and knowledge on how to conduct an interview, enterprises attract specialists involved in personnel selection.

Basic types of interviews used to evaluate candidates

Choosing the right type will greatly simplify the manager’s task of finding a new employee. Most often, one of six types is used. Each of them is aimed at identifying specific character traits of the applicant. They provide an opportunity to fully reveal the candidate’s abilities. Choosing the right type will allow you to understand how to interview an applicant. Let's look at them in detail.

Read how to properly prepare for an interview:

• Structured interview.
  It is considered one of the most common among interviewers. When preparing questions, they usually use the same points as in the questionnaire. It is carried out to determine whether the data specified by the applicant in the resume corresponds to reality. For this purpose, it may be necessary to provide documents (usually originals, in rare cases copies) confirming education, qualifications and work experience.
• Situational or case interview.
  Allows you to assess the applicant’s abilities in solving specific problems in accordance with the situation. The interviewer's questions are based on how the candidate would act in the given circumstances. The received answers are compared with the standard ones. Depending on this, an opinion is formed about the degree of preparedness of the applicant and the availability of professional experience.
• Projective interview.
  The candidate is assessed based on his comments on the actions of fictional people in various situations. For each interview, a suitable model is selected that will help characterize the applicant in accordance with the employer’s requirements. It has been scientifically proven that when analyzing the actions of other people, a person evaluates their actions based on his own experience. This type of interview reveals the psychological makeup of the applicant and shows what his actions would be if he found himself in a similar situation.
• Behavioral interview.
  Reveals the candidate's ability to make responsible decisions to eliminate emerging problems in the process of performing the tasks assigned to him. The main function of this is to identify the applicant’s ability to adequately respond to work issues. Suitable for assessing the professional qualities of applicants.
• .
  It is carried out to determine the candidate’s stress tolerance and conflict tolerance. During the interview, questions are asked that are aimed at removing a person from a comfortable state and inducing conflict. Most often, tricky questions are used, which are difficult to prepare for in advance. In this case, attention is drawn not to the correctness of the answer, but to the psycho-emotional state of the applicant. The calmer the applicant, the better.
• Group interview.
  Allows you to quickly evaluate a large number of candidates for suitability for a position, the main criteria of which are sociability and friendliness. Conducted in the presence of several candidates. Several HR managers may participate in it.

Methods of conducting interviews

Each type of interview can be conducted in different ways. The choice depends on the goals of the interview and the recruiter's experience. The interview is usually divided into the following categories:

• strict (structured) is carried out in accordance with a pre-prepared plan. Each point in such an interview is developed according to the specified parameters of the psychological and professional portrait of the candidate;
• free (unstructured) resembles a friendly conversation. Each participant finds out the information they need (without template questions). The interview structure resembles a round table format;
• combined - two methods are used simultaneously. This makes it possible to reveal the candidate more fully. In this case, it is better to determine the professional characteristics according to a strict plan that will cover all aspects of the requirements for the applicant. A psychological portrait can be drawn up during a casual conversation on abstract topics.

How to conduct an interview correctly

What stages can the interview be divided into?

Having a clear understanding of the stages of the interview will help you plan it successfully. They divide the interview into several parts. Each of them has logical completeness. The main stages of the interview are presented below. There are three in total:

• Acquaintance. The interviewer needs to assess the applicant's ability to present himself. Remember that first impressions are important. And the candidate also evaluates the hiring manager. The opinion about the interviewer (and, accordingly, about the hiring company) consists of many factors: the level of organization of the interview, the appearance and professionalism of the recruiter;
• Testing. For a successful interview, this stage is the most important; the professional competence of the selected candidate depends on it. An inaccurate description of the applicant can delay the search for the right employee for a long time. And time is money, so you should prepare the necessary questions and questions in advance;
• Information about the company and vacancies. The story should be told in such a way as to present the positive aspects of working in the company as advantageously as possible and to provide more information specific to the vacant position. It is necessary to mention general information, what projects are currently underway, the organizational structure, as well as working conditions. This is an important moment for the candidate; he decides whether this organization is suitable for him.

There is no universal template for how to conduct an interview correctly. It is difficult to prepare a general plan for all cases. It is developed according to specific requirements and situation. Each interview should begin with preparing the room. You cannot demand that a candidate be interested in getting a job with you if it takes place in a hastily prepared office.

Try to relieve possible tension at the beginning of the conversation. You should ask the candidate whether he got there easily or whether he encountered any difficulties finding an office. Punctuality is not only a requirement for the candidate, but also the responsibility of the interviewer. It is important to start the meeting on time unless the delay is part of the applicant's assessment. Once communication has been established between the candidate and the interviewer, you can begin the main part and move on to questions.

What questions should a candidate ask during an interview?

An interview is an important part of the process of checking a specialist for compliance with the selection criteria. Correctly posed questions and analysis of the answers will make it possible not only to assess the professional potential of the applicant, but also to characterize him as a person. Intelligence, literacy, ability to generalize and structure information - all this will be demonstrated by the interview. Below are the main questions to ask the candidate in the order in which it is advisable to ask them.

"Please tell us about yourself"

“What interested you in our vacancy?”

The answer to this question will make it possible to understand how interested the candidate is in the job. Most respond with standard phrases, talking about excellent conditions and great prospects. The more experienced the specialist, the more specific his answers will be. He knows exactly what he wants to achieve by working in this company.

“What advantages do you have?”

An ideal question to assess intelligence and entrepreneurship. The candidate is given the chance to tell the best about himself. You need to pay attention to what characteristics and arguments he voices. Is his answer replete with cliched phrases, or does he give specific examples and back up his words with numbers? People who know how to give reasons for their answers show a high level of development, both intellectual and professional.

“Please mark your weaknesses”

In the answers of competent specialists, you can see weaknesses that are not such. They will be a plus when considering a candidate for employment. For example, these include being excessively demanding of yourself and your colleagues.

“Reasons for leaving your previous job” or “Why are you changing your job?”

The first question reveals possible or actual reasons for dismissal. In the second, personal ambitions and factors influencing decision-making. It is necessary to take into account the manner in which the reasons are revealed. If the statements are negative towards a former or current employer, you need to think about whether such an employee is needed.

“Do you have any offers from other employers?”

“Who do you imagine yourself to be in 5-10 years?”

Most people are not inclined to plan their lives for such long periods. For this reason, responses that communicate the candidate's precise goals or accomplishments will be interesting. Distribution of forces and directed development are the traits of a professional who knows the value of his time and labor. He will be able not only to improve himself, but also to lead the company towards its goals.

“Is it possible to get a reference from a previous place of work?”

The question is very complex and delicate for the candidate. Everyone quits for their own reasons. For many, the question can also be painful. The ideal option is to provide several ways to contact your previous employer. This demonstrates openness and self-confidence. Such specialists are willingly chosen if they meet other parameters.

“What salary would you like?”

In advertisements, the employer indicates the minimum wage, and the maximum depends on a number of factors. When answering this question, the applicant can name both an approximate and an exact amount. It is worth paying attention to how well he understands the market value of specialists of his level. An adequate price characterizes the candidate as an experienced professional.

“What do you do in your free time?”

Having a hobby allows you to judge the applicant as a versatile person. You should be wary of those whose hobbies involve extreme sports. Although love for extreme sports is not always directly related to the desire to constantly take risks. It is necessary to consider the specific situation and the applicant.

Sometimes during interviews, non-standard questions are used. For example, if you ask a candidate, “Who would you be if you could be any superhero?” The answer will show what qualities the applicant values ​​above all else. Once all questions have been answered, the presentation of the campaign should begin.

The applicant may have a number of questions and suggestions about the company. The recruiter should always have enough information to answer. The choice the candidate will make depends on the literacy of the presentation. The decision to accept or reject the proposed conditions always remains with him. At the end of the interview, you should inform the candidate how he will be notified of the results of the meeting.

Refusal rules

As an example of a refusal to a candidate after an interview, one can cite the classic phrase: “You are not suitable for us because...”. It will clearly and competently explain to the applicant that he is no longer interesting for this company. An applicant can be rejected at any stage. In most cases, a decision on a candidate's suitability for a position is made without his presence. It is possible to involve specialists for a more accurate assessment of written tests and assignments.

Depending on the results obtained, a decision is made on the suitability of the candidate for the vacant position. Within a few days, the applicant is informed of the results of the interview. Prompt decision-making regarding candidates will allow you to quickly and efficiently select the most suitable ones. The search process is significantly reduced in time, and productivity increases.

Check out our website on how to successfully pass an interview:

Selecting a suitable employee is a difficult and responsible step for a company. Considerable effort should be made to find an employee who will be ideal in all respects. There is always a great demand for highly qualified specialists. Some of them are actively being bought from each other by companies. Such actions are justified, since a valuable employee will bring great profit to the organization and will contribute to its development and promotion.

Recruitment agencies constantly monitor vacant positions and available specialists. They are modernizing selection systems and coming up with new evaluation criteria. Their work brings tangible results - many professionals occupy lucrative positions in large companies. And to understand the principle of their functioning and how to conduct interviews, you need to spend more than one day.